Summit Counselling Services — Specialty
Postpartum & Perinatal Mental HealthYou are not alone — and you are not failing.
Pregnancy and new parenthood are supposed to be the happiest times of your life. When they're not — or when they're both beautiful and devastating at once — it can feel like the loneliest place in the world. We're here for that.
About Perinatal Mental Health
Nobody warns you the way they should.
They tell you it's hard. They might mention the sleeplessness. But they don't tell you that you might feel nothing when you expected to feel everything. They don't tell you that the intrusive thoughts can be so frightening you're afraid to say them out loud. They don't tell you that the birth itself can leave a mark that doesn't look like what anyone calls trauma.
Perinatal and postpartum mental health conditions are among the most common — and most undertreated — health concerns affecting new parents. In Canada, approximately 1 in 4 birthing parents will experience a perinatal or postpartum mood or anxiety disorder. And yet the silence around them means many people suffer alone, convinced something is uniquely wrong with them.
Nothing is uniquely wrong with you. What you are experiencing has a name, a mechanism, and a path through it. Our perinatal specialists are here to walk that path with you — whether you're struggling with infertility, a difficult pregnancy, birth trauma, postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, or the identity shifts that come with becoming a parent.
"Rarely do people talk about the hard parts of trying to conceive, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Which may make you feel alone. You are not."
What We Support
Perinatal & postpartum concerns we work with
The perinatal window spans from conception through the first year postpartum. We support the full range of experiences that can arise within it.
Infertility & Pregnancy Loss
The grief of infertility and pregnancy loss is profound and frequently minimized. Whether you're navigating IVF, recurrent loss, or the complex emotions of trying to conceive, you deserve care that honours what you're carrying.
Prenatal Anxiety & Depression
Anxiety and depression during pregnancy are more common than postpartum depression — and far less discussed. Hormonal shifts, vulnerability, and major life transition create the conditions for significant psychological distress that deserves attention before birth.
Postpartum Depression
More than the baby blues — postpartum depression is persistent, deep, and does not resolve without support. It can look like sadness, numbness, rage, or disconnection from your baby. All of these presentations are real and treatable.
Postpartum Anxiety
Postpartum anxiety is actually more common than postpartum depression, and significantly underrecognized. The hypervigilance, racing thoughts, inability to rest, and physical symptoms of anxiety in new parents deserve the same attention.
Postpartum OCD & Intrusive Thoughts
Intrusive, distressing thoughts about harm coming to your baby are more common than people realize — and the distress they cause is evidence of how much you care, not of danger. This is treatable and you don't have to carry it alone.
Birth Trauma
Birth trauma is defined by your experience, not the medical chart. If your birth felt frightening, out of control, or physically overwhelming — and if you're still carrying it — that experience deserves support regardless of how it looked from the outside.
The Fourth Trimester
The immediate weeks after birth — the identity shifts, the physical recovery, the relationship changes, the sleep deprivation — can be profoundly disorienting. Therapy during this window can be one of the most valuable investments you make in this transition.
Relationship & Parenting Stress
New parenthood is one of the highest-stress transitions a relationship navigates. Conflict over parenting styles, changes in intimacy, shifting roles, and the pressure of blended families all benefit from skilled support — for individuals and for couples.
Identity & Attachment
Becoming a parent changes who you are. The shift in identity — what researchers call "matrescence" or "patrescence" — can be disorienting even when everything is going well. Therapy helps you find yourself inside the new role.
Who We Work With
Perinatal support for every kind of parent
Perinatal mental health concerns don't only affect birthing parents. We provide support across every family configuration.
Birthing Parents
- Pregnancy anxiety and depression
- Postpartum depression, anxiety, and OCD
- Birth trauma and PTSD
- Infertility and pregnancy loss
- Fourth trimester adjustment
- Identity shifts and matrescence
- Breastfeeding stress and difficulties
Partners & Dads
- Paternal postpartum depression
- Supporting a partner with PPD or anxiety
- Birth trauma as a witness
- Relationship changes and role adjustment
- Anxiety about parenting
- Secondary traumatic stress
Families Navigating Infertility
- IVF and assisted reproduction grief
- Recurrent pregnancy loss
- Anticipatory anxiety during pregnancy after loss
- Grief without a living child
- The emotional weight of the journey
All Family Configurations
- Same-sex parents and LGBTQIA+ families
- Adoptive and foster parents
- Single parents
- Blended families welcoming a new baby
- Parents using surrogacy or donors
Our Approach
Therapy your way — built around you
At Summit, we believe in therapy that's customized to your needs — not a one-size-fits-all program. Our perinatal specialists take the time to understand your unique story, your family's circumstances, and what you actually need from this support.
We recognize the differences and unique perspectives each person brings to therapy. Whether you're a first-time parent overwhelmed by a new identity, a parent navigating a second pregnancy after loss, or a couple working through the relational impact of infertility — we meet you where you are.
Sessions are available in person at our Edmonton Brewery District, St. Albert, and Windermere locations, and virtually for clients anywhere in Alberta.
Therapeutic Approaches
How our perinatal therapists work
Our perinatal specialists draw on a range of evidence-based approaches — tailored to what each person needs at each stage of their journey.
EMDR
Particularly effective for birth trauma and traumatic perinatal experiences. EMDR helps the brain process overwhelming memories so they no longer intrude on the present — often producing meaningful relief in fewer sessions than talk-based approaches alone.
Somatic Experiencing
Birth and new parenthood are profoundly physical experiences. Somatic approaches work with the body's held stress and trauma responses — especially helpful for birth trauma, hypervigilance, and the physical symptoms of perinatal anxiety.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps identify and challenge the thought patterns that drive postpartum anxiety, OCD, and depression — including the catastrophizing and self-blame that so often accompany perinatal mental health struggles.
Gottman Couples Therapy
New parenthood is one of the most stressful transitions a relationship navigates. Gottman-informed couples therapy helps partners rebuild connection, navigate conflict, and develop a shared approach to this new chapter.
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
EFT helps access and process the deeper emotional experience underneath perinatal symptoms — the grief, the fear, the identity loss, the love that coexists with difficulty. Particularly valuable for the complex emotional terrain of new parenthood.
Solution Focused Therapy (SFT)
For parents who want to focus on building practical skills and coping strategies in the here and now, solution-focused approaches offer efficient, actionable support that can be integrated into even the most demanding newborn schedule.
Common Questions
Perinatal mental health — your questions answered
Our Specialists
Therapists specializing in perinatal & postpartum care
The clinicians below have specific training and experience supporting people through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Start with a free 15-minute consultation — no commitment, just a conversation.
Further Reading
From our blog
Explore our perinatal and postpartum mental health resources from the Summit Counselling blog.
Related Support
Other areas we work with
Help is here. And your first call is free.
You don't have to wait until things get worse to reach out. A free 15-minute consultation is all it takes to find the right fit and take the first step.
We acknowledge that our practice is located in Treaty 6 territory, on the traditional lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Métis, and Nakota Sioux Peoples, including our Brewery District office in Wîhkwêntôwin ᐄᐧᐦᑫᐧᐣᑑᐃᐧᐣ (Oliver). We recognize that healing and reconciliation is a responsibility shared by all.