…you spent months preparing for everyone but yourself.
…your nursing hours are spent wondering when you'll shower again.
…you've started — and stopped — a hundred text messages to the people who love you, unable to answer "how are you doing?" honestly.
…you know you need help, and still find yourself trying to do it all.
…you find yourself apologizing for the help you do ask for.
…you can name what your children need in a single glance, and somewhere along the way stopped asking what you need.
For everything we hold dear — shouldn't that include ourselves?
A word for what you're going through
What is matrescence?
Matrescence is the name for the transformation a woman moves through as she becomes — and keeps becoming — a mother. Like adolescence, it's a developmental passage that reshapes you physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually. Unlike adolescence, almost no one prepares you for it.
You are not falling apart. You are matrescing — changing into someone you haven't met yet.
It is one of the most significant transitions a woman will ever move through, and it deserves more than being rushed past.
My work is built on the Seasons of Matrescence framework, developed by Australian matrescence educator Nikki McCahon — an approach that honors this passage as cyclical, seasonal, and worthy of real support.
How I companion
Two ways to work with me.
My work is simple in shape and deep in practice: I hold space for mothers in the in-between — listening, reflecting, and reminding you of the wisdom you already carry. When you can't find your own belief in yourself, I'll hold it for you until you can.
Holding Dear is particularly suited to mothers who are functioning day to day but feel disconnected from themselves, unsettled by how much motherhood has changed them, or in need of a neutral place to process identity, relationships, work, mental load, and the person they are becoming.
Our sessions are unhurried. We meet on video, you share what's on your mind, and I listen — really listen. I'll ask questions when they're useful, reflect what I'm hearing, and sometimes name patterns that take a beat to recognize. There's no homework, no curriculum to get through, no performance required. You don't have to arrive with a list of topics. The work is in the showing up.
I use the Seasons of Matrescence framework as a lens for understanding what may be shifting — not as a curriculum you have to work through. It shapes what I'm listening for. It never becomes something you have to keep up with.
Three months is enough time for something to actually move. Early on, it's often just relief — finally saying things out loud to someone whose whole attention is on you. In the middle, we usually go deeper: the grief for the life before, the parts that don't match the story you expected. By the end, most mothers aren't "fixed" — nothing was broken — but they're steadier, more themselves, less alone in it. It's not a straight line, and it looks different for everyone. That's just the shape it tends to take.
What actually happens in the hour
We meet on video, at a time we set together. You don't prepare anything. You don't need a topic.
Most sessions start with you catching me up — what the last two weeks held, what's still sitting with you. Sometimes that takes five minutes. Sometimes it takes forty. Both are fine.
From there we follow whatever's loudest. I listen more than I talk. I'll ask questions when they're useful, say things back so you can hear them from outside your own head, and sometimes name a pattern that's hard to see from inside it.
You can cry. You can be furious. You can show up with nothing to report and we'll find it anyway. You can say the thing you haven't said out loud to anyone — including the thing you'd never put in a text to your best friend. Nothing you bring here gets repeated, softened, or held against you.
We don't end with homework. Sometimes we end with one small thing you want to try before we meet again. Sometimes we just end, and that's enough.
Between sessions, you can send a voice note or a message whenever something surfaces — the 2am nursing hour, the moment right after someone said the wrong thing. You're not saving it up for our next call. I read everything, and I respond on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
This is likely a fit if you love your children and still feel like you've gone missing somewhere in it — if you can name what everyone else needs and have stopped asking what you need, and you want somewhere to think honestly, out loud, with someone who isn't otherwise in your life.
This likely isn't a fit if what you're looking for is clinical treatment, a parenting expert, or someone to tell you what to do. If what you need is clinical mental-health care, I'll say so — and I've listed a few good starting places in the resources above.
The main way we work
The Season
Three months of steady companionship, for mothers who want more than a single conversation. Everything that's included:
Six 60-minute 1:1 video sessions — one every other week, across three months
A short welcome note before we begin, so I know where you're starting from
Voice-note and text support between sessions — send whenever something surfaces
I read everything and respond Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Reading, resources, or a practice from the Seasons of Matrescence framework — when one actually fits
No homework, no curriculum, nothing to prepare between sessions
$1,500 for the three months
A single session
An Exhale
One long conversation for when you need somewhere to put it down — without committing to three months. Everything that's included:
One 90-minute 1:1 video session
A few words from you beforehand if you'd like, so I'm not starting cold
Voice-note and text support for the week around it
Somewhere to put the thoughts that arrive after we hang up
$250
Both held virtually, wherever you are.
About me
Hi there!
It is a firm belief of mine that our intuition can help guide us to a place of living in alignment with ourselves, and I want your intuition to help you recognize if I'm the best person to support you.
If you are like me, being a mother is one of the most important titles you hold. It's an incredible experience to raise a child. It can also be incredibly hard.
In my early days of motherhood I struggled with feeling disconnected from myself and isolated from a community of other mothers who might support me in a way I needed. Growing up in a family of women, this was the last experience I expected when I imagined the glowing days soaking in the newborn phase. I was often surprised to find myself struggling to share openly with those who messaged me and yet I longed for someone (not my therapist) to bear witness to this moment in my life.
As I lay awake in the middle of night nursing (for what felt like the millionth night), I soon discovered the word matrescence. Finally, a word to describe what was happening to me and illuminate that becoming a mother is a process, not an immediate occurrence following birth. Learning more about matrescence and how it impacts every mother was the start of my journey to finding a way back to myself. I wasn't the same, but I was more me than I'd ever been.
While I've always been interested in mother support work, it wasn't until after the birth of my first son that I felt compelled to find a way to make that support a reality. I certified through Nikki McCahon's Seasons of Matrescence, and having that framework helped me — in the aftermath of the birth of my second son — find myself again even faster.
As I navigated parenting two boys, work, home life, managing our paid support network, and the mental load — I found a calling to offer what I had been longing for.
Beyond a postpartum doula, more neutral than my "mom friends," and something different from what therapy gave me — I wanted to create a space to offer companionship for those also navigating early motherhood. A soft space to land when you are in the midst of finding your way back to a new version of yourself — whether weeks into your first or learning the landscape shifts of adding on — navigating all the things that life throws your way, and needing someone to bear witness to this season in your life. Whether it's mentorship, a listening ear, or someone to send midnight messages to without the worry of second-guessing what you wrote — I'm here for it.
What I am is a companion for your matrescence — a steady presence beside you while you find your way. Not a therapist, not a mental health professional, and not a substitute for either.
Would we be mom friends?
When I am not spending time in my roles as a mother or partner, I'm staying connected to myself through tasting new wines, staying up way too late reading a new book (yes, likely one you saw recommended on BookTok), trying to finally win a game of mahjong, or manifesting something great in my life.
If you want to go deeper, these are some of the most thoughtful resources I know of on matrescence and early motherhood. Take what's useful, leave what isn't.
To read
Matrescence: On Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood by Lucy Jones
What No One Tells You by Alexandra Sacks and Catherine Birndorf
Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage by Jessie Harrold
To Have and to Hold: Motherhood, Marriage, and the Modern Dilemma by Molly Millwood
Postpartum Support International — 1-800-944-4773 (call or text; English & Spanish)
National Maternal Mental Health Hotline — 1-833-852-6262 (24/7, free, confidential)
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — for any immediate mental health emergency
For families of young children
Parents as Teachers — free home visiting program for parents of children prenatal through age 5
Before you reach out
A few honest answers.
Is this therapy?
No. Therapy provides clinical mental-health care, and can address things like anxiety, depression, trauma, and relationship patterns. Holding Dear is nonclinical developmental support, centered specifically on the identity transition of motherhood. The two can absolutely coexist — plenty of mothers have both. If something comes up in our work that would be better held by a therapist, I'll tell you. Finding the right one is yours to choose, but I'm always glad to share where I'd start looking.
How is this different from a friend, a therapist, or a postpartum doula?
A friend loves you, but she's close to it and she's busy. A therapist provides clinical mental-health care — anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship patterns — which is different work than this, and valuable; many mothers do both. A postpartum doula is wonderful, but she's usually focused on the household and your baby in the fourth trimester, for a set stretch of weeks. I'm something else: a steady, neutral presence whose whole attention is on you and this passage. Not your house, not your baby. You.
What actually happens in a session?
We meet by video — an hour in The Season, ninety minutes for An Exhale. You talk, I listen, and you don't have to arrive with a topic or know where to start. Most sessions open with you catching me up on the last two weeks. From there we follow whatever's loudest. I'll ask questions when they're useful, say things back so you can hear them from outside your own head, and sometimes name a pattern that's hard to see from inside it. There's nothing to prepare and nothing to perform.
What if I don't know what to say, or don't have anything "big" to bring?
That's welcome too. Some of the best sessions start with "I don't even know where to begin." You don't have to be in crisis to deserve this, and you don't have to perform having it together — or falling apart. Wherever you are is where we start.
Is this virtual? Do I need to be near you?
Everything is held virtually, by video, with voice-note and text support in between. I'm based in San Antonio, but I companion mothers wherever they are. All you need is a phone or a laptop and a few quiet minutes.
Is this only for first-time mothers? How old does my baby need to be?
No, and there's no wrong time. First baby, second, a newborn or a toddler — matrescence keeps unfolding as your children and your life keep changing. If you feel changed in ways you can't quite name, you're in the right place.
How does the support between sessions work?
Between sessions, you can reach out anytime something surfaces — a restless night with your mind too full, the 2am nursing hour, the moment right after someone said the wrong thing. Send a voice note or a text over WhatsApp whenever it arrives. I respond on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Some weeks you'll send a lot; some weeks nothing. Both are fine.
What happens after I reach out?
I write back personally, usually within two business days. If it seems like a fit, we'll set a time to talk — no charge, no pressure, and you're not committing to anything by asking. That conversation is where we figure out which of the two makes sense for you, or whether right now is the right time at all. If I'm not the right person, I'll tell you, and I'll point you toward someone who is.
If something resonates
Let's talk.
If something here resonates and you'd like to talk, send me a few words. I'll write back personally — usually within two business days.
