When a baby is born, a parent is born, too. This transition—anthropologically known as Matrescence (or Patrescence)—is one of the most significant developmental leaps in an adult life. Yet, our culture often focuses solely on the baby, leaving the parents to navigate this identity earthquake alone.
My coaching provides a container for this transition. We acknowledge that it is possible to love your baby deeply and mourn your former freedom. We normalize the chaos, the identity confusion, and the relationship strain, offering tools to rebuild your sense of self within this new reality.
Who Am I Now?
- Processing the Birth: Integrating the birth story so it becomes a source of strength, not trauma.
- The "Good Mother" Myth: Dismantling the perfectionist narratives that drive postpartum anxiety and guilt.
- Career & Self: Navigating the tension between professional ambition and the demands of early parenthood.
From Partners to Parents.
Sleep deprivation and new responsibilities can turn partners into roommates (or adversaries).
- Role renegotiation: Moving away from "keeping score" to creating a shared family culture.
- Intimacy: Redefining connection and sexuality when bodies and energy levels have changed.
- Communication: Tools for expressing needs without criticism during high-stress windows.
Common Questions
What is matrescence?
Matrescence is the developmental process of becoming a mother — a term coined by anthropologist Dana Raphael in the 1970s and more recently brought into wider use by developmental psychologist Aurelie Athan. Like adolescence, it involves a profound hormonal, neurological, and identity-level reorganization. Unlike adolescence, it receives almost no cultural acknowledgment. Many of the feelings new mothers describe — the grief, the disorientation, the ambivalence — are not symptoms of illness; they are features of a significant developmental transition that has simply not been named or held.
Is this therapy?
No. New family coaching at Brooklyn Qi is not licensed mental health treatment and does not diagnose or treat clinical conditions. It is a structured coaching practice that provides tools, frameworks, and a held space for navigating the identity and relational changes of early parenthood. If postpartum depression or anxiety is present at a clinical level, Liz will refer you to appropriate psychiatric support and can work alongside it.
Can my partner attend sessions?
Yes, and in many cases couples work is where the most meaningful shifts happen. The transition to parenthood strains even strong partnerships — not because something is wrong, but because two people are simultaneously undergoing their own version of this developmental leap while sleep-deprived and resource-depleted. Joint sessions focus on role renegotiation, communication under stress, and rebuilding a sense of partnership within the new family structure.
When is the right time to start?
Anytime in the first two years is within the window this work is designed for. Some people come in the third trimester to begin the psychological preparation before birth. Others arrive at six weeks postpartum when the initial survival mode is lifting and the larger questions are beginning to surface. Others come at twelve or eighteen months when the dust has settled enough to take stock of where they are. All of these are the right time.
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