Perinatal Mental Health Care

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Agoura Hills, CA
Perinatal Mental Health Care

A private psychology practice in Agoura Hills, CA serving women of all ages and offering unique servi

08/28/2025

Let’s talk about ( )! Some women are very sensitive to the normal fluctuations of their and the sensitivity can begin VERY early on ( ) and cause many physical and emotional symptoms.

Did you know that women are 2-3 times more likely to suffer with and in their lifetime than men, however rates are the SAME before puberty and after ! Reproductive mood and anxiety disorders have been my research and clinical interest since my first year in graduate school. I started my career 18 years ago by investigating risk for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Not to be confused with , PMDD is a is a chronic condition that significantly affects well-being during the reproductive years. Up to 85% of menstruating women exhibit one or more related symptoms, 20–40% report Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), and only 2–9% report PMDD, with symptoms that interfere with their functioning. Good news - there are treatments that work!!!

You can learn more about my early PMDD research by clicking my biolink and selecting “Research Gate Profile.” I also suggest checking out:

PMDD.Collective

relationship.therapy

08/18/2025

I LOVE Hannah Waddingham and Ted Lasso is a family favorite! So I was honored to also be interviewed for this issue of the magazine!

I’ll be turning 50 next year and agree wholeheartedly that it’s a gift to get older! Swipe to see my quotes on aging into our 50s and how it’s not all doom and gloom (once you get past , which lets face, it is a sh!t-show)!

08/12/2025

August is National Breastfeeding Month! It is a time to raise awareness about the importance of breastfeeding, promote breastfeeding support, and celebrate breastfeeding families.

I wholeheartedly agree, particularly because breastfeeding was a goal of mine and I know what it’s like to worry about feeding my baby and it was painful, physically and emotionally. So I agree that families need ALL the support they can get! That being said, I firmly believe that families shouldn’t feel pressured one way or another! From my own challenging experiences I eventually found that half nursing half formula feeding 🍼 worked for us and exclusive breastfeeding wasn’t possible. This was a hard pill to swallow and I got a lot of support from my husband!

Who supports you during your feeding journey?

07/23/2025

The Reproductive Psychology Program offers a variety of services to our community with the goal of helping as many people as we can through their . That’s why we created several specific classes and : perinatal grief, infertility and endometriosis, which are open to anyone in the country, swipe for details.

We also understand that sometimes regular weekly psychotherapy isnt affordable or waiting lists are too long and you need to get started learning skills to manage depression or anxiety symptoms right away! That’s why we have been offering the monthly 4 session Cognitive behavioral therapy series, “Becoming Mother,” since 2020. The name recently changed to “Pathways to Perinatal Peace,” but its the same great series! If you are a California state resident this group is for you!

Choose the virtual group that suits your needs best. Our monthly groups are starting soon! To register for any of our groups, click the link in our bio and select “Cedars-Sinai Groups!”

07/10/2025

🧐🫣🤨

Nothing.

Nothing happened. There were no major fires to put out and no emergencies that I missed. I am happy to report that I could completely rely on my amazing research and clinical team at Cedars Sinai to ensure all patient care and activities were carried out without a hitch.

Everyone says they couldnt handle the stress of not knowing what’s going on - potentially missing something important. Take it from me - its not. Its an amazing relief to disconnect and unplug. We all need it and deserve it.

P.S. It makes us better at our jobs when we come back.

Have you ever completely unplugged on vacation? Share how it went below 👇

06/11/2025

Happy to be interviewed for this recent magazine article on maternal mental health.

Author, Victoria Pelham writes, ‘Just as pregnancy and childbirth challenges the body, the “fourth trimester” after the baby arrives can bend the mind and heart.‘

Swipe 👈🏼👈🏽👈🏾 to read more of the article and to read the whole thing, please click my billing and select “Featured Article.”

06/04/2025

Women are seen by medical providers so frequently while , yet we’re only seen once .

This is not OK.

Now more than ever, need their mental and physical needs met postpartum! If you’re in your request an early postpartum check up to discuss your needs!

Did you need more than 1 postpartum visit?!?!? I know I did!

05/28/2025

My favorite part of the job - training new psychologists! Saying goodbye to great students at the end of the academic year is always a challenge! For that reason I keep inviting them back to dinners and to present to the team!

Swipe 👈🏾👈🏽👈🏼 to see the Reproductive Psychology Program team out celebrating after our last Training Day of the year! Each semester we meet in person and this time we had a great presentation and discussion on ACT led by our very first RPP doctoral trainee, now Dr. Jordan Thomas (2021). As I said, we never say truly goodbye. We also learned a lot from one of our chaplains about perinatal grief and loss, who shared insights from 5 major religions and how they grieve such a loss.

Please click on my biolink and select “Cedars Sinai Reproductive Psychology Program” to see our website for more details and the “Cedars-Sinai Groups” to see what groups we are offering patients this year! We also have a quarterly newsletter! Join the list and receive updates about our new services, research on , tips on managing or and MUCH MORE! This is for patients and providers alike!

If you are interested, please click link in bio and scroll to bottom to enter your email address or feel free to DM me your email address!

05/21/2025

📢 New publication 📢

Excited to share this work, online in as of May 15th, 2025!

This is our third paper from the Cedars Sinai Screening Education and Referral Program Quality Improvement Program, which started in 2017. Since then we have been working to improve our depression screening and are proud to share the newest results:

💡Screening via iPads improves screen quality by allowing for privacy

💡Using the EPDS (rather than PHQ9) picks up more screen positives and suicidal ideation

💡These improvements lead to increases in social work consultation and connection to services

To read the abstract swipe 👈🏼👈🏽👈🏾

To read the full article please click on my biolink and select “Featured Research Article.”

05/15/2025

It was Patient Experience week and we were thrilled that Megan Doyle, LCSW won an award!!! She has been an invaluable member of the Reproductive Psychology Program since she joined as our fulltime patient navigator in 2022.

She receives over 100 calls and referrals every month and manages to follow up with every at-risk patient to help them navigate the complex healthcare system to connect with therapists, psychiatrists and other community resources. She launched our social work internship in 2023, training 1-2 students every year, while also providing individual therapy and group therapy (perinatal grief and loss group) to our Cedars’ patients.

There is so much more that she does for our program, and I could go on and on about how committed and passionate Megan is, as well as how wonderful she is with our patients and staff (trainees) alike.

Please join me in celebrating Megan!!! 🎉🥳🎉

05/07/2025

It’s World Maternal Mental Health Day!!!

aims to:

💥 Raise awareness
💥 Influence policy
💥 Change attitudes

This year’s theme: Your Voice Your Strength: Supporting women worldwide on our journey through maternal mental healthcare!

You can do that in several different ways, swipe 👈🏾👈🏽👈🏼 to see more information about ways to be involved all month - May is !

For more information about our Reproductive Psychology Program at please click link in bio! You can also reach out to the crisis hotline 988, 1-833-TLC-MAMA and the wonderful support of Postpartum Support International.

05/01/2025

Celebrating 10 years at Cedars-Sinai!!

This Spring marks my 10th anniversary as faculty in Cedars-Sinai’s OBGYN Dept! Reflecting on the last 10 years and what I set out to achieve, and what remains to be accomplished …

🎯 Leading NIH and Foundation funded clinical research studies investigating risk factors for

🎯 Launched the Reproductive Psychology Clinic treating women’s mental health conditions throughout the reproductive journey

🎯 Training doctoral psychology students and social work interns in the field of maternal mental health

I have more goals for the next 10 years that includes growing the Reproductive Psychology Program! Although the next few years of federally funded women’s health research looks grim, I will work tirelessly to bring more knowledge and insights into supporting new mothers!

Address

28328 Agoura Road, Suite 201
Agoura Hills, CA
91301

Telephone

+18182804445

Website

http://www.perinatalmentalhealthcare.com/

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