COUNSELING SERVICES

      I am not a licensed therapist or social worker so I do not diagnose or treat clients.  I do provide guidance and counseling to help couples prepare for a new person in their lives, to help navigate the choices in birthing, to prepare for parenting, and to resolve difficult birth memories.  My counseling skills are based on my extensive experience working with new and expectant families, my experience as a mother and grandmother, my background as a project manager and event organizer, and my continuous research and studies.  I am a registered counselor with the State of Washington (RC00049994).

Preconception Counseling

In preconception counseling, I help families prepare their lives for a new baby.  This might include:

•  determining the time, space, and money you want to have for a child

•  an assessment of your lifestyle to acknowledge what you have available

•  prioritizing your goals and needs

•  creating a plan for making it all work

We will look at ways to create an optimal environment for your baby to grow.  We can look at skills and traits you want to develop for parenting.  And we can discuss the ways to create space emotionally, spiritually, and physically for a child to grow in your body and into your family.   I provide tools to assess your lifestyle, to enhance your physical readiness for pregnancy and birth, to review family and relationship patterns,  to strengthen your relationship, and to develop rituals to invite a new soul into your lives.  I offer a lending library of books that can further your preparation and understanding of conceiving and nurturing a new life.

Birth Choices Counseling

There are so many questions that expectant parents have: 

• Where should we have our baby? 

• Should we hire a doctor or a midwife?  

• Will we need a doula?  

• How much does having a baby  cost? 

• Should I invite my mother/sister/friend to be at the birth? 

• How much time should I take off after the birth? 

And it seems that each answer leads to another round of questions.  Well, there are no easy answers or even one answer that is right for every family.  If you've read the books, attended an Early Pregnancy class, asked your friends, and still have questions, perhaps a one-on-one counseling session with an experienced childbirth professional is what you need.  I have worked with over 300 families, observing them in their decision-making processes and seeing their satisfaction with the results.  I have worked as a doula in all the Seattle-area hospitals and birth settings, and with many of the care providers.  I know what questions parents should ask themselves to identify their desires and determine what will make them feel the most open, safe, and relaxed.  It's a big birthing world out there; I can help.

Birth Trauma Resolution

Sometimes birth doesn't happen the way you expected or wanted.  This can leave unresolved feelings of disappointment, grief, resentment, disempowerment, anger, trauma, or betrayal.  Do you find yourself telling your story over and over, relentlessly replaying parts of your birth story in your mind, or feeling like you are spinning your wheels when you try to resolve your feelings about your birth?  By providing you with the structured opportunity to tell your story, I can help you identify your feelings, process your experience in a meaningful way, and develop specific exercises and activities to productively work through them.   Working with the following methods, you can clarify what your birth experience means to you, take actions to empower yourself, and reframe your birth experience to lessen the negative impact it has on your life and your psyche.  Here are some of the methods used:

• visualizations

• art

• dialog

• journaling

• movement

• ritual

• role play