Family Health

Traditional health care focuses on treating the physical body, and growing pains are considered to be normal. In a similar way we experience emotional growing pain as our families grow. Many traditional families have had pre-marital counseling to prepare for the changes that come with starting a life together as a couple. Nontraditional families may have similar experiences. Whether you have experienced relationship counseling in the past or not you may be unsure where to look as you embark on the next major milestone in your family life, that of becoming a parent.

Starlight Counseling offers a unique service to fill in where the traditional healthcare and counseling model is lacking. Counseling services designed specifically to help ease the transition into being a parent. Whether you are a traditional expectant couple, an expectant single woman, about to adopt, struggling with infertility, or a couple with grown children suddenly expecting unexpectedly, family health counseling is tailored to meet your needs.

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Is Family Growth Counseling For Me?

I am Pregnant, or Trying to Become Pregnant

Learn skills for self-care and how to adapt to the changes taking place in your body and life. Pregnancy counseling helps make the transition into motherhood the joy it is meant to be, and may help to prevent or lessen post-partum depression.

Build a birth plan that helps ensure that your delivery happens the way you intend. Learn skills to help take control of your delivery; make sure the doctor, nurse, or midwife is taking your wants and needs into consideration.

I am Postpartum

You now have a new addition to the family and life is chaotic and stressful.  You may be going back to work or just trying to figure out how you are going to handle taking care of your newborn.

Postpartum counseling is intended to help moms (and dads) through the ups and downs of life after the doctor or midwife has begun pulling back their support to work with others. There are many challenges to adjusting to a post-delivery body: hormone changes, mood swings, and body-image issues to name a few. Counseling provides an outlet to work through these issues before they become an issue, which helps to stave off the "new baby blues" also called postpartum depression.

I am Going to be a Dad

Our partner is not the only one adjusting to change during pregnancy, but it can feel like they are getting all of the attention at times.  Becoming a father comes with its own set of challenges and concerns that are often overlooked.

Counseling provides a safe environment for men to explore the world of fatherhood with the support that is often lacking. Counseling covers a variety of concerns for men including:

• Will I be able to financially support my family?
• Do I need to reprioritize things at work? (work-life balance)
• My wife's body isn't the same as it used to be, and I don't know if I like it.
• Will I be a good father? How can I be a supportive husband as a parent?

We are Parents, Now What?

Many couples undergo marriage and couples counseling prior to the wedding. Counseling for new parents serves a similar purpose.  There is so much focus on the baby and raising our children that we often overlook our own needs.  You may find yourself asking some of these questions:

•  What does it mean to be a husband and wife now that there are children around?
  
• What happened to all of the love and intimacy that we had before kids?
  
• What happened to all the sex?
• Will we ever go on a date again, just the two of us?

Counseling for new parents focuses on the changes that take place in a marriage with the addition of children.  We will take the time to focus on how to keep the spark alive in your marriage.  

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