Matrescence - Perinatal Counselling
One of the most significant rites of passage a woman will experience calls for a safe place to explore your relationship with your experience of fertility; conception; pregnancy; birth planning; childbirth and your unique entry into motherhood.
Here you will find unequivocally woman-centred, pro-choice, unbiased counselling support.
Matrescence, Antenatal, Pregnancy, Postnatal- it's all Perinatal Counselling
At long last we are giving name to the life-altering impact of conception, pregnancy, birth and the first twelve months of mothering. Matrescence is sometimes referred to as a second adolescence. The experience of becoming, that happens through the time of contemplating motherhood, conception, pregnancy, birth and the year following the birth of each child.
In this time we are permanently changed - our brains are re-wired by motherhood, we are changed physically, mentally, emotionally to become the mothers our children need us to be.
So much happens in this time, that is rarely acknowledged, let alone honoured. There remains an ancient imperative within us to shed the skin of maidenhood and step into the bounty of our mothering selves.
Do you feel you have had opportunity to honour your own transition? Are you seeking a way to devote time, space and energy to reflect on the extraordinary distance you have traversed in your time on this sparkling blue planet; to articulate your hopes and dreams for the year, indeed the years to come?
Holistic counselling gives time and space to honour your own unique rite of passage.
Perinatal counselling can support:
Fertility
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Challenges in conceiving
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Infertility and assisted reproduction
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Embarking on pregnancy as a non-heteronormative person
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Navigating working with medical professionals and supporting capacity to medical advocacy
Pro-choice counselling
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Woman-centred pro choice, unbiased pregnancy options counselling
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Pre and post abortion care and support
Pregnancy
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Now that I'm here, what now?
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Pregnancy after loss
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Pregnancy joy hijacked by medical scrutiny
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Anxiety, depression or having difficulty adjusting
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Relationship concerns during pregnancy
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Navigating pregnancy testing, potential outcomes and exploring choices
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Preparing to pause or leave work for maternity/ parental leave
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Exploring birth preparation, support and birthing choices in your location
LGBTQIA+
I have been supporting Rainbow families for two decades. Compassionately exploring fertility; pregnancy; finding aligned care providers and birth settings; birth preparation; birth and early parenting outside of the hetero-normative paradigm.
Soulful birth preparation
As the founder of mamashanti, have been supporting women preparing for birth in Melbourne, Central Victoria and online for over twenty years.
Soulful birth preparation is all about offering you flexibility in childbirth preparation. Each element of my soulful birth preparation plays a unique role to create a unified and accessible way for you to claim sovereignty in your birthing journey; to birth your child with dignity and grace in any setting.
Choose a service that best suits your needs and enjoy the immersive experience of taking my unique active birth practices from learned technique into the realm of instinct and intuition. This is what will create profound body-felt confidence in your own boundless birthing potential.
Birth debriefing
Have you had time and space to honour your birth experience; to explore with compassion the elements of your experience? The process of debriefing birth, carefully holding the kaleidoscope of the experience up to the light, can begin the life-long process of integration and can lead to new levels of self-awareness and appreciation.
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Birth trauma
​According to COPE, birth trauma is defined as a wound, serious injury or damage relating to the birthing experience. Birth trauma can be physical trauma or psychological trauma, or a combination of both. Both mother and/or the father or non-birthing partner can be affected by birth trauma. In some, but not all cases, a parent may develop postnatal mental health problems from the traumatic events experienced during labour or childbirth. In some instances, traumatic birth can cause on-going distress, impact postnatal mental health and family relationships.
​Research suggests that up to one in three women experience a traumatic birth. About 4% of women and 1% of their partners develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic birth.
Womanly Counselling for perinatal mental health is trauma oriented practice.
My practice integrates Trauma Focussed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (TFACT); perinatal mental health counselling; with somatic psychotherapies created from my therapeutic perinatal practice - breathe for birth to offer you a place to be sincerely seen and heard in your pain and tools of breath awareness, subtle and effective somatic movement to help you find a place of acceptance and healing on your own terms.
Recognising that your mental health during the perinatal transition is not separate from your whole body, therefore a natural consequence of engaging with these practices will be felt in your capacity to accommodate each moment in your cycle/ life-stage; building energetic and emotional reserves; stimulating circulation; soothing tired mind and frayed nerves; boosting immunity; improving sleep; moderating your metabolism and building healthy emotional boundaries.
You can find more about my specialised birth preparation practice here and here.