Feel confident and grounded in motherhood.
Postpartum Therapy
Postpartum Counseling in Denver, Golden, Greenwood Village, Lafayette and Online throughout Colorado
Are you feeling scattered, overwhelmed, anxious or depressed in the transition to motherhood?
Since becoming a mom, things have felt… different. Maybe your birth didn’t go as planned, and you’ve been having a hard time moving past it. Maybe you and your partner aren’t seeing eye to eye, and you just haven’t been feeling like yourself. You feel disconnected from the things that made up your pre-baby identity, and can’t seem to find the motivation (or time!) to do anything about it. Mom guilt and worries are filling up your brain, and self-care feels like a distant memory. You feel lonely, unsupported and really just all over the place. Everything is so heavy and overwhelming, and you want to rely on your partner for help but they are in-over-their-head, just like you.
All you want is to be present and enjoy this special time in your life.
But no matter what you try, you feel consumed with worry and feelings of inadequacy.
Motherhood doesn’t have to feel like this. Postpartum therapy can help.
A perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) is an anxiety, depressive or mood disorder that occurs during pregnancy or within 1 year postpartum (the “perinatal period”). Mental health disorders during this time period are extremely common, and can present whether or not you had a mental health condition prior to pregnancy. It is estimated that:
15-21% of pregnant women experience moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression
Approx. 21% of women experience depression after childbirth
Up to 34.5% of women experience postpartum anxiety, and
11% of women experience perinatal panic disorder or OCD
Onset of these conditions can be triggered by hormonal changes during pregnancy or post-childbirth, and can also be impacted by pressures as a new parent, lack of sleep and challenges adjusting to a new role. Having support during this time is critical, and research shows that screening and early intervention through postpartum counseling can protect the wellbeing of you, your baby and your entire family.
Dealing with postpartum mental health challenges is not your fault.
You’re not alone. At Root to Rise Therapy, we can help you overcome postpartum mood disorders to feel like yourself again.
Postpartum therapy may be right for you if you experience things like:
Constant worry about yourself or your baby’s wellbeing
Intrusive thoughts or images, otten centering around your baby’s safety
Being kept up at night by racing thoughts, even when the baby is sleeping
Avoiding certain activities or people that feel overwhelming, like visiting with friends and family or going outside
Feeling like if you don’t do everything perfectly, there will be catastrophic outcomes
Difficulty finding joy or happiness since your baby has been born
Feeling guilty a lot of the time, or inadequate as a parent
Difficulty bonding or feeling connected to your baby
Low energy that doesn’t improve with sleep
How Does Postpartum Therapy Treat
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders ?
In addition to clinical perinatal mental health conditions, there are many challenges that most people face as they adapt to being new parents that postpartum therapy can also help with. These can look like:
Struggling to connect with your partner or get on the same page
Struggling to navigate dynamics with your own or your partner’s families as roles shift
Feeling like unresolved issues from your childhood are getting in the way of being the parent or partner you want to be
Worrying that if you ask for help, others will assume that you “can’t handle” motherhood
Pushing yourself to prioritize your partner and the baby over your own needs
Feeling guilty for having to pull back from other relationships since becoming a parent
Check out my specialty areas within Postpartum Therapy:
Therapy to support you during your pregnancy
Therapy to help you cope with postpartum anxiety, overwhelm and intrusive thinking
Therapy to help you heal from postpartum depression, sadness and self-doubt
Therapy to help new parents cope with overwhelm, communication challenges and identity shifts
Postpartum Therapy in Denver, CO Can Help
Hi, I’m Victoria, postpartum therapist at Root to Rise Therapy
There are so many pressures put on new moms in our culture - it is not your fault that you feel this way! Healing from these feelings of inadequacy and overwhelm is possible. Through postpartum counseling, I help new moms to feel calmer, more present and more joyful as they transition to parenthood. I will help you to navigate this role transition to stay true to yourself while finding balance with your values and identity as a mother.
Together in postpartum therapy, we will:
Help you develop tools to cope with stress and overwhelm and make time for a self-care routine to physically calm down your nervous system and reconnect to your sense of self
Help you to process experiences and memories from your own childhood that may be coming as you take on this new challenge, and understand how these experiences may shape your values and choices as a mother utilizing concepts from psychodynamic psychotherapy
Teach communication techniques that can help you and your partner better manage the impact of stress on your relationship
Help you experience less overthinking and anxiety spirals, so that you can have more mental clarity to be present for this special time with your new baby utilizing tools from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Assist you in identifying your natural strengths that can be drawn from in parenting
Validate and help you find acceptance for your unique experience of parenthood
Feel more confident in how you respond to new challenges through mindfulness-based strategies including learning tools to feel more present in your life, be kinder to yourself and accept yourself for who you are.
Suggest relevant books, articles and tools that can help you to get a deeper understanding of your experience and make progress in between sessions
Postpartum therapy will help you to get out of your head so that you can be more present with your baby. Postpartum therapy will help you to stop beating yourself up so that you can feel confident in your abilities as a new mom. Postpartum therapy will help you to clarify your values so that you feel more confident setting boundaries and putting your nuclear family first. Postpartum therapy will help you to care for and love yourself so that you can model the same for your child.
You don’t have to live with constant anxiety, sadness or overwhelming thoughts. You can find a way to feel good about yourself as a mom and feel proud of the life you are building for your family. Postpartum therapy in Colorado can help you to be more present in your life, get out of your head and make space to enjoy these precious days as a new parent.
Postpartum Counseling FAQs
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A perinatal therapist has special knowledge and training in perinatal mental health, or mental health conditions and specific stressors that occur during pregnancy through the first year after giving birth. This includes challenges with pregnancy loss or infertility.
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Cognitive behavioral therapy is shown to be very effective in treatment of postpartum anxiety and depression, and learning mindfulness-based strategies can be a game changer in learning to accept feelings of uncertainty and doubt that can come up during the adjustment to motherhood. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is best practice for coping with intrusive thoughts related to postpartum OCD.
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Despite what social media (and regular media!) would have you believe, the postpartum period is challenging in some way for most women. What varies from person to person is how challenging. Your hormones are all over the place, you’re coping with the physical healing process (and a strong desire to get your pre-baby body back ASAP), and all of a sudden you are now responsible for keeping another human being alive with no rulebook provided. You want to lean on your partner, but they seem just as clueless and overwhelmed as you do. Of course you’re struggling! But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean you have to keep feeling like this. Postpartum counseling can help you make sense of all these new challenges and start to feel like yourself again.
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Because the perinatal period lasts up to 1 year after childbirth, meaning it can take your hormones up to that long to stabilize (and potentially longer if you continue to breastfeed), postpartum depression or anxiety can last that long too. That’s talking about anxiety or depression impacted by your hormones, but mental health challenges related to the stress of parenting can last much longer! It might seem tempting to “wait it out”, but this period is also a crucial time that you will want to be present with your new baby. Issues that go unaddressed during the postpartum period can have a bigger impact on your child and family in the long run. Contact me to get started with help.
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In short, yes - there are many unique challenges that new moms face postpartum which traditional therapists are not trained to treat. It’s important to work with a therapist who is trained to recognize the different types of postpartum mental health conditions, understands the impact of hormones and sleep during the postpartum period, and is trained through Postpartum Support International. There are many misconceptions about postpartum mental health, and choosing not to work with a properly trained therapist can lead to certain risk factors being missed.
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I get it - as a new mom, you have so much on your plate, it may feel like making time for therapy is impossible. But caring for your mental health is just as important as all the other care you provide for your newborn - you can’t take care of them properly if you’re not taking care of yourself. I welcome new moms to bring their babies to postpartum therapy sessions, or have a sit-down with their partners and families to talk about making therapy a priority. You may feel like you have to handle it all on your own, but most of the time your family will surprise you and be willing to step up so that you can take this important time for yourself.
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I have a post on this very topic! Check out my page on mental health resources for new moms in Denver to learn about self-care, lactation resources, support groups, places for new moms to hang out in Denver and more.
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Yes! Check out my page on pregnancy therapy in Denver for more information.
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Taking the leap to start postpartum therapy can feel daunting. If you’re experiencing acute distress or several of the symptoms I mention further up on this page, it’s worth reaching out to a postpartum therapist to get some questions answered that may help with your hesitance to try therapy. But if you’re not quite there yet, check out my page on mindfulness for moms to learn more about mindfulness-based coping strategies that can help new moms be more present.
Postpartum counseling isn’t the only service I provide at my Denver, Colorado based therapy practice. Other mental health services at Root to Rise Therapy include Counseling for Moms, Therapy for Anxiety, Therapy for Perfectionism, Therapy for People-Pleasing and ADHD Therapy for Women.
I see clients located in Colorado, New York and New Jersey.
Postpartum Therapy Resources
I am trained in Perinatal Mental Health through Postpartum Support International (PSI), which has many great resources and support groups for new moms. They also run a HelpLine that you can contact for additional information and support.
Mental Health Resources for New Moms in Denver
Questions before starting postpartum therapy in Denver, Boulder, Greenwood Village and throughout Colorado? Get in touch.
My Denver-based postpartum therapy practice specializes in treating high-achieving women dealing with anxiety, perfectionism and people-pleasing. To start your counseling journey, follow these simple steps
Step 1
Contact Victoria
Step 2
Meet with Victoria, postpartum therapist for an intake session
Step 3
Get started on your journey towards healing emotionally and becoming the mom you want to be!