Perinatal Counselling
Therapeutic Support Throughout Your Reproductive Journey
Becoming a parent, or trying to, can be one of the most emotionally significant times in a person's life. Many people feel far less prepared for it than they expected, wondering why no one told them it would feel like this.
Perinatal counselling at Counselling & Co. supports individuals and couples through pregnancy, postpartum, infertility, loss, birth trauma, and everything that comes with becoming and being a parent. Our approach centres on Emotionally Focused Therapy, and some of our therapists also draw on Brainspotting or EMDR.
When the Weight of It Starts to Show Up
You love your baby, and you miss who you were before. Perinatal counselling can help when you are navigating:
Infertility and IVF
Prenatal Anxiety
Ambivalence and Unplanned Pregnancy
Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR)
Postpartum Anxiety
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum Rage
Intrusive Thoughts
Bonding and Attachment Challenges
Identity Shifts and Loss of Self
Relationship Changes After Baby
Parental Burnout
How We Work Through It Together
There is no shortage of advice during this time: what to eat, how to sleep, what kind of parent to be. Very little of it touches the underlying emotional experience.
We are not here to hand you more strategies. We slow things down and get curious about what is actually happening, in your body, your relationships, and the patterns that keep repeating.
You do not need to be fixed. You need to be understood. That can look like the anxiety beginning to quiet, or the distance between you and your partner starting to close.
Perinatal Counselling for Every Stage
Perinatal counselling here is not limited to postpartum depression or a specific diagnosis. It is for the full emotional experience of this time, from infertility through early parenthood. Wherever you are in it, we meet you there.
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Infertility, IVF, and the emotional toll of assisted reproduction can be exhausting in ways that are hard to explain to people who have not lived it. We help you carry the waiting, the hoping, and the grief that can come with it.
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Prenatal anxiety, ambivalence, or complicated feelings about an unplanned pregnancy are more common than most people say out loud. You do not have to feel certain or grateful the whole time to deserve support.
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Pregnancy loss, stillbirth, infant loss, and termination for medical reasons carry a grief that does not always fit the space people make for it. Birth trauma, when the experience did not unfold the way you had hoped, deserves the same care.
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Postpartum depression, anxiety, or rage is one of the most common reasons people reach out once their baby has arrived. Our postpartum counselling page focuses on that stage specifically.
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Identity shifts, relationship strain, and parental burnout do not always show up right away. Sometimes it is the quieter exhaustion of years later, long after people have stopped asking how you are doing. Couples counselling may also help if the transition to parenthood is straining your relationship.
Perinatal Counselling in Oakville and Across Ontario
Counselling & Co. offers in-person perinatal counselling in Oakville and Tillsonburg, and virtual therapy across Ontario, with therapists trained across the full range of perinatal experiences.
Initial sessions are 90 minutes, with ongoing sessions typically 60. Some people come in person because being in the room matters. Others start virtually because it's more accessible right now.
When You Are Ready, We Are Here
If this time is harder than you expected, that is enough. You do not need a diagnosis to reach out. Our complimentary 15-minute Meet and Greet is a low-pressure way to connect and see whether the fit feels right. We would be honoured to be part of your village right now.
Perinatal Counselling Therapists
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Karrie Carlos
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Questions About Perinatal Counselling
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Perinatal counselling is therapy for the emotional experience of pregnancy, birth, postpartum, infertility, loss, and the transition into parenthood. At Counselling & Co., the work goes beneath symptom management to the deeper shifts in identity and relationship this time brings.
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Perinatal counselling covers every stage, from fertility through the transition into parenthood, including postpartum. If postpartum is specifically where you are right now, our postpartum counselling page goes deeper into that stage.
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Anyone navigating infertility, birth trauma, pregnancy loss, postpartum depression or rage, or the relational impact of becoming a parent.
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Yes. Some couples attend together and others begin individually, working through what infertility, loss, or the transition into parenthood has done to the relationship.
Unsure where to start with Perinatal Counselling? We’re Here to Help
Choosing to reach out is a big first step, and you don’t have to figure out what comes next on your own. Our Client Care Coordinator is here to answer your questions and help you get connected with a therapist.
Please fill out the form below to get started.