Perinatal Counselling and Psychology in the Sutherland Shire

In Australia, around one in five women experience anxiety, depression, or both during pregnancy or after birth. For some women, symptoms appear during pregnancy. For others, they emerge in the weeks or months after birth.

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At Evolving Minds Counselling and Psychology in Menai, our psychologists and counsellors provide perinatal counselling, sometimes called postnatal or postpartum counselling. We see clients from across the Sutherland Shire, including Miranda, Caringbah, Engadine, Sutherland and surrounding suburbs.

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What is perinatal mental health?

 

​Perinatal mental health refers to emotional and psychological experiences during pregnancy and after birth, including postnatal depression and postpartum anxiety. If you're seeking support for depression more generally, you can read about our depression counselling in the Sutherland Shire.

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How you feel during this time can be shaped by many things, including fertility challenges, pregnancy loss, a difficult or distressing birth, adjusting to a new baby, or changes in roles, responsibilities, and relationships within your family.

 

Changes in your body during and after pregnancy can also influence how you feel about yourself, including shifts in body image or eating patterns, which may connect with eating disorder counselling.

 

For some women, perinatal mental health is something they're navigating for the first time. For others, it connects with earlier experiences such as trauma, loss, or previous mental health concerns.​​

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What can perinatal mental health feel like?

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Some women notice:

• Persistent low mood or sadness

• Anxiety, worry, or panic

• Irritability or feeling on edge

• Intrusive thoughts 

• Feeling overwhelmed

• Disconnection from yourself, your baby, or others

• Difficulty sleeping, even when the baby is sleeping

• Guilt, inadequacy, or feeling unlike the parent you wanted to be

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When should you consider perinatal counselling?

 

Perinatal counselling provides a space to slow things down and talk through your experiences without judgement. It can help you make sense of what's happening, work through difficult emotions, and build practical strategies. Where relevant, counselling may also sit alongside relationship counselling, ​particularly where changes in connection or communication are part of the experience.

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What approaches do we use in perinatal counselling?

 

Our clinicians draw on evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and attachment-informed therapy, adapted to your experience and stage of life.

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For couples adjusting to the demands of new parenthood, approaches such as Gottman Method Couples Therapy may also be drawn on.

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Perinatal counselling with our psychologists in the Sutherland Shire

 

At Evolving Minds, our psychologists and counsellors regularly work with women and families through pregnancy, postnatal depression, anxiety, fertility challenges and early parenting. You can read more about each of our clinicians and their areas of focus on Our Team page.

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Where helpful, additional support outside of therapy can be found through PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia), a national helpline for expecting and new parents experiencing perinatal mental illness.

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Getting started

 

Appointments are available in person at our Menai practice and via secure online appointments across Australia.

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If you’re unsure where to begin, our Client Care Team can assist. Call 02 8519 4197 or use the button below to request an appointment.​​