Prenatal Therapy
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Prenatal Therapy *
Are you an expecting mother looking for some extra support during pregnancy?
Are you and your partner looking for couples prenatal counseling to prepare for this next big step in your family?
Are you experiencing some anxiety or depression during pregnancy and looking for some tools to support your mental health?
Are past attachment wounds or traumatic experiences impacting your experience during pregnancy- and you would like to connect to healing resources as you enter parenthood?
We’ve got you covered. Our Perinatal Mental Health Certified Therapist is trained and experienced in making sure you get the best prenatal therapy possible.
Prenatal Therapy in Minnesota
Kayla Estenson Williams is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and is a Perinatal Mental Health Certified Therapist. She has extensive training and experience in supporting pregnant individuals and couples as they navigate these changes as well as prepare for childbirth and postpartum. Her specialties in prenatal care are in perinatal anxiety, fertility challenges, adjusting to the transition of pregnancy and parenthood, as well as holding space for past attachment wounds/trauma that tends to show up during pregnancy or postpartum.
Kayla has gone through her own experiences with infertility, anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum, and navigating the challenges of a high risk pregnancy/infant as well as feeding challenges. She’s a pregnancy therapist who really gets it- and is passionate about making sure every new mom and parent gets the support they need.
Pregnancy can be a wild ride! Whether it was planned and expected, a complete surprise, or after a long fertility journey- pregnancy can have it’s fair share of ups and downs for our mental health. This may be your first pregnancy or your fourth, and it makes sense to need some extra support as you navigate this significant life transition.
During pregnancy, we experience drastic changes in our hormones- which can lead to prenatal anxiety, prenatal OCD, as well as prenatal depression in some. Even without mental health challenges, most new parents struggle with the uncertainty, life changes, and family transitions that pregnancy leads into.
We offer individual therapy as well as couples therapy to support you through pregnancy, postpartum, and into parenthood! During pregnancy, therapy can be a great space to connect to healthy coping skills, prepare for the mental and emotional aspects of childbirth, and set yourself up for the transition of the postpartum experience as well as parenthood.
Mental Health During Prengnacy
Noticing any emotional symptoms such as feeling stressed, overwhelmed, reactive, worried, sad, or disconnected can be a sign that you need support. Those with a history of anxiety disorders or depression may be at a higher risk for perinatal mental health concerns. And, those who have experienced trauma in the past may benefit from some extra support during new phases of life such as this.
While you don't have to meet a specific diagnostic criteria to benefit from therapy, here is a general overview of some of the more common perinatal mental health issues that can arise:
Perinatal Anxiety can look like racing thoughts, excessive worry about a safe pregnancy, high anxiety around safe sleep or other infant safety areas, worry that you're not doing a good enough job, generalized anxious thoughts, intrusive thoughts, difficulty trusting other support systems or family members with your baby, panic attacks, or feeling excessive anxiety for life stresses.
Perinatal OCD can look like strong intrusive thoughts or excessive anxieties about specific fears, such as something going wrong with the pregnancy, harm coming to your baby or child, or something bad happening to yourself or a family member. These thoughts are hard to push away and may be accompanied by compensatory behaviors such as excessive checking or monitoring, frequently researching things, or avoiding anything that isn't completely safe.
Perinatal Depression can look like negative thoughts, excessive self-doubt, hopelessness, difficulty connecting with pregnancy or the new baby, excessive sadness, feelings of shame, and withdrawing from your support system.
Traumatic Experiences that show up during the perinatal period can include infertility, pregnancy loss, feeling a lack of support with your family or medical team, a traumatic birth experience, navigating the foster/adoption system, infant loss, or health concerns for the baby or parent. Past traumatic experiences, such as previous perinatal trauma or attachment trauma from your family system are also common to be triggered during pregnancy or postpartum.
Whether you fit a specific perinatal mental health diagnosis or not- if you are feeling like you could use some extra support during this time - you deserve it! This is a significant life transition, which means that it's understandable to need space to process and connect to what is most meaningful for you during this time.
What symptoms might let me know I need support?
We Offer a Special Connection Between Trauma Informed Care Pregnancy Support
Becoming a parent to a new little one can bring up past experiences of trauma. Whether it be trauma from fertility challenges, pregnancy, birth, relationship challenges, or even attachment wounds from childhood- the postpartum time period can bring up areas of trauma that are needing our attention.
In addition to specializing in Perinatal Mental Health, Kayla specializes in Trauma. She is a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, and has advanced training and experience in holding space for trauma healing.
What Prenatal Therapy Looks Like at Minnesota Attachment Collective
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These will vary for everyone depending on their experience, but some common focuses in therapy for pregnancy:
Process your experience: Your story matters. Together, we’ll hold space for both the experiences you’ve had along your pregnancy journey as well as past experiences that may be showing up for you. We value making sure you feel seen, heard, and supported every step of the way.
Build coping skills + nervous system regulation skills: This can be an extremely stressful time. Exploring your emotions as well as building coping skills as well as skills to help you regulate your nervous system can make a big difference- both emotionally and physically.
Build your support system: Many find they need support in different ways as they are navigating pregnancy and parenthood. We can help you identify who your best support people are, how to communicate your emotions and needs, and how to build new supports where necessary.
Gain confidence in yourself: Pregnancy and early parenthood can trigger feelings of self-doubt and low self-worth. In therapy, we can help you build confidence in your values, goals, as well as your inherent worth as a human.
Preparing for childbirth and parenthood: This is a great time to prepare yourself as well as your partner/support system for childbirth and parenthood. Coping ahead to make sure you have the right tools on board, know how you can lean on others for support, and set a flexible plan for these next steps can help you to feel more confident and prepared during these difficult transitions.
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This can vary greatly from person to person as everyone’s experience is different. Some may feel relief after a few months just being able to process their experience and build skills. Others may benefit from therapy in the longterm- throughout their pregnancy and into parenthood if that is the next step for them. We generally recommend beginning therapy at a weekly frequency so that we can really dig into the work and support you best.
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You can learn all about our current rates here! Please note that we are an out-of-network practice, meaning we do not directly work with insurance. You can find more information about that in the link above.
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Absolutely! Working on the couple relationship as well as getting support from your partner can make all the difference during this time. Some come to therapy for individual work but enjoy bringing their partner in for some sessions as needed, while others focus solely on couples work during this time. You can discuss these options with your therapist to find what works best.
We are here to help.
We understand how complex pregnancy and postpartum can feel. We are here to help you hold space for your experience and connect to the healing that you need.
Get Pregnancy Support Today
Looking for support during pregnancy? Kayla would be honored to help you process your experience, connect to your goals, and build in coping skills as you navigate this transition into parenthood!
Support Through an Inclusive Lens
We want to make sure that you feel seen and heard, have space for healing, and are able to connect to yourself and your support system in meaningful ways. We know that families can be comprised in a number of different ways, and so we make sure that our care is welcoming to partnerships of all genders and sexual orientations, polyamorous partnerships, as well as single parent families.
Are you ready to hold space for healing? We would be honored to get to be a part of your process.
Let’s work together.
Get support through pregnancy, postpartum, and parenthood today. For those located in the Twin Cities, we have in-person therapy sessions available in Eagan, Minnesota. We also have virtual therapy sessions available to anyone who lives in Minnesota.