Pleasanton, California
You don’t have to do this alone.
Therapy for women moving through the incredible and messy reality of motherhood
For Pleasanton and Bay Area Moms, I offer specialized support tailored to the unique challenges of maternal mental health.
I'm Stephanie Crouch, LCSW, and my work centers on supporting expecting and new moms who never anticipated how hard this transition would be—capable women who are carrying more than feels sustainable and need help finding their footing in this new life.
Using online therapy available throughout California, I support mothers through pregnancy challenges, postpartum struggles, birth trauma, and the profound identity changes that come with growing your family.
About My Pleasanton, CA Therapy Practice
Based in Pleasanton, I provide completely virtual therapy services across California, which means specialized maternal mental health care is available whether you're here in Pleasanton, anywhere in the Tri-Valley area, or throughout the broader Bay Area and beyond.
I hold advanced training in perinatal mental health and am a trained provider of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), bringing evidence-based expertise to help create meaningful, lasting transformation.
This work is personal for me—I've been through postpartum depression and the disorienting early days of motherhood myself, and I understand firsthand what my clients are experiencing.
What I offer goes beyond traditional talk therapy. My approach is individualized care that targets what's happening in the moment while also addressing the underlying patterns that keep you feeling stuck. This is targeted, specialized support designed specifically for the mental health challenges that come with starting or expanding your family.
Thereputic Modalities
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) - This innovative approach is transforming how we treat trauma—and it works remarkably fast. As a trained ART provider, I use this evidence-based method to help process trauma, painful memories, and intrusive thoughts—typically within 1-5 sessions. Whether you're dealing with birth trauma, disturbing NICU memories, or images from pregnancy loss that won't leave you alone, ART allows your brain to heal from these experiences without forcing you to verbally relive every painful detail. This is the game-changing therapy that most people discover too late—I want you to know about it now.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) - This approach helps you identify what truly matters to you and find ways to live by those values even as a new parent. It's especially powerful when you're working through identity shifts and trying to live authentically when everything feels chaotic and overwhelming.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - Together we'll tackle the anxiety spirals, dismantle the "should" thoughts fueling your guilt and perfectionism, and create space for what's actually possible instead of what feels impossible.
Mindfulness Practices - These techniques ground you in the present moment with what's really happening, rather than getting caught up in how you think motherhood is supposed to look.
Trauma-Informed Approaches - For working through traumatic experiences from any point in your life that remain overwhelming and that your nervous system hasn't fully released or has stored improperly.
Who I Help in Livermore
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I support pregnant women experiencing far more than typical physical discomfort. You may be wrestling with worry about your baby's wellbeing, experiencing depression while pregnant, feeling terrified about giving birth, or struggling with how dramatically your body and entire life are shifting. Your mental health during pregnancy is every bit as important as what happens postpartum—there's no need to wait until after delivery to reach out for help.
Therapy During Pregnancy - Pregnancy involves so much more than physical symptoms—the worry, depression, and feeling completely overwhelmed need care too. Your emotional health right now matters just as much as it will after your baby is born.
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Before you became a parent, you felt capable and in control. Confident, organized, on top of things. Now you're drowning in the endless mental load, feeling like you're disappearing into motherhood, and can't seem to find your balance. Perhaps your baby is here but the happiness you expected didn't arrive with them—or it came mixed with terror and overwhelming dread.
Postpartum Depression & Anxiety - When your baby arrives but the happiness doesn't, or when joy shows up alongside terror and dread. Together we'll help you feel steady again.
Maternal Mental Health - Dealing with the constant mental load, navigating identity shifts, grieving your former self while discovering who you're becoming. This work is about life transitions and reconnecting with yourself.
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What happened during your birth isn't the story you imagined, and recovering is taking much longer than you expected. Perhaps you had an emergency C-section, spent time in the NICU, faced medical complications, or went through procedures that left you feeling traumatized. The memories keep playing on repeat. Medical settings set off panic. You're depleted from trying to hold everything together.
Traumatic Birth & NICU Stay - For when your birth experience didn't go as planned and the healing feels endless. You made it through the hardest day—now it's time to truly heal from it.
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You're living with the heartbreak and worry of trying to grow your family when things aren't unfolding as you hoped. Or you've endured the devastation of losing a pregnancy, and nobody seems able to sit with you in that profound pain. Your loss is valid, and it deserves to be honored.
Fertility Struggles & Family Planning - The heartbreak, loss, and worry that accompany the journey of trying to create your family when it's not happening as you envisioned.
Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss - Your baby was real. Your pain is real too. This is a space to honor your loss and work through the trauma at your own pace.
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Perhaps you've lost someone who mattered deeply—a parent, grandparent, close friend, or cherished pet—and people stopped showing up after the funeral ended. Or maybe you've needed to create distance from harmful family members to protect yourself and your children. These losses need to be seen and acknowledged.
Grief & Loss - When loss reshapes everything and people don't know how to be present with you through it. Your grief needs to be witnessed and honored.
Family Estrangement - When keeping your own family safe means creating distance from your family of origin. Ending harmful patterns while working through the guilt and grief that comes with it.
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When you're a woman with ADHD, pregnancy and parenting intensify challenges that were already difficult. The executive function requirements, sensory overload, and emotional regulation demands become exponentially harder when you're caring for a tiny human who depends on you completely.
My Approach to Therapy
How I work with clients is warm, straightforward, and deeply affirming. I don't subscribe to cookie-cutter therapy. What resonates with one mom might not land for another, and that's completely fine.
I provide two session formats:
Traditional Talk Therapy (50 minutes) - Regular sessions—weekly or every other week—where we process what you're going through, develop coping strategies, and work through the feelings and life transitions you're facing.
Intensive ART Sessions (up to 2 hours) - Designed for working through trauma, troubling images, or stuck memories. These extended sessions make room for intensive work and frequently produce transformative breakthroughs that traditional therapy simply can't achieve.
Most clients find the sweet spot in combining both—consistent talk therapy sessions with intensive ART work woven in as needed. We'll discover what serves you best.
What To Expect
Collaborative Intake & Tailored On-Going Care
Beginning therapy starts with getting the full picture—understanding what's brought you to this point and what needs to shift. Together, we'll develop goals and a care plan that works in your real life, not some theoretical ideal that looks good on paper but falls apart in practice.
I'm not going to sit quietly nodding and repeatedly asking "and how does that make you feel?" I'm present, involved, honest (with some humor mixed in). We'll monitor our progress, make adjustments as we go, and find the right pace for you—whether that's weekly, bi-weekly, or blending talk therapy with intensive ART work. This isn't old-school therapy where you spin your wheels for months with no clear direction. We're here to create actual transformation.
Accessing Care: 100% Telehealth Throughout California
Every session happens through secure telehealth, which makes therapy accessible no matter where you are in California. Whether you're in Pleasanton, elsewhere in the East Bay and Tri-Valley, across the San Francisco Bay Area, or anywhere statewide—you can access specialized maternal mental health care right from your own home.
There's real power in receiving therapy from your own space, particularly for new mothers. No driving anywhere, no scrambling for childcare, no forcing yourself out the door when you're running on empty. Just you, making space for yourself, however you're able to show up that day.
Investment and Insurance:
If you're worn out from shouldering everything by yourself, if you're ready to reconnect with who you are—or discover who you're becoming in this new chapter—I'm here for you.
Pregnancy worries, postpartum depression, birth trauma, the relentless mental load, grief and loss—whatever's brought you here deserves care and attention. You don't need to keep pushing through motherhood on willpower alone.
Check out the Get Started page!
Get Started
If you're worn out from shouldering everything by yourself, if you're ready to reconnect with who you are—or discover who you're becoming in this new chapter—I'm here for you.
Pregnancy worries, postpartum depression, birth trauma, the relentless mental load, grief and loss—whatever's brought you here deserves care and attention. You don't need to keep pushing through motherhood on willpower alone.