Pregnancy, postpartum, and the transition into parenthood can bring some of life’s most meaningful moments, and some of its most difficult ones. Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, birth trauma, identity changes, grief, or simply feeling unlike yourself, you don’t have to navigate it alone.
You Don’t Have to Feel Like Yourself Right Now
The perinatal period—from pregnancy through postpartum and beyond—can bring enormous physical, emotional, and relational changes. Sometimes the experience looks very different from what you expected.
You may love your baby deeply and still feel overwhelmed. You may find yourself constantly worrying, struggling with intrusive thoughts, feeling disconnected from yourself, grieving the birth or postpartum experience you hoped for, or wondering why something that was “supposed” to be joyful feels so hard.
At Wild Roots Counseling Services, we provide a supportive, nonjudgmental space to talk honestly about what you’re experiencing and help you feel more grounded, understood, and connected to yourself again.
Perinatal Mental Health Support
Perinatal mental health concerns can look different for everyone. We support clients through a wide range of experiences before, during, and after pregnancy, including:
- Pregnancy and postpartum anxiety
- Pregnancy and postpartum depression
- Intrusive or unwanted thoughts
- Birth trauma and difficult birth experiences
- Pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and grief
- Infertility and fertility-related stress
- Difficult or complicated pregnancies
- NICU experiences
- Adjusting to motherhood and identity changes
- Feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or “not like yourself”
- Parenting stress and relationship changes
- Anxiety related to your baby’s health or your own health
- Returning to work after having a baby
- Processing previous pregnancy, birth, or postpartum experiences
You don’t need to have a diagnosis—or even know exactly what’s wrong—to reach out for support.
Specialized Care for Pregnancy & Postpartum
Perinatal mental health deserves specialized care. The emotional challenges that can arise during pregnancy and postpartum are often intertwined with significant physical changes, shifting relationships, changing identities, sleep disruption, feeding decisions, birth experiences, and the enormous adjustment that comes with caring for a new baby.
At Wild Roots Counseling Services, we understand that becoming a parent doesn’t happen in isolation from the rest of your story. Past experiences, trauma, relationships, expectations, and the way you learned to care for yourself and others can all show up during this season of life.
Our goal isn’t to tell you how you should feel about motherhood. It’s to create a space where you can be honest about how you actually feel—and help you understand what’s happening, process difficult experiences, develop tools for managing overwhelming emotions, and reconnect with yourself.
Perinatal Mental Health Expertise
Wild Roots Counseling Services is led by Mandy Herberholz, LPCC-S, who holds a Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International and has specialized training and experience working with individuals during pregnancy, postpartum, and the transition to parenthood. Perinatal mental health and maternal mental health advocacy are central areas of focus within her practice.
What Can Perinatal Therapy Look Like?
Therapy during pregnancy and postpartum is not one-size-fits-all. What we focus on will depend on what you’re experiencing, what you need, and what feels most helpful to you.
Sometimes therapy may focus on learning practical tools for managing anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or overwhelming emotions. Other times, we may explore identity changes, relationships, boundaries, expectations of motherhood, or patterns from your own upbringing that are showing up as you become a parent.
When trauma is part of your story—whether from a difficult birth, pregnancy loss, medical experience, or something that happened long before pregnancy—we can also incorporate trauma-focused approaches when appropriate. Our clinicians draw from evidence-based and trauma-informed approaches including EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and elements of Internal Family Systems (IFS).
Most importantly, therapy is collaborative. You don’t have to walk into your first appointment knowing exactly what you need or where to begin. We’ll figure that out together.
When Should I Reach Out for Support?
You don’t have to wait until things feel unbearable to ask for help. If pregnancy, postpartum, or parenthood feels harder than you expected—or you’re noticing that anxiety, sadness, intrusive thoughts, overwhelm, or a difficult experience is affecting your ability to feel like yourself—it may be a good time to reach out.
Therapy can also be helpful when you’re functioning on the outside but struggling internally. You deserve a place where you don’t have to minimize what you’re experiencing or convince anyone that it’s “bad enough” to need support.
Ready to Get Started?
Reaching out can feel like a big step, especially when you’re already carrying a lot. We’re here to make getting started as simple as possible.
Wild Roots Counseling Services provides perinatal and postpartum therapy in Bismarck, North Dakota, as well as telehealth services for clients located throughout North Dakota.
Ready when you are. Contact Wild Roots Counseling Services