THE NOURISHED MIND
Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy in Denver, CO
You've been holding everyone.
Let someone hold you for an hour a week.
Warm, specialized therapy for moms and birthers in Denver, and online across Colorado.
The Nourished Mind
"I don't want to feel like this for the rest of my life. I'm so tired."
That’s usually how it starts when someone calls me. Not with a diagnosis, and not with a tidy list of symptoms. Just exhaustion, and a fear that this is who you are now.
Here’s what nobody warns you about: your hormones tanked, your sleep is in pieces, and you’ve been running a household in your head since the day you got home from the hospital. You can be doing everything right and still feel like you’re going under.
It’s time to take care of you. Message me to begin.
- "I miss the person I used to be. The one with goals, and hobbies, and a brain that finished things."
- "I want him to take control of something. Just once. Without me having to ask."
- "I miss my mom. The version where I leaned on her, instead of the other way around."
- "I don't have the bandwidth for my sister's problems, and I have no idea how to say so."
- "I can't research my way out of this one, and that's never happened to me before."
- "I just want to sleep. And to feel okay in my body again."
If you nodded at any of those, you're in good company. Every one of those sentences has been said in my office.
Dr. Adrianne Sloan
PhD, CNHNCS
Clinical Health Psychologist, Certified Mental Health and Nutrition Clinical Specialist, & Owner
About The Nourished Mind
"Between the hormonal changes and sleep deprivation alone, I'm not sure how anyone makes it out of the postpartum time period without some bumps and bruises."
Most of the women who find me are convinced they should be handling this better. They shouldn’t. Your body has been running on high alert, on broken sleep, with more tabs open in your brain than anyone can hold. That’s the nervous system doing what it was built to do: protect you.
I came to this work because of this. I had my son at 40 and got completely humbled by it. The hormones, the sleep loss, the two years of breastfeeding, and perimenopause showing up right behind all of it. Before that, I spent 14 years as a Clinical Health Psychologist in medical settings, helping people through illness, grief, and change nobody chose.
So now we make room. I look at your sleep, your hormones, your food, your movement, and the people around you, because they all shape how you feel. Then we make small shifts in a direction you pick.
If you're tired of just getting through the day, I'd love to meet you.
The Nourished Mind
Maternal Mental Health Support | Denver, CO
What We’ll Work On Together
Postpartum Anxiety and Intrusive Thoughts
We’re not going to let anxiety run the show. We’ll work on the racing thoughts and on the thoughts that scare you enough that you’ve never said them out loud to anyone.
Postpartum Depression
For the heaviness, the flatness, and the mornings you’re already counting the hours until you can lie down again.
The Physical Side Nobody Warned You About
The tight chest, the headaches, the stomach that won’t settle. Anxiety, broken sleep, and hormone shifts show up in the body first, and the body is where we can start.
Postpartum Insomnia
The baby’s asleep, and you’re wide awake. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is built for times like this.
Maternal Rage
For the fury that arrives before you can stop it, and the shame that follows it around all day.
Birth Trauma and Grief After a Hard Birth
Trauma is like a lightbulb switched on inside your body. We won’t fight it. We’ll learn to dim it, so it stops running the room.
Childhood Trauma
Becoming a parent has a way of surfacing things from your own childhood. If that’s happening, it belongs here.
Postpartum Perfectionism
For the woman who spends two hours on one email. We’ll loosen the all-or-nothing grip, gently.
Feeling Disconnected From Your Baby
This is far more common than anyone admits out loud, and it’s not a verdict on your love. We’ll work on what’s underneath it.
Reconnecting With Your Partner
When you’re the manager of the household, it’s hard to feel like partners. We’ll work on the resentment, the asking, and the balance of it.
Boundaries That Hold
Holding a boundary is hard in the immediate. Long term, it’s how you protect your peace. We’ll practice both halves.
Caregiver Stress
A toddler on one side, an aging parent on the other, and a full-time job in the middle. If that’s your life, you belong here.
Finding Yourself Again
The books, the friendships, the goals, your own body. The parts of you that have nothing to do with feeds and nap schedules.
Pregnancy Anxiety, Loss, and Trying to Conceive
Care through the waiting, the worry, and the grief, particularly if there’s a loss behind you.
Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy | Denver, CO
How I Work With You
Everything I use is evidence-based, and I blend it to fit the person in front of me. Nothing here requires you to be organized, well-rested, or on top of things to get value from it.
1:1 Sessions, With Optional Joint Sessions
Our work is one-to-one. Sometimes the mental load, the resentment, or how your partner can support you goes faster with him in the room, so he’s welcome when it helps.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Room to have hard feelings and unwanted thoughts without them steering, so you can stay pointed at what matters to you.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Catching the anxious, self-critical commentary running underneath your day, and trading it for something kinder and more accurate.
Mindfulness-Based Approaches
Ways back to the present moment when you’ve got more tabs open in your brain than you’ve ever had.
Somatic Work and Guided Imagery
Body-first tools for a nervous system stuck on high alert, and for the chest, gut, and head symptoms that come with it.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
Research-based treatment for the nights when you’re exhausted and wide awake at the same time.
Understanding What's Happening
Get a simple explanation of your hormones, your sleep, and your brain right now, because PMAD symptoms get a lot less frightening once they make sense.
Our Approach
How Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy Works Here
Begin Your Story
Your birth, your pregnancy, your household, what's been happening. You set the pace, and you don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to tell me.
Name What You Want Back
Sleep. Your body. Your partner. Yourself. We name it, and we build a plan around your real life, not an ideal one.
Make Small Shifts That Hold
We build tools that survive a 3 AM feed and a hard day. I'll point out the progress you're too tired to see in yourself, because there's always some, and it's usually you who notices it last.
You're not broken when you get angry and rageful. You're overwhelmed. There's a difference. You're a good person who needs more support.
— Dr. Adrianne Sloan
Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy | Denver, CO
Questions About Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy
I don't feel like myself anymore. Will I ever feel normal again?
One of the hardest parts of becoming a parent is that life changes in ways you couldn’t have fully anticipated. Many people grieve the loss of their old identity while trying to embrace a new one at the same time.
Perinatal and postpartum therapy in Denver isn’t about getting back to who you were before, since life includes a new human now. It can help you build a version of yourself that feels a lot more aligned with who you want to be in this chapter.
How do I know if what I'm feeling is normal, or if I should get help?
Pregnancy and the postpartum time period bring enormous hormonal, physical, and emotional change. Feeling emotional and overwhelmed is part of that, and it’s common. Your hormones have tanked, your sleep is disrupted, and you have more tabs open in your brain than you’ve ever had before. Put it that way, and what you’re feeling is easy to call normal. If the distress, exhaustion, overwhelm, or rage has been going on longer than about two to four weeks, though, and it’s getting hard to engage with your partner or at work, getting help sooner rather than later can make all the difference. You don’t have to struggle through this, and research shows connection with your baby can feel so much better once the right support is in place.
I'm having scary, unwanted thoughts. Does that mean something is wrong with me?
No. Intrusive thoughts are very common during pregnancy and after childbirth. They’re frightening because they tend to involve the things you care about most. Having them does not mean you want to act on them, and it does not mean you’re a danger to your baby. Therapy for moms in Denver can help you understand why they occur and provide effective strategies to reduce the fear and distress they cause.
I'm constantly worrying about my baby. Is that postpartum anxiety?
Many new parents worry about their baby’s health and safety. Postpartum anxiety often feels different. It can involve persistent worry that’s hard to control, racing thoughts, physical tension or digestive upset, difficulty relaxing, or the sense that you’re always waiting for something bad to happen. Together, you and your perinatal and postpartum therapist in Denver can determine whether what you’re experiencing falls within typical adjustment or warrants more specific treatment.
Will therapy help, or do I just need more sleep and time?
Sleep and support are incredibly important, and many perinatal mental health concerns don’t simply disappear with time. Perinatal therapy gives you evidence-based strategies to reduce anxiety, improve mood, work through difficult experiences, strengthen your relationships, and rebuild confidence during a major life transition. Many clients begin noticing meaningful changes within the first several sessions. Call, text, or email me to learn more about the process.
Do you treat postpartum OCD?
Many of the moms I work with are dealing with postpartum OCD on some level, and we work with it together. It isn’t my specialty area, so if your case calls for more specialized care than I’m equipped to give, I’ll tell you and help you find the right person. I’d rather be honest about that on day one than have you spend months in the wrong room.
Can my partner come in?
Sometimes, yes. This work is built around you, and there are moments when having your partner in the room helps, particularly around communication, the mental load, and how they can support you well right now. We’ll talk about what makes sense for your situation.
Can therapy help if I'm still pregnant?
Yes. Perinatal covers pregnancy too. Anxiety during pregnancy, a loss behind you, fear about giving birth, and the weight of getting ready are all things we work on. Support during pregnancy can also lower the odds and the severity of postpartum symptoms later, which is something a lot of moms tell me they wish they’d known.
Do we meet in person or online?
Both. I’m in Cherry Tower in Denver, right behind Infinity Park, and I see clients online anywhere in Colorado. I do recommend at least one in-person visit to start, if you can manage it, since it’s a little easier to settle in with each other face-to-face.
How do I get started?
Book a free 15-minute consultation online, or call, text, or email me. We’ll talk about what’s going on, I’ll answer your questions, and we’ll see whether it feels like a good fit.
Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy | Denver, CO
What Moms Often Tell Me After Therapy
With time, consistency, and a commitment to the work, many women notice that they:
- Stop asking whether their feelings are normal or allowed
- Trust themselves as a parent
- Sleep better, and worry less in the hours they're awake
- Experience fewer intrusive thoughts, and less fear when they show up
- Can hold a boundary without drowning in guilt afterward
- Feel closer to their baby, and closer to their partner
- Feel more like themselves again
The Nourished Mind
How To Get Started
Everyone else has been taken care of. Your turn. Here’s how to begin:
Book online
Schedule your free consultation through my online booking platform.
Call, text, or email me
Let’s chat about what’s on your mind.
Send me a message
Fill out the contact form below, and I'll get back to you shortly.
Visit The Nourished Mind for Perinatal & Postpartum Therapy in Denver, CO
You’ll find me in Cherry Tower, right behind Infinity Park, with on-site parking. Bring the baby if you need to. I offer in-person perinatal and postpartum therapy in Denver, online therapy anywhere in Colorado, and in-home visits in certain situations.