New Mums Counselling Northern Rivers NSW

Becoming a mother is one of the biggest emotional, physical, and identity shifts a person can experience.

It’s often expected to feel purely joyful - but for many women, it can also feel confusing, overwhelming, lonely, and at times, deeply disorienting.

At Coastal Counselling Walk & Talk Therapy, I offer gentle, non-judgemental support for new mums navigating early motherhood, emotional change, and the transition into who you are becoming.

This stage of life is often called matrescence - the psychological, emotional, and identity transition into motherhood. And like adolescence, it can feel powerful, tender, and at times overwhelming.

You don’t have to move through it alone.

Support for New Mums in the Early Years of Motherhood

You may be here because you are experiencing:

• Feeling overwhelmed or emotionally stretched

• Anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or constant worry

• Loss of identity or not recognising yourself anymore

• Guilt, self-doubt, or feeling like you’re “not doing enough”

• Low mood, tearfulness, or emotional sensitivity

• Relationship changes or feeling disconnected from your partner

• Birth or postpartum experiences that still feel heavy

• Loneliness, even when surrounded by others

• Struggling to adjust to the mental load of motherhood

These experiences are more common than many women are told - and they deserve care, not silence.

Matrescence: Why This Stage Feels So Big

Matrescence is the transition into motherhood, and it can affect every part of you:

• Your identity

• Your nervous system

• Your relationships

• Your sense of time, space, and self

• Your emotional regulation and resilience

Nothing is “wrong” with you for feeling different.

Your system is adapting to enormous change - physically, hormonally, emotionally, and socially.

Together, we gently support your nervous system to settle, helping you feel more grounded, connected, and supported in this new chapter.

How I Support New Mums

My approach is gentle, trauma-informed, and deeply supportive. I draw on:

• Person-centred counselling (you are at the centre of the work)

• Nervous system regulation and grounding

• Mindfulness-based support for overwhelm

• Somatic awareness (listening to the body’s cues)

• CBT-informed tools for anxious or spiralling thoughts

• ACT strategies for acceptance and self-compassion

• Strength-based and solution-focused support when helpful

There is no pressure to be “coping well” here.

We slow things down, make space for how you’re really feeling, and support you in reconnecting with yourself.

Flexible Support Options for New Mums

I understand that early motherhood can make leaving the house feel difficult or even impossible at times. That’s why I offer flexible ways to access support:

Walk & Talk Therapy

Gentle outdoor sessions in nature to support regulation, grounding, and space to breathe.

Home Visits

For new mums who feel more comfortable at home, I offer home visits across the Northern Rivers. This allows you to receive support in your own safe space without the stress of travelling, packing, or organising childcare.

Online Counselling

Accessible, private sessions from your home when you need flexibility or quiet support.

All options are designed to meet you where you are - physically and emotionally.

Supporting New Mums Across the Northern Rivers

I work with women across:

Ballina
Brunswick Heads
Kingscliff
Tweed Heads
Lennox Head
Byron Bay

Sessions are available in-person outdoors, via home visits, or online across Australia.

You’re Not Meant to Do This Alone

If motherhood feels heavier than you expected, or if you’re quietly struggling while trying to hold everything together - you are not alone in that experience.

Support during this season isn’t about becoming a “perfect mum.”
It’s about helping you feel more like yourself again, in whatever way that looks right now.

A Gentle Invitation

If you’re in the early years of motherhood and feeling overwhelmed, anxious, lost, or simply not yourself - you are so welcome here.

We can take things slowly, gently, and with care for where you are right now.

Warmly,
Sahra
Coastal Counselling Walk & Talk Therapy