PREGNANCY & POSTPARTUM COUNSELLING | GOLD COAST & ONLINE
The transition to motherhood is not always as you hoped.
“I knew nothing about the emotional and psychological transition that follows birth. I had no idea that something was happening to my brain - that it was literally changing shape. I had no idea what was coming: the anxiety, the life-exploding romance, the guilt, the transcendence, the terror, the psychedelia, the loss of control, the rupture of self.”
- Lucy Jones - author ‘Matrescence’
DOES ANY OF THIS RESONATE?
The motherhood journey can bring experiences that are hard to name, let alone share…
I'm already worried I won't be a good enough mother
I feel like my body isn't mine anymore
Am I actually ready for this?
I miss my old life and I hate myself for it
I love my baby, but I don't always like being a mother
What if I hurt my baby?
I'm so angry and I don't know why
Everyone else is coping. I'm not.
If I say any of this out loud, they'll think I'm a bad mother
No matter the reason, you deserve a space to be heard… your experience will be held here…
WHAT I SUPPORT
Providing support on any point of your adjustment to motherhood…
Many women find motherhood filled with unexpected challenges.
The motherhood journey can bring experiences that are hard to name, let alone share.
You may recognise what your feeling amongst the experiences that women seek out support for.
No matter what your path, you will be seen here.
fear of pregnancy or birth
navigating unexpected prenatal diagnosis
prematurity & NICU admission
pregnancy after previous pregnancy loss or birth trauma
past trauma being triggered by pregnancy and parenting
navigating your identity transformation of ‘matrescence’
adjustment to parenting/motherhood
bonding with your baby
perinatal emotional & mental wellbeing
prenatal + postnatal anxiety + depression
building greater emotional regulation & resilience in early parenting
creating more connection with yourself, your body & others
PREGNANCY
Pregnancy can be a lot. And not just in the ways the world talks about.
Beneath the appointments, the announcements, the growing belly — something else is happening. Emotions that catch you sideways. A quiet sense that you are already becoming someone different. Old wounds surfacing at the worst possible moments.
For some women, a past loss or trauma casts a long shadow over this time. For others, it is the birth itself sitting at the centre of a fear they can barely name out loud.
And all the while, the world stays focused on the excitement. The nursery. The due date. The bump.
What you are actually carrying rarely has room to be noticed.
Counselling during pregnancy offers you that space. To put it all down. To speak honestly about what is really moving through you — without having to manage how it lands for everyone else.
You don't have to perform ‘being fine’ here.
Whatever this pregnancy is bringing up — the grief, the fear, the ambivalence, the love that already terrifies you — there is space for all of it.
You're in the right place.
UNEXPECTED PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS
You didn't expect this conversation.
Maybe it started with a routine scan. A number that was slightly off. A referral you told yourself not to worry about. And then — suddenly — you found yourself sitting with news that changed everything.
An unexpected prenatal diagnosis can land like the ground has shifted beneath you. The confusion, the shock, the weight of what comes next — it is a lot to hold. And you are likely holding it while the world around you has no idea.
There are no right feelings here. Only yours.
If you are facing screening results, a difficult finding, or decisions you never imagined having to make — this is a space where you don't have to have it figured out. Where nothing is rushed, and nothing is judged.
I offer non-directive, deeply compassionate support as you navigate what this means for you and your family. Whatever your values, your beliefs, your circumstances — my role is not to guide you toward a particular outcome. It is to walk alongside you as you find your own way through.
And that support doesn't end once a decision is made.
Whether you choose to continue your pregnancy or to end it, what follows is its own journey. One that deserves real, unhurried care. The grief, the relief, the love, the loss — whatever arises for you — there is space for all of it here.
You don’t have to carry this alone….
GHOSTS IN THE NURSERY
Becoming a mother has a way of opening doors you didn't know were still closed.
For many women, the postpartum period brings more than sleepless nights and new routines. It brings feelings — anxiety that feels bigger than the moment, a tenderness for the little girl you once were, or an ache that's hard to name. Old patterns. Old wounds. The echoes of how you were held — or not held — as a child.
This is what psychologist Selma Fraiberg called "ghosts in the nursery" — the way your past quietly enters the room when you hold your baby. And it makes sense. Matrescence, the profound identity transformation of becoming a mother, has a way of bringing what is unresolved to the surface.
This isn't a sign that something is wrong with you. It's a sign that something in you is ready to be seen.
Blending attachment theory, somatic experiencing, and a deep understanding of matrescence, we work with what your nervous system is carrying — not just your thoughts — to support real, lasting change. For you. And for the little one looking up at you.
YOUR EXPERIENCE OF MOTHERHOOD… AND WHAT COMES AFTER BIRTH…
Becoming a mother doesn't just change your life. It changes you.
This shift has a name — matrescence. And it is one of the most profound, disorienting, and under-acknowledged transitions a woman will ever move through. Not just physically. Not just practically. But at the very core of who you are.
It can feel raw. Confusing. Like you no longer recognise the woman looking back at you.
Fierce love tangled up with unexpected grief. Profound joy sitting right alongside quiet devastation. A deep tenderness for your baby — and an ache for the self you used to know.
Both things are real. Both are allowed.
And yet — on the outside, most women are holding it together. Performing fine. Smiling in the photos. Because who would understand?
That gap between what you are showing the world and what you are actually feeling is exhausting. And lonely in a way that is hard to put into words.
What you are experiencing is not a sign that you are doing it wrong. It is not a character flaw or a failure of love. It is a sign that you are in the middle of something enormous — something that asks everything of you, and reshapes how you see yourself, your body, your relationships, and your place in the world.
Matrescence deserves to be witnessed.
You deserve to be witnessed.
“Maia holds space with a rare blend of reverence, fierce loyalty, tenderness, and deep compassion, in a time where women are so often left to navigate the “haunted postpartum halls” alone.
Maia creates a space where you can meet yourself with that same level of care, safety, and understanding, without reliving the story, and without needing to find the “right” words..
”
ALSO LOOKING FOR SUPPORT WITH
Other areas I specialise in
01
Birth Trauma
For women whose birth left them with more than they expected to carry — whether it was weeks ago or years have passed.
02
Perinatal grief & loss
Miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, newborn and infant loss — the grief that is often invisible, and rarely well supported.
03
Fertility & Infertility
The emotional, psychological, and identity toll of the fertility journey — including IVF, reproductive trauma, and the body that feels like it has failed you.
READY TO BEGIN?
You are not meant to carry this alone
The first step is a free 15–20 minute intake call. We'll talk about where you are, how I work, and whether this feels like the right fit. Whatever stage of the journey you're at, there is support here.
Or reach out directly