Partners and Families

When we think about perinatal and reproductive mental health, most people tend to assume we are talking about new moms. However, perinatal and reproductive mental health concerns impact everyone within the family system. Research in the past decade has shown that up to 1 in 10 new fathers experience postnatal mood disorders (Paulson & Bazemore, 2010). Also, LGBTQ families might experience increased vulnerability to stress and mental health challenges due to societal stigma, discrimination, and lack of support. Regardless of the family structure, the process of adding a new member to the family is an immense shift in identity and roles within the family system that is likely to cause stress and overwhelm.

At Wildflower we celebrate and respect family diversity. We believe that all members of the family system - including fathers, gay and lesbian partners, and transgender partners - deserve to receive robust support during these stressful times. All clinicians at Wildflower regularly engage in specialized training and address the following themes:

• The experience of partners as they navigate various aspects of transition to parenthood
• Psychiatric disorders including postpartum depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder in partners
• Assessment of risk followed by therapy to reduce risk of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders for partners
• Coping with the experience of being a partner and co-parent when your loved one is experiencing mental health challenges
• Shifts in identity and roles
• Current relationship stress; mitigating relational stress and conflict via couples and family counseling
• Navigating life as a couple or single parent following birth of the first (or another) baby
• Parenting infants and young children
• Sex, sexuality, and intimacy concerns during the transition to parenthood
• Working through the unique challenges and stressors of becoming a parent as a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community

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