Specialist perinatal mental health care

Perinatal Psychology was established by Dr Kelly Kerrisk in response to the identification of an overwhelming need for more access to high quality therapy and support services for those navigating the journey into parenthood. 

Dr Kelly, a clinical psychologist, works alongside therapists from other professional backgrounds including psychotherapy, counselling, and somatic therapy who have specialty training in perinatal and infant mental health. As specialists in this area we are aware that people can experience a range of challenges and difficulties over this time including anxiety, depression, and more general adjustment difficulties to becoming a parent, including strain on the couple relationship. Also sometimes things don't go to plan during pregnancy and birth which can lead to distress, grief, problems with constantly thinking about / reliving the experience, and trouble with bonding / attachment to baby. Having a space to talk through and address these issues can be extremely important in the healing process and for establishing a strong foundation for secure parent-child attachment.

Whatever stage you are at, whether just starting to think about concieving, struggling with fertility, or your baby is not such a baby anymore, (or anywhere in between) we are here to help!

Normalising and validating support

Pregnancy and becoming a parent (including pathways such as adoption or surrogacy) are times of great change and can have profound impacts emotionally, psychologically, and on relationships, as well as physically. 

We hear so often from parents who think they are doing something wrong or that there is something wrong with them when their experience doesn’t live up to the portrayals of parenthood they see around them as being a wonderful and magical time. In fact for many (if not the majority) of parents and families, the transition is far more complex and involves a range of sometimes quite conflicting feelings and experiences. Many parents do not experience an "instant" love for their babies, many others struggle with feelings of being trapped by the demands of parenthood, grieve the loss of their pre-child selves (including changes to independence, finances, roles with the home), experience feelings of loneliness and isolation etc. Potential parents may experience grief that their fertility journey was not as expected, be conflicted about a pregnancy, struggle with a loss, fear for future pregnancies, experience shame and guilt for uncomfortable thoughts and feelings etc.

As experienced clinicians (and parents ourselves) we know  how common these struggles are and we are passionate about supporting you in working through them. We are here to normalise that both parents and the perinatal journey come in all varieties - if you’re experiencing it we’ve almost certainly heard it before and we can support you to feel less alone, understand your experience more, develop skills and strategies (if needed), and foster self-compassion toward yourself.