A Story: Birth Work Led Me to Become a Therapist.

Image captured by Cat Cutillo

Being a doula is the most transformative thing I have ever done. When I started, I had no idea how deeply it would impact my life.

I saw firsthand what it meant for someone to move through pregnancy, birth a baby into this world, have their identity change overnight, and become someone entirely new in postpartum.

I have witnessed the most joyous moments that make your cheeks rosy with oxytocin-filled delight.

I have also been present for the worst days of people’s lives.

Stories help us make sense of the past, and they shape how we move forward. As a doula, I was a part of hundreds of birth and postpartum stories.

What changed me most was having people tell me the truth. I learned how much harder it could be than anyone ever lets on. I saw people trying to make sense of everything happening inside of them while hardly having the energy to move forward.

Listening was always a large part of my doula work. One of the things clients told me most often was that having space to talk through their experience was one of the most helpful parts of my care.

Over time, though, I started to feel the limits of what I could offer.

There were moments when people were dealing with trauma, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, or experiences that needed more support than I was trained to provide as a doula. I also saw a gap in mental health care, especially for couples during the perinatal period. So much can happen to a relationship during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, and there is often very little space to make sense of it.

I wanted to do more with what people were sharing with me.

That is what led me to therapy.

During my clinical counseling training, I started learning the things I had been looking for. I learned more about why our brains respond the way they do, tools to help people regulate anxiety, ways to help people feel heard, and frameworks for helping couples communicate.

As a therapist, I’m proud to offer the support I have wanted to give for so long.