Perinatal and Postpartum Therapy in Oklahoma
Maternal mental health deserves its own nest.
The Best Nest is the maternal mental health specialty within Ala Therapy Collective.
Built for pregnancy, postpartum transitions, identity shifts, overwhelm, and the strange emotional terrain of caring for everyone else while trying not to disappear yourself.
You were told this would be the happiest time of your life.
Nobody mentioned the rest of it.
Pregnancy and postpartum are supposed to look a certain way, according to basically everyone around you. Glowing. Grateful. Overjoyed. Sometimes it does look like that. And sometimes it looks like anxiety that will not quit, intrusive thoughts that scare you, a sadness you cannot explain, rage that comes out of nowhere, or feeling completely disconnected from yourself and your baby.
That is not a character flaw. It is a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder, it is incredibly common, and it is very treatable. You do not have to white knuckle through it hoping it lifts on its own.
You are not a bad mom.
That thought that keeps surfacing. That you are doing it wrong. That something is wrong with you for feeling this way. That every other mom has it together and you do not.
That thought is a symptom, not a fact.
Struggling in the perinatal period does not make you a bad parent. It makes you human, moving through one of the most intense transitions a person can go through. Support is not a last resort. It is a doorway.
If it is happening in the perinatal window, it belongs in therapy.
- Prenatal anxiety and depression
- Postpartum depression
- Postpartum anxiety
- Postpartum OCD
- Birth trauma
- Pregnancy loss and grief
- Adjusting to new parenthood
- The identity shift of becoming a parent
- Fear of childbirth
- Relationship changes after baby
Baby blues, or something more?
Baby blues show up in the first two weeks after birth and usually fade on their own. Tearfulness, mood swings, feeling raw.
If your symptoms last longer, deepen, or begin during pregnancy, you may be experiencing a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder. PMADs are the most common complication of pregnancy and childbirth. They are treatable. You did not cause this.
- Sadness or numbness that will not lift
- Anxiety, racing thoughts, or panic
- Anger or irritability that surprises you
- Intrusive or scary thoughts
- Trouble sleeping even when baby sleeps
- Feeling disconnected from your baby or yourself
And this is not rare here. In 2022, 14.9% of Oklahoma mothers reported depressive symptoms or feelings of hopelessness after delivery, compared with 12.7% of mothers nationally the year before. The Oklahoma Toddler Survey found that 18% of Oklahoma mothers were diagnosed with postpartum depression, and that only about 60% were screened for it at all.
The gap is not evenly spread, either. American Indian and Alaska Native mothers in Oklahoma had the highest rate of diagnosed postpartum depression of any group in the state, at 23.2%. Non-Hispanic Black mothers had the lowest screening rate of any group, which is a different problem wearing the same coat. Therapy for Black women is its own branch here for exactly this reason.
A lot of people in this state are carrying this without anyone ever asking them about it. If nobody has asked you, consider this the asking.
Source: Oklahoma State Department of Health, Maternal Health and Postpartum Visits, drawing on CDC Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (2022) and The Oklahoma Toddler Survey (2018 to 2022).
You do not have to wait until it is worse.
You may be the first person who notices.
People in the middle of a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder often cannot see it from the inside. Everyone around them is asking about the baby. The person standing closest is usually the one who sees the rest of it first.
If you have caught yourself thinking any of these, you are not overreacting and you are not imagining it.
- I do not recognize her.
- She is angry all the time and that is not her.
- She will not sleep, even when the baby is asleep.
- She keeps saying she is a bad mom.
- She is frightened of thoughts she is having.
That last one deserves its own paragraph. Scary, intrusive thoughts about harm coming to the baby are very common in postpartum anxiety and postpartum OCD. They are distressing precisely because they run against everything the person wants. They are not a sign that anyone is dangerous, and they respond well to treatment. What matters is that they get said out loud to someone who knows the difference.
When it is more urgent than a contact form
If she is talking about not wanting to be here, if she is seeing or hearing things that are not there, or if she seems confused or disconnected from reality, do not wait on a contact form. Postpartum psychosis is rare and it is a medical emergency.
- National Maternal Mental Health Hotline: call or text 1-833-852-6262, free and confidential, 24/7
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, 24/7
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
- Immediate danger: call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room
If it is not an emergency and something still feels off, that is exactly when to reach out.
Meet the clinician holding this work.
Madison
Madison brings a grounded, thoughtful presence to maternal mental health, working with women who are pregnant and women in the thick of new motherhood. Patient and deeply observant, calm without ever feeling clinical or distant, she helps you slow down enough to reconnect with yourself.
Her work is person centered and strength based, and the only thing she asks is that you come as you are, unapologetically.
Madison is a licensed clinical social worker in Oklahoma with a Master of Social Work from the University of Oklahoma. She is trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma focused CBT, and somatic approaches, and she also works with religious trauma, therapy for women, and family of origin work.
View Madison's Full Profile
Katana Serrano Jones, LMSW
Katana started the Best Nest. Perinatal mental health is her work, and this branch is here because of her. She is away right now and is not accepting new clients.
Read About KatanaOnline across Oklahoma
Sessions are online, anywhere in Oklahoma. Virtual is a genuinely good option when you have a newborn and leaving the house feels like an Olympic event. See online therapy
We take insurance
We are in network with most major insurance plans, including Aetna, Ambetter, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, HealthChoice, and UnitedHealthcare. Plug your insurance in on our website and find out what you are working with before you ever talk to anyone. Check your benefits
The questions people actually type at 3am.
Will DHS take my baby if I tell a therapist I am struggling?
This is the question that keeps people quiet, so here is a straight answer instead of a comforting one.
Oklahoma law is broad. Under 10A O.S. § 1-2-101, every person who has reason to believe a child is a victim of abuse or neglect has to report it to DHS, and no privilege gets around that. Therapists included. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
Now read what that statute is actually about. A child being a victim of abuse or neglect. It is not about a parent who is depressed. It is not about a parent who is anxious. It is not about intrusive thoughts, which are a symptom and not a plan. Being exhausted and frightened and saying so out loud to a therapist is not evidence that a child is being harmed.
We are also not going to tell you the fear is irrational. In 2019, child welfare investigated roughly 1 in 18 Black infants and 1 in 31 Indigenous infants following a report from a medical professional, compared with 1 in 41 white infants. Nobody is imagining that pattern. If that is where your fear comes from, you are not being paranoid, and we are not going to talk to you like you are.
What we will do is be specific with you up front about what we are required to report, so nothing is ever a surprise. We are social workers, not lawyers. For legal advice about your specific situation, talk to a lawyer.
Is it postpartum depression, or am I just tired?
Everyone is tired. Tired lifts when you sleep. If you got four hours in a row and still woke up dreading the day, that is not a sleep problem.
The other tell is duration. Baby blues run about two weeks and fade on their own. If it has been longer than that, or it started during pregnancy, or it is getting heavier instead of lighter, that is worth talking to someone about. You do not need to be certain to make an appointment. Sorting that out is the job.
Why am I so angry? Nobody warned me about the rage.
Because nobody talks about it. Postpartum depression gets described as sadness, so when what shows up is white-hot fury at your partner for loading the dishwasher wrong, it does not match the brochure and you assume you are just a bad person now.
Rage and irritability are extremely common presentations of postpartum depression and anxiety. Depression does not always look like crying. Sometimes it looks like snapping. It is not a character transplant and it is not permanent.
I do not feel bonded with my baby. Is something wrong with me?
Feeling disconnected from your baby, or from yourself, is one of the most common symptoms of postpartum depression and one of the least talked about, because saying it out loud feels like a confession.
It is not a verdict on whether you love your child and it is not permanent. Bonding is not a switch that either flipped or did not. For a lot of people it is a slow build that depression is actively interfering with, and treating the depression is what clears the road.
I am having scary thoughts about my baby. Does that mean something is wrong with me?
Intrusive thoughts about harm coming to your baby are very common in postpartum anxiety and postpartum OCD. They are frightening specifically because they are the opposite of what you want, and that horror is part of what distinguishes them. They are treatable, and saying them out loud to a clinician who works in this area is usually a relief rather than a risk.
If you are seeing or hearing things that are not there, or feeling confused or disconnected from reality, that is different and it is urgent. Call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-852-6262, available 24/7, or 988.
How long does postpartum depression last?
Honest answer: it depends on whether it gets treated. Left alone it can run for months, and for some people it runs for years and quietly becomes the personality they think they have now. Treated, most people get meaningfully better.
We are not going to hand you a number of weeks. Anyone who does is guessing.
My baby is a year old. Is it too late for this to be postpartum anything?
No. Symptoms usually start within the first six months, but onset can happen up to a year postpartum, and plenty of people are still dealing with it well past that. Nobody checks your baby's birthday at the door.
If your kid is three and you have never felt right since, that counts too. The window on getting help does not close.
Can you get postpartum depression while pregnant?
Yes, and it is common enough that the clinical term is perinatal, not postpartum. Prenatal anxiety and depression are real and treatable, and fear of childbirth, pregnancy after a loss, and the identity shift of becoming a parent all start well before delivery. You do not have to wait until the baby is here to get help.
I was fine with my first baby. Why is this one different?
It does not track. You can sail through one pregnancy and get flattened by the next, and it says nothing about you as a parent. Different pregnancy, different body, different sleep, different life, different everything.
It also runs the other direction. Having it once does not sentence you to having it again.
Do I have to go on medication?
No. We do not prescribe, so this is genuinely not our call to push. Therapy works on its own, it works alongside medication, and the two are not in competition.
If you want to explore medication, that is a conversation with your OB, your primary care provider, or a psychiatric prescriber, and we are glad to work alongside them. If you do not want to, that does not disqualify you from care here.
Do you take insurance for perinatal therapy?
Yes. Ala Therapy Collective is in network with most major plans, including Aetna, Ambetter, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, HealthChoice, and UnitedHealthcare. We verify your benefits before your first appointment so you know what you are looking at ahead of time. Check your coverage here.
Do you offer postpartum therapy in Oklahoma?
Yes. Perinatal and postpartum therapy, online across all of Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman, Edmond, Moore, Lawton, and Enid. Sessions happen by secure video, so where you live does not decide whether you get specialized care. If you have never done this before, here is what to expect in therapy.
Who would I be working with?
Madison Johnson, LCSW holds the maternal mental health work at Ala Therapy Collective right now. She works with women who are pregnant and women in early motherhood, online across Oklahoma.
Katana Serrano Jones, LMSW started the Best Nest. She is away right now and is not accepting new clients.
Can my partner reach out for me?
Yes. Partners and family members contact us on someone's behalf all the time, and that is a perfectly reasonable way to start. We will still need the person themselves to consent before anything begins, but the first message does not have to come from her.
Sources: Oklahoma Children's Code, 10A O.S. § 1-2-101. Infant investigation rates from an analysis of National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System data published in Pediatrics, 2023.
You deserve support too.
Fill out our contact form and we will connect you with maternal mental health care. You do not have to keep waiting to feel like yourself again.
A softer place to land. Same flock.