Your Relationship Deserves Support Too: The Case for Perinatal Couples Counselling

The Perinatal Period Brings Major Changes — Even When Things Are Going Well

Whether you’re navigating infertility, early pregnancy anxiety, a high-risk pregnancy, birth recovery, or the intensity of the postpartum months, your relationship will naturally shift. These changes aren’t necessarily signs of trouble; they’re part of the perinatal experience.

Common challenges couples face include:

• Different expectations about pregnancy, birth, or parenting

• Shifts in communication or intimacy

• Uneven emotional or mental loads

• Stress and grief related to fertility treatments or loss

• Exhaustion, overwhelm, and identity changes

Couples counselling helps normalize these transitions and supports you in staying connected through them.

Why Communication Matters in the Perinatal Period

During pregnancy and postpartum, communication often becomes strained—not out of lack of care, but because of stress, exhaustion, fear, or uncertainty.

Perinatal couples counselling provides a supportive place to:

• Slow down and actually hear each other

• Express needs without conflict

• Build emotional safety

• Strengthen communication tools

• Prevent resentment from quietly building

When communication is strong, the entire perinatal experience feels more grounded and connected.

Counselling Helps Balance the Emotional and Mental Load

Trying to conceive, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and parenting bring significant emotional and logistical demands. These demands become harder when complications like loss, fertility challenges, or health concerns arise. Even in loving relationships, it is not uncommon for one partner may hold more of the mental load.

Couples counselling supports partners in:

• Naming invisible tasks and expectations

• Sharing responsibilities more intentionally

• Understanding each other’s stress points

• Moving from “me vs. you” to “us vs. the challenge”

This shift creates a stronger sense of teamwork and support—especially during sleepless nights and unpredictable days.

Protecting Your Relationship During a Vulnerable Season

Research consistently shows that relationship satisfaction often dips after baby—not because couples love each other less, but because they’re overwhelmed.

Prioritizing relationship support during pregnancy and postpartum helps you:

• Stay emotionally connected

• Navigate conflict more gently

• Strengthen intimacy

• Build resilience for future transitions

Your relationship deserves the same care and preparation you give to every other part of your perinatal journey.

Navigating Transitions With Support and Intention

The perinatal period involves constant transitions :trying → pregnant → postpartum → new identity → new rhythms

Couples counselling helps you move through these changes with:

• Clear communication

• Shared expectations

• Emotional regulation tools

• Greater confidence in your partnership

This kind of support creates a stable foundation as you grow your family.

Choosing Couples Counselling Is Choosing Your Relationship

Here’s what I remind couples all the time: Attending couples counselling during the perinatal period does not mean anything is wrong with your relationship.

It means you’re thoughtful. It means you’re intentional. It means you’re committed to keeping your connection strong during one of the most meaningful—and challenging—chapters of your lives.

Your relationship is one of the most important parts of your perinatal experience. Investing in it is an act of care, commitment, and love.

Ready to book your couples session? I am welcoming new clients in person in Comox and virtually across BC.

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