Mom Therapy
Therapy for Mothers by Mothers
Mom therapy is designed to support mothers as they navigate the emotional, mental, and identity changes that come with motherhood. It’s a space to process stress, anxiety, guilt, or feeling overwhelmed — and to reconnect with yourself beyond the roles of mother, partner, or caregiver.
Mom Therapy in NYC: Finding Balance, Connection, and Yourself Again
Motherhood is beautiful—but it’s also a lot. There are not enough books, classes, workshops or trainings that can truly prepare you for motherhood. The days can be so long and hard and filled with such joy and laughter. It’s hard to fathom what life was like before becoming a mom. We want you to know that we see you. Through the sleepless nights, the endless to-do lists, and the moments when you’re running on empty but still showing up. We see you. Managing the household, the appointments, the big emotions, and the invisible mental load that no one else seems to notice. You’re holding so much, often without a break or recognition, and it’s okay to admit that it feels like too much sometimes. You’re not alone in this. You deserve support, rest, and a space where you can put it all down for a moment and just be you.
If this sounds familiar, therapy for moms in NYC can help you slow down, breathe, and reconnect with you again.
Are you Facing any of the following Unique Stressors of Mothers?
Feeling constantly overwhelmed or overstimulated or “touched out”
Struggling with anxiety or irritability
Feeling disconnected from your partner, body, or identity (person you used to be)
Managing postpartum period (which realistically is 6-18 months, not the b.s. 6-8 weeks we’re told)
Mom burnout (persistent fatigue, difficulty concentrating, feeling inadequate and/or feeling disconnected from yourself and your kids)
Balancing work, family, and the endless mental load
Wondering if you’ll ever feel like yourself again
Making mom friends & social anxiety in parenthood
Stress around navigating playdate pressures and anxiety (not all playdates are equal)
Struggling with the mother you want to be vs societal/cultural expectations
Wishing you had a clone (yea we want one too…. to help keep home tidy, keep eye on the kids, organize tasks, cook secondary meals (after your kid refuses the first one they begged you to make), help kids with homework and chauffeur for your families’ needs)…A mom can dream.
Although we can’t provide you with a clone (bummer), through mom therapy in NYC, you’ll have a compassionate space to explore your emotions, process the mental load, and reconnect with your inner self. Motherhood can make you forget that you, too, need nurturing. You don’t have to wait until burnout takes over. You deserve support now—before the overwhelm becomes too heavy to carry alone.
Moms & Mental Health
Motherhood transforms almost every aspect of your life — your identity, routines, relationships, and your body. While it’s often portrayed as joy and fulfillment, it also brings significant emotional and mental challenges. For example, a recent poll found that about 34% of millennial mothers report feeling “stressed or overwhelmed at least five days a week.” (Study Finds) According to US Surgeon General Advisory, 41% of U.S. mothers say they are so stressed on most days that they cannot function, and 48% say their stress is “completely overwhelming.” (NCBI) These numbers highlight that even though mothers are deeply committed to their families, many are carrying heavy invisible burdens—mental load, anxiety, guilt, exhaustion—while still showing up for everyone else.
The mental health of mothers matters not only for their own well-being, but for the entire family system. According to a national survey, the prevalence of self-reported “fair or poor” mental health among mothers rose by 63.6% from 2016 to 2023. (JAMA Network) Meanwhile, about 13.5% of U.S. mothers reported symptoms of moderate or severe anxiety, and 4.8% reported moderate or severe depression. (Urban Institute) When mothers receive emotional support and space to care for their mental health, their children and partners benefit too. Prioritizing your mental health as a mother isn’t selfish—it’s an act of strength, resilience, and love that ripples through all areas of life.
How Mom Therapy At
EMTG Helps
Reduce Anxiety and Feeling Overwhelmed: Therapy helps you understand and manage the constant sense of pressure that many mothers feel. You’ll learn tools to calm your nervous system, set boundaries, and create moments of rest — even in a busy day.
Reconnect with Your Identity (outside of motherhood): So many moms say, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.” Therapy gives you space to explore who you are beyond your caregiver roles and rediscover your values, passions, and sense of self. Together, we can integrate those identities so you’re showing up in all the ways that matter to you.
Build Coping Strategies and Emotional Regulation to have healthier ways to manage your stressors/triggers (like when your toddler has just bitten you), anxiety, and when you’re feeling dysregulated. When you’re stretched thin, it’s easy to snap, lose your sh*t, shut down, or feel disconnected. Therapy helps you recognize emotional triggers, communicate your needs, and respond rather than react.
Manage Guilt and Perfectionism: You may feel guilty for wanting time alone, for not “doing enough,” or for struggling when others seem to be coping (damn those TikTok Moms that make it look so easy). Therapy helps you release unrealistic expectations, stop comparing yourself to other moms and build self-compassion.
Build Confidence in Parenting to Reclaim Joy and Connection: Together, we’ll explore what kind of mother you want to be — not the “perfect” one, but the authentic one. Therapy helps you trust your instincts and feel more confident in your choices. In that confidence, you’ll be able to actually enjoy motherhood rather than just survive it.
Strengthen Relationships: Motherhood can strain even the strongest partnerships. Therapy can help you improve communication, navigate resentment or division of labor, and reconnect with your partner in more understanding ways.
Navigate Work–Life Balance: If you’re juggling a career and motherhood, therapy can help you set boundaries, reduce burnout, and find clarity in what truly matters, rather than trying to “do it all.”
Address Burnout and Emotional Fatigue: Mom therapy helps you notice signs of emotional depletion before they turn into full burnout. You’ll learn to prioritize rest and recovery, not as luxuries, but as necessities.
Therapeutic Techniques We’ll
Use in Mom Therapy
Our approach to Mom therapy is personalized and integrative, using a blend of evidence-based practices that are tailored just for you (yes, you’re that special):
Attachment Therapy helps you understand how your own early attachment patterns influence the way you connect, nurture, and respond to your children. By exploring these dynamics in a safe and supportive space, you can heal old emotional wounds and develop greater self-compassion. This process strengthens your ability to create secure, attuned relationships—with both your children and yourself.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you recognize and challenge unhelpful thinking patterns and core beliefs you have about yourself that contribute to anxiety, guilt or feeling overwhelmed. By learning new ways to think and respond, you can feel more in control, confident, and balanced.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) provides skills to manage stress and intense emotions in difficult moments. DBT supports greater self-acceptance and balance between caring for others and caring for yourself.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps you make peace with difficult emotions rather than fighting them, while staying connected to their values and priorities. This approach encourages flexibility, self-compassion, and meaningful action—even in the midst of life’s chaos.
Trauma-Informed Therapy helps you process and heal from trauma that was experienced before becoming a mother or after. Many times, we parent from a place of fear and that typically arises from some form of trauma. Trauma-informed therapy can also help you heal if you have an unhealthy relationship with your parents and you want to break certain patterns/cycles within your family.
Culturally Affirmative/Multicultural Therapy prioritizes your background and all of your identities, so you feel seen and validated in your experiences. It takes into account how these experiences could be impacting your own expectations of the mother you’re trying to be.
About Dr. Shaneze Gayle Smith
I am licensed to provide therapy in 41 states and would be honored to support you on your journey towards self-growth and healing.
With over a decade of experience supporting mothers who carry complex histories, I hold deep respect for the courage it takes to heal while you’re still showing up for everyone else. Many of the moms I work with are trauma survivors, cycle-breakers, or living with chronic illness — mothers who are working to create something different for themselves and their families, even while managing pain, fatigue, or emotional triggers….mothers who are desperate to make the lives of their little ones better than their childhoods. I understand how exhausting it can feel to hold your own healing alongside the demands of motherhood. In our work together, I offer a space that honors your resilience while helping you soften the need to be strong all the time — a space to process, rest, and rebuild safety and self-trust at a pace that feels right for you. Mom therapy can be a gentle place to begin breaking those patterns and reclaiming your story.
Education
PhD in Clinical Psychology, Seton Hall University (Health Psychology & Child/Adolescent Focus)
Psychology Residency, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center
MS in Forensic Psychology, Walden University
Medical School (3 years), Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School
BA in Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University
Credentials
Advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and use of these theoretical approaches for maternal mental health.
Expertise in supporting mothers who are healing from childhood trauma, narcissistic abuse (from co-parent and/or their own parents) and chronic illness.
About Vernee Brooks, LPC, LMHC
I am licensed for therapy in New York, New Jersey & Texas.
As a therapist who has spent over 15 years supporting families of children with developmental disabilities, I want you to know that I see the incredible love and effort you pour into every day. Parenting a child with higher needs brings unique joys, but it can also feel isolating, exhausting, and emotionally heavy at times. You carry so much — advocating for your child, managing appointments, navigating systems, and holding space for everyone’s emotions — often with little time left for your own. In our work together, you’ll have a space where you don’t have to be the expert, the caregiver, or the advocate — just you. A space to process the weight of it all, to feel seen and supported, and to begin to restore your own sense of balance and strength.
Education
M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Walden University
BA in Psychology, Rutgers University
Credentials
Advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for maternal mental health.
Expertise in supporting mothers navigating race-related & cultural stressors.
About Christine Pacheco, LMSW
I am licensed for therapy in New York.
As both a therapist and a mother, I deeply understand how the transition to motherhood can reshape everything — your routines, your relationships, your sense of purpose, even your identity. It’s a beautiful and disorienting shift all at once. For many women, this stage brings not only the adjustment of becoming a parent, but also other transitions — stepping back from a career, redefining goals, or rediscovering who you are beyond caregiving. In our work together, we’ll create space for you to explore these changes with compassion and curiosity, to honor what’s shifting, and to reconnect with the parts of yourself that may have been quietly waiting to be seen again.
Education
Master of Social Work, Fordham University
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Brooklyn College
Credentials
Advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Attachment-based therapy, Person-Centered therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for maternal mental health.
Expertise in supporting mothers navigating newborns & toddlers.
Expertise in mothers with BPD or have partners/co-parents with BPD.
If you’re a mom in New York navigating stress, identity shifts, or the exhaustion of trying to “do it all,” we’d love to help. Reach out today to schedule a free consultation and take the first step toward caring for yourself the way you care for everyone else. This first conversation is informal — a chance to share what’s been feeling hard and ask questions about how therapy with us works. From there, we’ll decide together what kind of support fits your needs best
No worries- we will be running a MOM’S GROUP. If interested, fill out form and we can discuss more.
Not Ready For Individual Therapy?
Mom Therapy FAQs
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A: While all therapy supports emotional well-being, mom therapy focuses on the unique pressures of motherhood — balancing family and work, the mental load, identity shifts, relationship strain, postpartum changes, and burnout. Sessions often blend emotional processing with practical tools to help you manage daily overwhelm.
Parent coaching differs from Mom Therapy in that with parent coaching the focus is more on your child and learning tools and strategies to help them. Mom therapy the focus is YOU.
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A: Not at all. Mom therapy supports women at every stage of motherhood — from new mothers adjusting to postpartum life, to mothers of teens or adult children navigating changing family dynamics and rediscovering their sense of self.
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You’re not alone in feeling that way. Many mothers struggle to prioritize their own needs, but caring for your mental health allows you to show up with more patience, clarity, and energy. Therapy isn’t selfish — it’s essential self-care that benefits you and your family.
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A: Every person’s process is different. Some moms notice relief and clarity after just a few sessions, while others prefer ongoing support over time. The pace depends on your goals, your life circumstances, and how deeply you want to explore personal growth.
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A: Our therapists offer flexible options such as virtual sessions, so you can meet from home during nap times or breaks. Your therapist will work with you to find a structure that feels realistic and supportive.
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We only accept insurance as out-of-network providers. During our consultation call, we will be able to check your out-of-network benefits.