Psychotherapy for fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, birth trauma, and early parenthood
In person in San Francisco. Virtual throughout California.
Libby Orrick, LMFT, PMH-C
Many of the women I work with tell me, at some point, that they feel like they’re failing.
They are used to being able to think, plan, perform, and push through most things in life. Then they reach a period of transition when the tools and strategies they have relied on stop working.
Relationships, work, fertility, pregnancy, motherhood, and your sense of self can all shift in ways that expose the limits of control. You may find yourself facing uncertainty, competing needs, and physical or emotional limits that cannot be white-knuckled through. Some challenges have no perfect, or even good, answer. Sometimes decisions are made for you. The systems you have spent years developing may suddenly feel poorly suited to the life you are actually living.
It can be confusing when the life you chose and worked hard to build isn’t working out the way you thought it would. Powerful fantasies about how this stage of life is supposed to look are everywhere, and they invite constant comparison. But reality is far more complicated. You do not arrive here a blank slate. Your history comes with you. So do the ways you have learned to cope, the relationships that shaped you, and the expectations you carry for yourself.
Sometimes something is wrong and needs attention. Sometimes the difficulty comes from living through uncertainty, grief, or limits that have no solution. Part of therapy is figuring out which is which.
My work is to help you distinguish what is yours from what has been imposed or absorbed, and to see more clearly what can be changed and you may need to relate to differently. Together, we can recognize the patterns shaping your experience and develop ways of responding that fit the person you are and the life you have now.
My style is warm and relational. I like to blend humor, clinical knowledge, practical tools, and self-compassion into my work with clients. I believe the better we understand ourselves, the more grace we're able to extend to ourselves. And the kinder we are, the easier it is to shift patterns that no longer fit.
If you recognize yourself here, I hope you’ll reach out.
Specialty areas
Fertility can bring cycles of hope and grief, medical trauma layered with emotional trauma, and strain on your identity, relationships, and sense of time. It can take over enormous parts of your life while remaining largely invisible to the people around you, making an already difficult experience especially lonely.
Pregnancy and new parenthood can be deeply meaningful while also being psychologically, physically, and relationally demanding. This can look like anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, identity shifts, relationship strain, body changes, returning to work, or the persistent sense that you should be handling this better than you are.
Birth experiences do not always line up with expectations, and even when the outcome is a healthy baby, trauma can linger. Birth trauma can show up as intrusive memories, rumination, avoidance, guilt or shame, inability to share your birth story without crying, or feeling disconnected from your body. EMDR can help make the memory of the experience less triggering.
Ways we can work together
Virtual throughout California
Walk-and-talk sessions in the Presidio, when clinically appropriate
EMDR intensives in my office or virtually
In-home sessions for newly postpartum families in San Francisco and parts of Marin, depending on availability and clinical appropriateness
Fees
Individual sessions: $250 for 50 minutes
Conjoint couples sessions: $325 for 75 minutes
EMDR intensives: $500 for 90 minutes, $650 for 120 minutes, and $900 for 180 minutes
Have more questions? Visit my FAQ.