Support for Maternal Burnout
& Maternal Mental Health
Postnatal depletion, parental burnout, postpartum exhaustion, stress, overwhelm, pregnancy and postnatal depression and anxiety…
Motherhood creates a complex swirling picture and multifaceted care and support are required in order for mothers to thrive.
You are worthy of feeling well.
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To feel like it’s your fault if you find it challenging or lonely or boring or hard.
It can be confusing and overwhelming - and on some level you might believe that's your fault.
This is when many of us begin to put on a happy face. To smile externally while performing double-time and feeling turbulent inside.
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None of these hard things are your fault.
Difficult experiences in these transitions are common.
You deserve better. (You always have). You deserve to be seen and supported.
I offer to walk with you as your motherhood support person.
To hold space for you as you navigate the mess and glory of motherhood. To support you as you actively manage and restore from maternal burnout. To encourage you to step towards genuine maternal thriving.
I’m a motherhood studies practitioner, Acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, doula, educator and lived experience peer support - all rolled into one.
In Clinic, Online, In Home & Small Group Support
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Conducted via Zoom. Acupuncture and herbs won’t be possible, but all the other layers of support and holding are ready for you
Includes:
4 x 1hr Sessions (Online) spaced every 3 weeks approx - we'll make a scheduling plan during our first session together
Post Session Summary I’ll email a summary following our session together so you won't have to take notes. This may include: what to prioritise, tools and skills, things to delve into - book titles, podcasts, research articles, meditations, resources and referrals
Written Resources about aspects of support we cover so you can reflect further
Cost $600 paid prior to our first session
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More information about Online Support
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Sessions are 90 mins and conducted in your home. Between Mornington and Richmond and surrounds. Email location Q's
Includes:
4 x 1.5hr Sessions (In Home) spaced weekly / fortnightly / monthly depending on circumstance
Written Resources about aspects of support we cover so you can revisit and share with your support people
Communication Support text or voice memo communication between sessions so you’ll continue to feel heard and held. A place to reach out for encouragement, basic troubleshooting and reminders on rough days. I’ll do my best to get back to you same day.
Cost: $1400 (4 Sessions + support between sessions)
Payment: $350 paid prior to each session. Or all upfront. Herbs extra
More about In Home Support
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Small Groups:
Reclaiming Motherhood
Neurodivergent Motherhood
at Juno Specialists, Richmond
If you’d like support exploring what’s best for you, book a complimentary 20 minute Intro Call.
Maternal Burnout Approach Layers:
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Education, preparation and awareness building before you arrive in burnout.
Establishing a strong foundation from which you can grow.
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We are often aware of our bodies 'tells' - the symptoms and patterns that indicate things are starting to go downhill.
The problem is that we don’t necessarily have the capacity / resources / skills / time / mental bandwidth / plan ready to take action and prioritise their resolution.
Learning to recognise and acting on your specific early 'tells' - anxiety, low mood, overwhelm, insomnia, exhaustion, digestive changes, pain etc
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For when you're in burnout and require restoration.
Individualised care and support to step towards recovery
Deprioritising all non essential tasks, outsourcing, letting go
Sustainable mothering practices
Minimising information intake - focusing on basics
Forming a comprehensive healthcare and support team
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Individualised care and support
Implementing sustainable mothering practices
Building an understanding the mechanisms behind maternal burnout and postnatal depletion
Introducing the idea of embodied motherhood
Building self compassion practice
If burnout cycles are being driven by neurodiversity, building skills, tools and resources for that
Continuing to work with healthcare and support team to rebuild
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Understanding what happened - building awareness of the active role self sacrificial motherhood / dehumanised motherhood play in burnout and depletion cycles
Skill building / awareness building to allow for early intervention in the future
Creating the mental space to choose to take a different path / define what you want
Construction of true mother wellbeing
Understanding & Approaching Maternal Mental Health
I weave layers of multifaceted care, education, awareness building and support. I’m coming as both a practitioner with rich clinical experience and a peer with lived experience.
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I’ve learned to understand, unpack, name and speak to the societal dimensions of Motherhood.
From conception onwards there are very real ways that the expectations of being 'a good mother’ influences our experiences and outcomes.
We receive strong messaging to present our experience of conception, pregnancy and motherhood through a single, neat-and-tidy lens of gratitude. Which can act to quieten, minimise and bury internally the more complex reality of our experiences.
Embedded messaging around sacrificing ourselves for our mothering role creates conditions for maternal depletion and burnout.
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Through my work I’ve had the opportunity to actively listen to and walk alongside a huge number of people navigating these same transitions and hard things.
In 15 years of clinical practice I’ve become aware of the complexity that through-line these transitional years of motherhood.
I bring a Chinese Medicine lens and all I've learnt from my clinical experience into our work together.
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I've invested time pouring over how to support women stepping up to, during and stepping down from birth.
This is such a significant passage of time and adequate support really is path altering. Ripples over decades.
Doulas provide a sense of nurturing often described as ‘mothering the mother'. In all my work I weave in the support and holding aspects of being a doula.
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There is no need to mask or smile over - I have a lived experience of many of the themes and moments you're navigating.
I've also deeply listened to so many traversing these years to extend what I know beyond my own direct experiences.
Honesty is allowed and for many, sharing off the mask brings a sigh of relief and a level of comfort.
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Now further down the track from my own motherhood transition years, I have access to a level of self awareness and knowledge I didn't then.
I can see the ramifications and damaging ripple effects to my own health caused by choices I made. Choices that were informed by societal norms I wasn't aware of at the time.
I'm here to make them visible to you. The invisible concepts and stories swirling through these years.
This will offer you greater perspective and a solid foundation to take back your health and claim your experiences as your own.
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The early years of mothering can be pivotal for our health, relationships, work and identity. They often require meaning making, fresh perspectives, greater tools and genuine care.
Mothers deserve space to receive care. To be supported in integrating experiences, and remaining present to the rapid skill acquisition and maternal thinking that define these huge transition years.
Mothers deserve to emerge from the early years feeling transformed and alive. Strong and powerful. And open to the completely new parts of themselves that have been revealed in this transition.
We require space and guidance to create our own internally led mother story. To step outside social norms and into counter-cultural maternal thriving.
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A wave of women and mothers are being diagnosed ND later in life. Myself included.
Masking to perform the perfect mother when you’re already masking a neurodivergent identity is a wild ride.
The patchwork accomodations you’ve been relying on to function prior to motherhood no longer hold. Matchstick scaffolding comes crashing down.
It can be painful and disorientating.
It can unleash a tidal wave of learning and self-reflection. About masking and coping mechanisms. About worth and productivity and the ableist lens.
For late diagnosed ND mothers, the shakey identity that’s common in motherhood feels more like the floor’s been removed from under you. It’s not just a matter of reclaiming your identity, but excavating it from underneath a lifetime of performing roles.
I meet you in your ND motherhood experience as a ND practitioner and mother who has walked these turbulent years. I offer compassionate space holding, individualised care and gentle supportive navigation.
Let’s have you feeling held while we you up-skill, relearn and reimagine.
Important Note: I am not a GP, a Psychologist or counsellor.
I cannot provide medical care or comprehensive psychological support. I will always be clear around my scope of practice and refer to appropriate services for whole person care.