Perinatal & postpartum therapy · Kitsap County & virtual across Washington
You don't need an overhaul. You need a steady place to land.
Therapy that makes room for all of matrescence: the awe, the grief, the transformation, and the becoming.
Specialized perinatal therapy for mothers and gestational parents navigating pregnancy, difficult births, and early motherhood, at your pace. Based in Kitsap County, virtual anywhere in Washington. Come as you are. Vent, process, and untangle the brain spaghetti. Slow, steady progress, with no pressure to have it all figured out.
Imagine this
Here's what your life could look like.
One hour that's just yours. No performing, no pretending you're fine. Over time, what felt overwhelming becomes manageable, stuck relationships start to shift, and you take a full breath for the first time in months, maybe years.
Be honest
Here's what's probably happening right now.
Moms and caregivers who are used to carrying a lot often struggle quietly. It can be hard to admit that something about this isn't what you expected. You don't have to navigate it alone.
1.
You're carrying the bulk of it.
The appointments, the snacks, the feelings, the calendar in your head. Even with help, so much still lands on you, and there's rarely a place to set it down.
2.
You don't quite recognize yourself.
Your body, your brain, your relationships, your sense of who you are: all of it shifted, and no one handed you a map.
3.
You're lonely, even though you're never alone.
Tiny people are always near, yet real, adult connection feels rare. You wonder if other moms and caregivers feel this too.
4.
You're running on fumes.
You keep telling yourself it will get easier next month. Then next month comes, and you're still white-knuckling it.
What changes things
The moms and caregivers I work with stopped waiting to fall apart.
They let go of needing a “good enough” reason. Wanting to feel better, wanting space to process, wanting to reconnect with themselves: that was reason enough. Therapy isn't only for crisis. It's for growth, for maintenance, and for becoming who you actually want to be.
Hi, I'm Michelle
A mom in the trenches, and a trained perinatal psychotherapist.
I'm a licensed therapist specializing in perinatal mental health (PMH-C) and matrescence. My work centers on mothers and gestational parents whose entry into parenthood has been more complex than expected: a traumatic birth, medical complications, parenting a child with additional support needs, or the push and pull of professional life and new parenthood. I see individual clients across many seasons of life and for many reasons, but my heart and my focus are the perinatal and early-parenting transition. I'm a mom of two young kids, so I know the mixed feelings firsthand.
This is hard. You're not broken for needing help with it.
-Michelle Jones, MA, LMHC, PMH-C
Areas of focus
What we might work on together
Perinatal anxiety & PMADs
I'm a generalist across the full range of PMADs, with a special focus on perinatal anxiety: the racing thoughts, the 3 a.m. what-ifs, the vigilance that never clocks out. We'll honor what's helpful in it and help your nervous system find some ground.
Connection & relationships
Struggling to feel close to your partner or family, resentment, and a mental load that isn't shared evenly.
Difficult births & extra support needs
A traumatic birth or unexpected medical complications can leave intrusive memories and a sense that you're not quite yourself. And parenting a child with additional support needs brings its own layers: advocacy, worry, grief, fierce love, and exhaustion.
Burnout & parenting struggles
Feeling depleted, scattered, or oversaturated, finding it impossibly hard to stay regulated, or balancing professional life with new parenthood and the wobbly return from leave.
Grief, loss & infertility
Pregnancy loss, infant loss, infertility, and the quieter griefs of everything that's changed. All of it deserves to be tended.
Perinatal anxiety & PMADs
Complex childhood trauma that shows up in work and family life, big identity shifts, and faith transitions. Every question is welcome here.
Individual therapy
Consistent, reliable support, without turning your life upside down.
This is ongoing, one-on-one care shaped to your pace and your goals. We'll work on what matters to you, whether that's anxiety, relationships, grief, boundaries, or figuring out who you are underneath all the roles you play. Together, we create a space where the full experience of this season can be explored with depth, safety, and understanding.
What you get
53-minute virtual sessions, weekly to start
A consistent space that's just for you
Approaches tailored to you: attachment, somatic, EFT, IFS, psychodynamic, and trauma-informed
Room to hear yourself think, make sense of what you're feeling and where it feels familiar, and reframe it with self-compassion, from a more grounded place
Insight and guidance as your style of relating, to yourself and others, begins to shift
No pressure to “fix” yourself on anyone else's timeline
What we'll work on
Here's what you'll build.
Calm in the chaos
Ways to settle your nervous system, get curious about the anxious stories, and put a little space between what happens and how you react.
Boundaries without the guilt
Get clear on what you need and say it without apologizing for taking up space. Practice saying no without the guilt spiral.
Reconnecting with you
Rediscover who you are under all the roles: mother or parent, partner, adult child, worker. Rebuild trust in your own instincts.
Making sense of the past
Untangle old stories, family patterns, and hard birth experiences at your pace, without pushing faster than you're ready.
My model
How it works: try it on first.
Therapy is a relationship, and it deserves a real chance to fit. So every new client starts with a short trial before we talk about anything longer term.
1.
Free clarity call.
20 minutes to ask your questions, get a feel for my personality, clarify what support you need, and review logistics: rates, scheduling, and out-of-network benefits.
2.
Intake paperwork.
Complete your intake forms online before our first session, at whatever pace works between naps and school pickups.
3.
Four weekly sessions.
Session 1: we get to know your story, including your health history. Sessions 2 and 3: we focus on your supports and “try on” a few approaches to see what helps.
4.
Decide together.
In session 4, we check in on our fit and choose next steps together: ongoing, schedule-as-you-go care, or help getting connected with more specialized support.
What's to love about the trial
Feel what therapy with me is like before a longer commitment
A natural stopping point, with no cancellation fees and no awkward goodbye
If we're not the right fit, I'll share 3 quality referrals who may be a better direction
Why it makes therapy work better
Your nervous system gets time to feel safe with me and how I work
We check that my approach fits your goals and needs right now
Trust builds slowly, with you in the driver's seat, so the process never feels retraumatizing
Where this can lead
What you can walk away with
✓ A space that's just for you, so you stop carrying everything alone
✓ Steadier ground with anxiety, instead of white-knuckling every day
✓ Boundaries you can hold without the crushing guilt
✓ Lighter shoulders, from finally processing what you've been avoiding
✓ A reconnection with who you are under all the roles
✓ Trust in your own instincts, and decisions that feel right
How I work
Warm, honest, a little playful, and made to fit you.
I work creatively and collaboratively, drawing on attachment theory, British object relations, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotionally Focused Therapy, relational and psychodynamic therapy, and somatic work, all within a trauma-informed, strength-based, social justice lens.
Much of our sorrow is rooted in relationships from our past, and so is much of our healing: we're not meant to stay alone in our experience. We'll move in a gentle dance between what's hard right now and the earlier experiences that may be coloring it, so you can set down what's heavy and keep what's wise.
I'll sit with you in the heavy and hard moments with presence, tenderness, and hope, while helping you grow resilience and the ability to offer yourself grace. The work doesn't have to feel heavy, and there's room for laughter, play, and aliveness here, too.
Inside our work
Your own oxygen mask, first.
You're used to being on high alert to everyone else's needs. Part of our work, like the airlines say, is putting your own mask on before helping others.
We'll get back to noticing what your body is telling you through sensation, and what you're already doing, in slivers of time, that helps. Those become our collaborative springboard to sift through the swirl, and to hold the real tension that there is enough and never enough, all at once.
Together we'll widen your capacity for what's hard and your room for self-kindness, right where things are. We'll explore where you can connect, strengthen the connection bridges you already have, and tend to what gets in the way.
Reaching out can feel scary
Therapy with me can help because…
You don't have to have it all figured out before we meet. Some days it feels like sifting through rubble to find a path; other days the way is crystal clear. Either way, I'll walk it with you: sometimes leading, sometimes following your lead, sometimes right beside you asking, “What do you make of this?”
It's made for moms and caregivers tired of pretending
No color-coded feelings journal or tidy story required. You can show up a mess. That's kind of the point.
You set the pace
Some sessions we'll dig deep. Some sessions you'll just need to vent. Both count, and you decide what you need that session.
It's grounded, not robotic
Integrative, holistic approaches, no script, no buzzwords. We shape the work around your real, busy life, not a manual.
The sweet and the sad
Motherhood holds so much to savor, and so much to grieve.
There are so many sweet and proud moments: a sleepy giggle, a brave first, catching your partner's eye across the room and sharing that quiet “look what we made” kind of pride.
And there are griefs, too. The freedom, the sleep, the friendships, the body, the version of you that came before. The change brings things we miss.
We can explore it all.
Even the losses that feel like “little g” griefs are still grief, and they deserve to be tended as grief. Making room for them is what helps you integrate the change and be more present for the wholeness of what is.
What we inherit
What isn't processed gets passed on.
Becoming a mother invites us to look again at the inheritance we carry: how we were mothered, the family patterns, the unspoken rules. Therapeutic reflection is a chance to re-evaluate that inheritance, come to terms with it, and make intentional choices instead of repeating what you never chose.
Together we can ask the big questions:
How do I integrate who I was before with who I'm becoming?
Where do I want to be like my mom or parents, and where do I want to differentiate?
What do I want to take in and pass on, and what stops with me?
What we tend to can become a gift to the next generation.
Who I tend to work well with
Sound familiar?
The moms and caregivers who tend to thrive with me have often called themselves (or been called) qualities like:
Many are thoughtful, capable professionals and natural helpers, used to being strong for everyone else, who feel unexpectedly shaken by this parenting transition.
They're just beginning to dare to believe they're most helpful when they put their own oxygen mask on first.
A quick note on fit
Let's save you some sifting.
Finding a therapist can mean wading through a lot of jargon just to figure out who isn't right for you. So here it is, plainly.
I'm probably not your therapist if…
You'll be outside Washington State during sessions. I can only see clients who are physically in WA.
You're looking for support for a child or teen. I work with adults only.
You need an in-network provider. I'm out-of-network with all insurance companies.
You're in crisis right now, or recently had a psychiatric hospitalization. You deserve more support than weekly virtual sessions can offer, and I'm glad to help you find it.
You need court-mandated therapy or a forensic evaluation.
You want someone to just tell you what to do, without exploring why you're stuck.
You're hoping for a quick fix that doesn't ask anything of you.
I'm likely a great fit if…
You want steady, sustainable progress, not a quick fix or emotional overhaul.
You like a consistent rhythm of care that builds resilience over time.
You're functioning but exhausted, and you want support before you hit empty.
You identify as a mother or gestational parent, somewhere in this season: pregnancy, postpartum, or the early parenting years. (Professional helpers and caregivers often find we jive, too.) Most of the mothers and caregivers I work with arrive feeling anxious, burned out, grieving, or strained in their relationships, and many carry trauma from somewhere along the way.
If you're feeling stuck and want someone who'll be real with you, you're in the right place.
Is this you?
Has pregnancy or postpartum been far, far harder than you ever imagined?
Are you grieving a pregnancy loss, an infant loss, or infertility?
Is it impossibly hard to stay regulated as a parent, or to feel connected to yourself and others?
Are you ready to live with more authenticity, resonance, and alignment?
Do you want more access to that small, wise voice inside you that knows the way, but so often gets ignored?
You're in the right place, mama.
The investment
An investment that ripples outward
What you invest in yourself gives back to your partner, your kids, your family, and beyond.
Individual sessions: a tiered sliding scale, $175-$250 · 53 minutes
First session: your tier rate + $25 for the intake session
Finding your tier: a short, no-pressure guide on the Rates & FAQ page helps you choose what fits your season. Each December, we'll take a few minutes to revisit the guide together and make sure your tier is still a good fit.
Insurance
Out-of-network, made easier
This is a private pay practice, out-of-network with all insurance companies. Through Thrizer, you can check your benefits in about a minute, and eligible claims are filed for you after each session.
Common questions
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Individual therapy is for your own story: anxiety, identity, boundaries, your past. Process circles and retreats are for connection and community. Many moms and caregivers do both. We'll sort it out on your clarity call.
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Right now, I offer sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, starting at 9, 10, or 11 a.m. Depending on interest and my seasonal schedule, other weekday mornings or afternoons, and select Fridays, may open up. If you're curious, just ask. Folks typically schedule a couple of weeks in advance, and you can check current availability under “Request Appointment” on my Connect page.
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We'll start gently, with what brought you here, what's been feeling heavy, and what you're hoping for. You'll get a feel for how I work, and I'll get to know you a little, too. This session also begins your trial period: your first four paid sessions together, a chance for both of us to see how it feels to work together.
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Whatever you want. The real stuff: shifting moods, the inner critic, familiar family patterns, identity shifts, longings, connection. You choose how much to share, and when.
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Life with little ones happens, and I understand. As a way to honor the human in both of us, I ask for at least 24 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. Cancellations with less than 24 hours' notice are billed at 75% of your usual tier rate. If we can find another time that works for both of us that same week, I'm happy to waive the fee. The one exception is a death in your family or close circle. In those moments, please just take care of yourself and reach out when you can.
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Please tell me. Really, I want to know. This is a collaboration, something we co-create together, and your feedback is part of what makes our work more effective. We can adjust the approach, shift the focus, or, if it's not the right fit, I'll gladly help you find someone who is. Your growth matters more than my ego.
Still feeling torn?
I get it. Starting therapy feels vulnerable, and you might not be sure you “need” it enough to justify it. Here's what I know: you don't have to be falling apart to deserve support. Wanting to feel more like yourself is enough.
Not sure this is right for you? Want to ask questions before committing? Let's talk. No pressure, just clarity.