Hope + Wellness

Postpartum depression + wellness

Therapy for postpartum depression, anxiety, adjustment and related challenges

You haven’t been feeling like yourself lately.

You’re excited to be a mom now but haven’t been feeling like yourself lately. It is as if a fog has fallen over you. It’s hard to know who to talk to about this — who can really understand, because there are so many feelings of anxiety and depression within you. You feel lonely, overwhelmed. Other times you feel anxious, irritable, with constant feelings of worry.

If you have been feeling this way, please know you are not alone. These feelings are natural. There is hope and you can feel like yourself again.

“I felt like a zombie. I couldn’t access my heart. I couldn’t access my emotions. I couldn’t connect. It was terrible. It was the exact opposite of what had happened when Apple was born. With her, I was on cloud nine. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t the same [after Moses was born]. I just thought it meant I was a terrible mother and a terrible person … About four months into it, Chris [Martin] came to me and said, ‘Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong.’ I kept saying, ‘No, no, I’m fine.’ But Chris identified it, and that sort of burst the bubble … The hardest part for me was acknowledging the problem. I thought postpartum depression meant you were sobbing every single day and incapable of looking after a child. But there are different shades of it and depths of it, which is why I think it’s so important for women to talk about. It was a trying time. I felt like a failure.”
— Gwenyth Paltrow

Kind, effective support for
postpartum adjustment + wellness

we support many women with postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, and postpartum adjustment concerns, with therapy individually tailored and focused on you.

Therapy can help you feel like yourself again. Find kind, effective care and connection completely focused on you and your transition to motherhood. We are here to provide you with a safe, compassionate non-judgmental space — where you will feel truly supported.

We can help you with:

  • Fertility Issues and Reproductive Challenges

  • Grief and Anxiety After Miscarriage

  • Prenatal Depression

  • Prenatal Anxiety

  • Postpartum Depression

  • Postpartum Anxiety

  • Prenatal and Postnatal OCD

  • Peripartum Depression, Anxiety, and Mood Concerns

  • Breastfeeding Challenges

  • Identity Concerns

  • Birth Trauma

  • Postpartum Struggles with Body Image

  • Relationship, Marital Stress and Concerns

  • Attachment Concerns, Struggles, and Fears

  • Intergenerational Trauma Related to Being a Mom

“I had really bad postpartum depression after I had my son, and it frightened me. … My knowledge of postpartum — or postnatal, as we call it in England — is that you don’t want to be with your child; you’re worried you might hurt your child; you’re worried you weren’t doing a good job. But I was obsessed with my child. I felt very inadequate; I felt like I’d made the worst decision of my life. … It can come in many different forms.”
— Adele

There is hope.

we are passionate about providing you with a supportive therapy space that is genuine and authentic — where you truly feel cared for. a space that is human and compassionate, where you feel deeply seen and accepted.

There is something beautiful inside you — something which has always been there. Therapy with Hope+Wellness can help you discover and connect to this strength and beauty within — this place inside you which will help you get through this. With support, you will feel connected to yourself again and find meaning in your new identity.

With Hope+Wellness, you’ll receive compassionate care and support, personalized and tailored just for you. We use evidence-based therapies drawing from cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectic behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and more.

We will work together to help you:

  • ​Feel confident and effective as a mom

  • Exploring ways to find your authentic voice as a mom and person

  • Identify, voice, and gain insight into your emotions

  • Develop helpful coping skills for depression and anxiety

  • Improve sleep and overall wellness

  • Connect to yourself and life again

  • ​Find peace and joy

  • Communicate your needs with others, including your own parents, in-laws, and partner

  • Manage moods and irritability

  • Find and connect to support

  • Let go of guilt, shame, and embarassment

  • Cultivate an open and supportive space just for you, where you feel understood, heard, seen, and supported completely for being you

  • Connect to supportive and helpful resources

  • Engage in self-care given all the limited time you have

It is important that you find the therapist that is the best fit for you. Therefore, we invite you to learn more about us, read our blog, and to read about getting started and frequently asked questions. When you are ready, you can reach out to us to ask a question or to schedule an initial consultation appointment.

“Having kids is wonderful, and life changing, and rarely what you’re prepared for. I love my children more than anything in the world. But like a lot of women, I too struggled with postpartum depression after my first baby was born. I got help, and made it through, and every day since has been the best gift I could ever have asked for. To those of you going through this, know that you’re not alone and that it really does get better.”
— Sarah Michelle Gellar

You are not alone. We are here to help.

Hope+Wellness provides therapy for maternal mental health including prenatal and postnatal depression and anxiety, as well as fertility and reproductive challenges. We serve Falls Church, McLean, and Arlington, as well as Tysons Corner, Vienna, Reston, Great Falls, Fairfax, Merrifield, and Alexandria, as well as Washington DC and Maryland. In person and telehealth services are available.

We provide exceptional psychotherapy services to empower people to live happier, healthier lives. Our services are grounded in evidence-based treatments that suggest an important interconnectedness between mind, body, life experience, and wellness, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based therapies. We will work together to help you heal and develop the skills to live fully aware, fully resilient, fully peaceful, mindful, and alive.