The Mental Load is Breaking Mothers: How it’s Contributing to Poor Maternal Mental Health

Motherhood is often painted as a picture of joy, love, and fulfillment. But beneath the surface, many mothers—especially high-achieving women—are silently drowning under the weight of the mental load. This invisible labour of managing the family’s needs, schedules, emotional well-being, and household responsibilities is taking a significant toll on maternal mental health. And yet, it remains largely unrecognized and unaddressed. In this blog post, we will explore what the mental load is, its impact, and a few small steps to consider to release its burden.

Honouring You Post-Pregnancy Body: A Journey of Self-Love and Acceptance

The journey of pregnancy and childbirth is transformative, not just in terms of the birth of a child but also in how it affects a woman’s body. After giving birth, it’s common to feel a complex mix of emotions about the changes your body has undergone. From new curves and marks to the physical aftermath of delivery, it's natural to experience uncertainty, but it's important to remember that your body is a testament to strength, resilience, and the creation of life.

“I Didn’t Know What Was Happening.” Returning to Work After Maternity Leave: When You Don’t Feel Like Yourself.

You knew going back to work after maternity leave would be hard, but maybe you didn’t expect this. The exhaustion that doesn’t lift no matter how much coffee you drink. The brain fog that makes simple tasks feel overwhelming. The sense that your body feels disconnected from yourself—like you're physically present but mentally and emotionally stretched thin.

Grief and the Body: Understanding Physical Effects of Loss

Grief is often thought of as an emotional experience — a deep, aching pain in the heart, a sadness that can seem unbearable. We tend to focus on the emotional toll of loss, but what about the way grief manifests in our physical bodies? The connection between mind and body is incredibly powerful, and the effects of grief extend far beyond our emotions. In fact, the body can react in profound and sometimes surprising ways when we experience loss.

Perinatal Mental Health and High-Achieving Women: When Trauma Shows Up in Motherhood

For high-achieving women, motherhood often brings a mix of joy, transformation, and unexpected challenges. The perinatal period—pregnancy and the first year postpartum—is a time of immense physical, emotional, and psychological change. But for women who have spent their lives striving for excellence, this transition can also unearth hidden trauma responses, including over-functioning and perfectionism.

How EMDR Therapy Can Help Pregnant Women Overcome the Fear of Giving Birth

Pregnancy is a transformative time, filled with excitement, anticipation, and sometimes, fear. For some women, the fear of childbirth can be overwhelming, making it difficult to fully enjoy pregnancy or prepare for labour and delivery. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy offers a powerful, evidence-based approach to help expectant mothers process and heal from past trauma, alleviate anxiety, and approach birth with greater confidence and calm.

The Problem with Sleep Regressions: How Labels Fuel Parental Anxiety

Sleep is one of the most talked-about topics in early parenthood, and for good reason—when a baby isn’t sleeping, neither are their parents. In recent years, the term “sleep regression” has gained traction as a way to describe periods when an infant’s sleep patterns shift, often becoming more disrupted. While this concept was initially meant to reassure parents that sleep disruptions are normal, it has, in many ways, done the opposite.

The Importance of Culturally Informed Therapy for Perinatal Mental Health

Perinatal mental health—the emotional and psychological well-being of individuals during pregnancy and postpartum—is deeply influenced by cultural beliefs, values, and expectations. Yet, mental health care often takes a one-size-fits-all approach that does not account for the unique ways different cultures experience, express, and cope with perinatal challenges. Culturally informed therapy is essential in addressing these nuances, ensuring that parents receive the most relevant and effective support during this transformative period.