Pregnancy and the postpartum period are often described as times of joy, wonder, and new beginnings. And they can be — but they are also among the most emotionally and physiologically demanding experiences a person will ever go through. The hormonal shifts, identity changes, sleep deprivation, relational adjustments, and physical recovery that accompany bringing a child into the world are profound. For many, this is also when old wounds resurface, anxiety intensifies, or a deep sadness settles in that doesn’t match the expectations of how this time was “supposed” to feel.

You are not alone in this. And you deserve real, specialized support — not just reassurance that it will pass.

The System Is Not Built for New Parents — And That’s Not Your Fault

Before we talk about healing, we want to name something important: so much of what new parents suffer is not a personal failing. It is the entirely reasonable response to a culture that expects the impossible.

We live in a society that celebrates new babies while offering very little structural support to the people who carry, birth, and raise them. The United States remains one of the only wealthy nations in the world without guaranteed paid parental leave. Colorado is doing better than many states with FAMLI leave, but it often is not enough. Many people are pressured — financially or professionally — to return to work within weeks of giving birth, while their bodies are still healing and their nervous systems are still in shock. Childcare costs have become so prohibitive that for many families, returning to work barely covers the cost of care itself, leaving parents caught in an impossible calculation with no good answer.

And then there is the loneliness. Previous generations raised children embedded in extended family networks, neighborhoods where people knew each other, and communities that shared the labor of early parenthood. Many people today are doing this largely alone — far from family, in new cities, in partnerships stretched thin by exhaustion, or parenting solo. The “village” that humans have always relied on to raise children often simply isn’t there anymore. And no amount of Instagram content about “self-care” fills that gap.

When we understand these realities, the rates of perinatal depression and anxiety stop being surprising. They start making complete sense. Struggling during this time is not weakness — it is often the natural response to being asked to do something extraordinarily hard with far too little support.

We believe that healing has to happen in that context. It’s not enough to teach coping skills without also acknowledging the weight of what you’re actually carrying.

Why Perinatal Mental Health Is Its Own Specialty

Perinatal mental health refers to the emotional and psychological wellbeing of individuals during pregnancy and in the years following birth. This includes postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, PTSD (including birth trauma), and rage — conditions that are far more common than most people realize, and far too often left unaddressed. And all of these challenges can begin in pregnancy and can affect partners as well as adoptive parents.

The perinatal period is not simply “a hard time.” It is a neurobiologically distinct window in which the nervous system is highly responsive, identity is being reorganized, and the body is undergoing massive change. Effective support during this time requires more than general counseling skills — it requires deep, specialized training in what this period actually involves.

At Emotion Alchemy Collective, we take that seriously. All of our perinatal therapists have completed, at minimum, the Postpartum Support International (PSI) training in perinatal mental health — a foundational certification that reflects our commitment to meeting you with the knowledge and skill this season of life deserves. And all of our therapists proudly serve all family constellations, including LGBTQIA+ parents, surrogates, adoptive families and more.

Meet Dr. Laurel Hicks: Clinician, Researcher, and Perinatal Specialist

Dr. Laurel Hicks, PhD, LCSW, PMH-C brings one of the deepest levels of perinatal expertise you’ll find in a clinical setting. As a Certified Perinatal Mental Health therapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Dr. Laurel has spent her career not only treating individuals in the perinatal period — she has dedicated her research to understanding what actually works.

Most recently serving as a Research Scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Renée Crown Wellness Institute and as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Denver, Dr. Laurel’s academic work has focused on developing and testing clinical interventions for perinatal depression, anxiety, and trauma. Her research is grounded in community, advocacy, and a commitment to ensuring that the people who most need support can actually access it.

One of the most meaningful projects she contributed to is the Mindful Mood Balance for Moms program — an evidence-based, online intervention designed to help prevent and treat depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period. This program grew out of rigorous clinical research and is now accessible to anyone who needs it.

➡️ You can create your own free account and access the program here: MindfulMood.org

If you’re navigating perinatal depression or anxiety — or want to build emotional resilience before symptoms deepen — this is a resource worth exploring, especially for those moments between therapy sessions or when access to care feels out of reach.

How We Support You: Our Therapeutic Approaches

There is no single path through perinatal mental health challenges, which is why our therapists draw on a range of evidence-based and body-centered approaches tailored to your unique experience.

Interpersonal Therapy for Perinatal Individuals (IPT-P) IPT is one of the most well-researched treatments for perinatal depression. It focuses on the relational shifts that come with pregnancy and new parenthood — role changes, grief, conflict, and the renegotiation of relationships — helping you find solid footing in the middle of so much change. It is especially powerful for those grieving the village they don’t have, or navigating the strain that a new baby can place on partnership and identity. Dr. Laurel also offers trainings in this modality to other clinicians.

Behavioral Activation (BA) When depression settles in, it often pulls us away from the people, activities, and moments that give life meaning. Behavioral Activation helps gently reverse that pattern — reconnecting you with a sense of agency and aliveness even when motivation feels impossibly low. Dr. Laurel offers this training to clinicians.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Pregnancy and birth can activate past trauma — or create new trauma. EMDR is an evidence-based therapy that helps the nervous system process and integrate painful experiences, including birth trauma, loss, and childhood wounds, so they no longer hold the same grip on your present.

Somatic-Based Therapies The perinatal period lives in the body as much as the mind. Somatic approaches help you tune into and work with what your body is holding — tension, grief, fear, numbness — using breath, movement, and embodied awareness as pathways to healing. This is particularly powerful when words alone don’t seem to reach what you’re carrying, or when the exhaustion of new parenthood has left you feeling disconnected from yourself entirely.

You Don’t Have to White-Knuckle Through This

There is a pervasive cultural message that struggling during pregnancy or postpartum means you’re doing something wrong — that you should be grateful, that it will pass, that everyone feels this way. But struggling is not a personal failure. It is often a sign that your system is working hard within a culture that is not adequately supporting you.

Whether you’re in your first trimester and already feeling anxious, in the thick of postpartum fog, or a year or more out from birth and still not quite feeling like yourself — you are not too far along, and it is not too late.

Reach out to schedule a free connection call and explore whether working with one of our perinatal specialists is right for you. You deserve care that truly meets the depth of what you’re going through.

Written with care by the Emotion Alchemy Collective team.