Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy at Mind & Body Healing Collective

Perinatal mental health, from conception through the first year

“Perinatal” covers pregnancy and the first year after birth, and many clinicians extend that window to include the months of planning or trying to conceive. Across that stretch, your body, hormones, relationships, sleep and sense of self all change at once. It makes sense that emotions shift too. Some changes are a normal part of adjusting. Others, like depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts or trauma symptoms after birth, are common, treatable conditions that deserve real care.

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders don’t always look like the stereotype of postpartum sadness. They can show up as irritability, constant checking, an inability to rest, numbness, or a sense of watching your life from a distance. They can begin during pregnancy, not just after birth, and they can affect partners and adoptive parents as well. Naming what’s happening is often the first relief.

• Anxiety or depression during pregnancy
• Postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety
• Intrusive thoughts and perinatal OCD symptoms
• Birth trauma and difficult NICU experiences
• Miscarriage, pregnancy loss and infertility grief
• Identity shifts, relationship strain and returning to work

Postpartum: the fourth trimester and beyond

The weeks after birth are often described as the fourth trimester, and they can be among the most vulnerable of your life. Sleep deprivation, physical recovery, feeding challenges and the sheer intensity of caring for a newborn can make everything feel harder. If you’re struggling, it doesn’t mean you’re failing at parenthood. It means you’re a person carrying a great deal, often without enough support.

Therapy in this season is practical and gentle. We can work on small, realistic ways to protect sleep and ask for help, untangle the guilt that often comes with mixed feelings, and make room for the parts of you that existed before the baby. Ask us about bringing your baby to in-person sessions, and telehealth can make it easier to keep appointments when getting out the door with a newborn feels impossible.

Healing after birth trauma and loss

A birth can be medically fine and still feel frightening, overwhelming or out of your control. Emergency interventions, a NICU stay or feeling unheard by the people around you can leave lasting imprints: flashbacks, avoidance, a racing heart at the sight of a hospital, or a sense of disconnection from your baby. These are trauma responses, and they can heal. Our clinicians may use approaches like EMDR and somatic therapy, available at our Lawrence offices, to help your body and mind process what happened.

Grief belongs in this work too. Miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, a diagnosis you weren’t expecting or a pregnancy that ended in a hard decision can all bring a kind of loss the world rarely acknowledges. Therapy offers space to grieve at your own pace, honor what mattered and find your footing again, without anyone rushing you toward the next step.

Medication, your medical team and getting help fast

If you take psychiatric medication and are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy, that’s an important conversation to have with your prescriber and your OB or midwife before making changes. Our psychiatric nurse practitioner offers evaluations and medication management in Lawrence and by telehealth and, with your consent, can coordinate with your therapist, so you’re weighing options with a team rather than alone.

Some symptoms need immediate attention. If you have thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, feel confused or disconnected from reality, or haven’t slept in days, please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. You can also call or text 988 at any hour. Reaching out quickly is an act of care for both of you, and ongoing therapy can follow when you’re safe.