Sue brings to her counselling a non-judgemental approach founded on empathy and respect for individual circumstances. Utilising an integrative approach that includes mindfulness and emotion focused strategies Sue aims to support you through grief and loss, and manage symptoms of anxiety, depression and life transitions.
During these challenging times, counselling can assist you to manage the range of emotions you may be feeling. Please contact Sue to find out how best to support you during this time.
Birth debriefing can be a starting point to begin to understand, and process grief and loss associated with your birth story, allowing for integration and healing over time.
• Individual Counselling for anxiety, depression, grief & loss, life transitions, stress management
• Pregnancy and birth counselling, birth debriefing, transition to parenting, parenting support
Why Counselling?
Counselling provides a supportive, safe and collaborative environment to help address everyday stress, grief and loss, anxiety, depression and life transitions through clarifying issues, exploring options, and developing strategies. As we are navigating the many changes and challenges of COVID-19, there is increasing recognition of the importance of having greater support during this time. Counselling can assist in developing greater awareness, clarity and perspective in decision making, deepening understanding of yourself and your relationships with others, and provide relief from negative emotions and old patterns of relating.
Importance of counselling support during pregnancy & after birth?
Pregnancy and birth signifies profound changes both physically and emotionally. A difficult journey to becoming pregnant, the physical adaptations of pregnancy, and outcomes of the birth experience can profoundly affect a woman’s ability to connect with the joy of being pregnant and subsequent bonding with her baby.
Women and their families/support persons may also be finding they need extra support to manage increasing anxieties around the uncertainty and challenges of COVID-19.
These changes during pregnancy and birth and also during difficult times affect a woman individually but also within a partnership. Unexpected feelings and emotions may develop that can be difficult to understand and process. Past mental health concerns or childhood experiences may re-emerge and intensify. A woman’s sense of self, beliefs and values may be challenged and may also reveal or heighten difficulties within interpersonal relationships.
A history of depression or anxiety may predispose women to perinatal anxiety and depression. Counselling support during pregnancy and post-birth can bring greater awareness and assist to heal old patterns of relating that may affect your birthing and parenting experiences. It can assist to expand and improve the significant relationships in your life as you adapt to the changes associated with becoming a parent.
The way women birth matters. Recent statistics reveal increasing rates of women who experience complicated and traumatic births. This can also be a result of how women felt during pregnancy and after their birth experiences, not just the birth. It is important that a woman feels safe & supported, nurtured, cared for, respected and listened to throughout her pregnancy, during and following the birth, that will allow her to move forward confidently into her journey as a mother. If this experience was not one that felt safe, respected and cared for, women can experience a range of feelings and symptoms that can have long-lasting effects and contribute to perinatal anxiety and depression.
Birth debriefing can be a starting point towards being able to understand, process and integrate your birth experience, which supports healing and change over time. A birth debrief may also benefit from further exploration of the emotions and feelings connected to your birth experience over a number of sessions.
