Are you a recent graduate working towards licensure? Are you interested in opening a private practice but not sure how? Are you already licensed and looking for additional support and supervision specifically around perinatal mental health and reproductive trauma?
I am a Washington State approved supervisor in accordance with WAC 246.809.334 and WAC 246.809.234 and enjoy working with other clinicians around building a thriving, sustainable practice and deepening their knowledge base and experience. I have worked in community mental health, hospital and medical center social work, a perinatal partial hospitalization program, and now in private practice; I have been fully licensed since 2016 and am happy to work with colleagues towards their own licensure and professional goals. When I work with clinicians towards licensure, we do a brief consultation together, just as I would with a new client, to see if we would be a good fit in working together. If we both agree to move forward, we set a plan in place that can include professional and supervision goals, clinical consultation, and testing preparation. I also provide consultation around starting a sustainable private practice through strategic planning, developing sustainable processes, and documentation and record keeping.
I have been working primarily with the perinatal population since 2012 and received my PMH-C in 2021. In that time, I have helped clients navigate trying to conceive, infertility (male, female, unexplained), pregnancy loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, abortion, and neonatal loss), reproductive trauma (including birth trauma, breastfeeding trauma, childfree-not-by-choice), transition to parenthood, and alternative paths to parenthood (including donor gamete, surrogacy, foster care, and adoption). This is a growing specialty and there is constantly a need for more providers who are passionate about supporting families, but it’s difficult to find comprehensive training or clinical support for working with this population. Whether you are simultaneously working towards licensure, or already licensed and looking to hone your skills around these topics and more, I would be happy to support your growth – this can include article and book reviews, case consultation, and more.
I believe a more holistic way to describe my work is Reproductive Mental Health. Providers in this speciality used to talk about “postpartum mood and anxiety disorders” despite the fact that symptoms can and do occur prior to pregnancy and in pregnancy, as well as the postpartum period. Around 2015, the language shifted to perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, to try and reflect a more holistic approach but our knowledge and experience continues to deepen. It is not just the gestational parent that struggles or that needs support – it is about supporting non-gestational parents and partners; it’s about supporting birth, foster, and adoptive parents; it’s about supporting those who have navigated loss and made the decision to live child-free or childless. It’s about the countless ways that we navigate the reproductive period and reproductive decisions in life, however that looks for a particular client or family.
*PMH-C: From the Postpartum Support International website: “In August 2018, the first Certification in Perinatal Mental Health became available through Postpartum Support International. The Perinatal Mental Health Certification Program creates a structure for professional education and evaluation, and a standardization of training and experience to inform families and payers of perinatal mental health specialists. The certification curriculum requirements build on existing evidence-based perinatal mental health certificate trainings, adding an advanced-training component.”