I'm here for the mamas!

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I'm here for the mamas! *

Hi there! My name is Yara Heary. I am a mother, a wife, a singer, & the owner and principal psychologist at Life After Birth. When I became a mother, I was overwhelmed by the changes that came with it. My baby wouldn’t sleep, my body ached, breastfeeding was difficult, and my relationships were strained. It all piled up. My world seemed to have been turned upside down, leaving me feeling lost and alone.

But as I began to navigate my transition to motherhood, I realised that I wasn’t alone. I sought out the support and resources I needed to heal, and I immersed myself in the study of matrescence, trauma, the nervous system, and our earliest formative years.

I began to understand how our social structures bind women and impact our lived experiences of mothering. With each new insight, my self compassion grew, and so did my desire to use this knowledge to support other mothers along their journeys.

Whether you are a soon to be mother, a new mother, or an “I’ve been in this for a while” mother, you are likely to be facing your own set of unique challenges in your life.

You may be:

  • Needing help to manage anger or rage.

  • Struggling to fall pregnant and trying to work through the complex range of emotions that often accompany this.

  • Experiencing low mood, anxiety symptoms, or lacking motivation.

  • Grieving a loss in the form of a pregnancy, a child, or your old way of life

  • Needing a safe space to process birth trauma.

  • Feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for an infant or child/children.

  • Not feeling like yourself, asking yourself “who even am I anymore”.

  • Needing support to unpack feelings of unworthiness, guilt, or shame.

  • Struggling with painful memories of your own childhood.

    Or

  • Experiencing difficulty with the specific developmental stage of your baby or child.

I’m here to tell you that you are not alone in your struggle and that speaking with someone can help. You can heal, learn to thrive, and enjoy your life as a mother, and as a woman.

If you’d like to start your journey towards healing get familiar with the ways we can work together by clicking one of the buttons below.

There is strength in your vulnerability.

Many of the women I work with have felt the need to put on a brave face, while internally they are falling apart. It would not be a stretch to say that most women struggle with the demands of motherhood. Meeting the needs of your baby, or child/children, your family and yourself is a tough gig! We are all in the same soup.

While it is uncomfortable to experience challenge, it can also be a time of growth. Together, we can explore unhelpful core beliefs and thinking, develop adaptive ways of relating to challenge and distress, strengthen communication skills, and identify ways of enlisting day-to-day support in your social circles. Through our work together you can return to wellbeing, enjoying a deeper connection with yourself, your partner, and your family; now and in the future.

What I can help with

Women and mothers come to me for help with a range of problems including feelings of loneliness, intrusive thoughts, identity issues, grief, difficulty conceiving, low mood or anxiety, prenatal/postnatal depression and anxiety, difficulty with adjustment to pregnancy or motherhood, birth debriefing, clearing psychological space for birth, relationship issues, and difficulty with bonding and attachment.

My therapeutic approach depends on the client and presenting issue, but typically involves Internal Family Systems and takes in to account my knowledge of coaching, acceptance and commitment therapy, schema therapy, polyvagal framework, attachment theory, cognitive behavioural therapy, compassionate focussed therapy, and the Gottman Method for couples.

Qualifications and Memberships

  • Bachelor of Psychology, with Honors Murdoch University

  • Applied Master of Clinical Psychology Murdoch University

  • Gottman Certified Bringing Baby Home Educator

  • Compassionate Focussed Therapy for Perinatal Professionals

  • Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE) Perinatal Mental Health

  • Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Intensive Certification Perinatal Training Centre

  • Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Reg No. PSY0001813652