Pregnancy, birth & postpartum
You are allowed to have complicated feelings about an experience that changed everything.
Pregnancy and postpartum can bring enormous change—physically, emotionally, and in the way you see yourself and your life. Even when pregnancy is deeply wanted and “going according to plan,” it can come with anxiety, uncertainty, overwhelm, rage, grief, or a sense of losing touch with who you were before.
Perhaps your pregnancy hasn’t unfolded the way you imagined. You may be navigating fertility treatments, a high-risk pregnancy, pregnancy or infant loss, or a difficult or traumatic birth. You may be replaying what happened, feeling anxious or disconnected from your body, or struggling with emotions that surfaced during pregnancy or after giving birth.
Your birth experience matters, even if others don’t see it as traumatic.
In our work together, we’ll create space to process your experience without judgment or expectations about how pregnancy, birth, or postpartum “should” feel. We can explore birth trauma, anxiety, grief, changes in your body and identity, and the emotional transition into parenthood while building tools to help you feel more grounded and connected to yourself.
Looking for support from other new mothers?
I'm currently developing a low-cost postpartum therapy group for mothers who want a supportive space to talk about the emotional realities of new parenthood.
$25 per session or accepting insurance!
Motherhood & Identity
We are always “becoming” a mother. With each stage, your children change, your relationships change, and you change, too. Each new chapter can bring its own joys, challenges, questions, and losses.
Maybe you’re overwhelmed by the mental load, struggling with guilt, questioning who you are outside of motherhood, or feeling disconnected from parts of yourself that once felt familiar. Motherhood can also bring up old wounds, expectations, buried anger, and other emotions to the surface in unexpected ways.
You don’t have to make sense of it all by yourself.
Together, we’ll slow down and create space to explore your identity, relationships, boundaries, self-worth, anxiety, grief, and the many transitions that unfold throughout motherhood. Whether you’re raising young children, navigating adolescence, or adjusting to your children becoming more independent, therapy can be a place to reconnect with yourself and process who you are becoming at each stage.
Anxiety, Rage & Emotional Overwhelm
Sometimes anxiety can make it feel like your mind is always running—anticipating what could go wrong, replaying what has already happened, or searching for reassurance that everything is okay. You may find yourself overwhelmed by worry, perfectionism, intrusive thoughts, or the feeling that you need to stay in control.
For some, anxiety shows up through obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors, or frightening intrusive thoughts that feel completely out of character. For others, it may look like irritability, intense mood swings, anger or rage, difficulty relaxing, trouble sleeping, or feeling constantly “on.” Especially during pregnancy and postpartum, emotions can feel bigger, more unpredictable, or harder to manage than they once did.
Therapy can offer a space to slow down and understand what is happening beneath the anxiety and emotional overwhelm, rather than simply trying to make difficult thoughts or feelings go away. Together, we can explore the patterns that leave you feeling stuck while developing ways to respond to anxious thoughts, intense emotions, and the parts of yourself that may feel difficult to understand with greater flexibility and self-compassion.
You don't have to be at a breaking point to seek support. If anxiety, intrusive thoughts, mood swings, or rage are making it difficult to feel present, connected, or like yourself, therapy can help.
Grief, loss, separation & fertility challenges
Grief asks us to make space for what has changed, what has been lost, and what still matters.
Loss and grief can take many forms. It may come with fertility challenges, pregnancy or infant loss, changes in identity during the postpartum period, or separation and transitions within motherhood. These experiences can feel deeply isolating, especially when the world around you seems to expect you to simply “move on.”
Your grief doesn’t need to be fixed; it needs a place to be felt, expressed, and witnessed.
In our work together, we’ll create space to process your loss in a way that feels right for you. There is no single way to grieve, and there is no timeline you have to follow. Some days may call for talking and making sense of what happened; other days may call for creative expression, gentle movement, or simply having a safe space to be with what you’re feeling.
Together, we can honor where you are in your grief, make space for the emotions that come with loss, and begin to reconnect with yourself as you move through this experience.
Get in Touch
Reach out to schedule a free 15-minute consult
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I'm excited you found me and look forward to hearing from you!
Work Cell Phone
413-685-0040
mwcpsychotherapy@gmail.com
Michaela West Ciovacco, ATR, LMHC in Massachusetts