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Caitlin Slavens
Hi, I'm Caitlin and I'm a Registered Psychologist, mom of two, and the clinic owner and co-founder of Couples to Cradles Counselling and MamaPsychologists.
My work focuses on maternal mental health and trauma. I support moms who love their children deeply but do not feel like themselves anymore. Many are anxious, burned out, overstimulated, carrying an invisible mental load, or worried about how angry and reactive they have become. Some are highly sensitive themselves, are parenting a highly sensitive child, or feel as though the noise, touching, interruptions, and constant decisions of motherhood have pushed their nervous system past its limit.
I also work with first responders and people recovering after traumatic motor vehicle accidents. They may be dealing with intrusive memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, driving anxiety, avoidance, anger, sleep disruption, chronic pain, or the feeling that their body is still bracing for something to happen, even when the immediate danger has passed.
Across both areas of my practice, I help people understand what is happening beneath their symptoms, process what they have experienced, and feel safer and more in control of their lives again.
How I help
Therapy with me is practical, direct, and grounded in an understanding of how trauma affects the brain, body, relationships, and sense of safety.
For moms, therapy is a place to be honest about motherhood without being judged, minimized, or told to simply practise more self-care. Together, we may look at postpartum anxiety, mom rage, burnout, overstimulation, trauma, perfectionism, the mental load, relationship strain, or the pressure to be the calm and endlessly available parent.
When working with first responders and people recovering from motor vehicle accidents, we may address intrusive memories, avoidance, guilt, anger, hypervigilance, sleep problems, changes in identity, pain-related distress, and anxiety about returning to work or driving.
I draw from EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy, attachment-based therapy, somatic approaches, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, exposure-based strategies, and other trauma-informed approaches. We may begin with practical ways to manage difficult symptoms while gradually processing the experiences that continue to make your mind and body respond as though the threat is still happening.
Areas of focus/specialties
- Maternal mental health: Mothers and parents during pregnancy, postpartum, matrescence, and the parenting years
- Trauma therapy: First responders, people in high-stress professions, and individuals recovering from traumatic motor vehicle accidentsAdditional clinical work: Individual trauma, parent-child attachment, teens, and couples
- Areas I commonly help withMaternal mental health and parenting
- Postpartum anxiety and depression
- Mom rage, irritability, and anger
- Parental burnout
- Overstimulation and sensory overwhelm
- Highly sensitive mothers and parents
- Parenting a highly sensitive child
- Mom guilt and perfectionism
- Mental load and invisible labour
- Intrusive thoughts
- Birth trauma and difficult postpartum experiences
- Pregnancy loss, infertility, and postpartum grief
- Loss of identity during motherhood
- Parenting triggers and childhood trauma
- Relationship and communication difficulties
- Boundaries and people-pleasing
- Post-traumatic stress and PTSD
- Critical incident trauma
- Cumulative exposure to trauma
- Workplace violence and traumatic workplace incidents
- Intrusive memories and nightmares
- Hypervigilance and difficulty switching off
- Anger, emotional numbness, and disconnection
- Guilt, shame, and moral injury
- Sleep disruption
- Return-to-work anxiety
- Relationship and family strain following trauma
- Driving and passenger anxiety
- Avoidance of roads, intersections, or accident locations
- Panic and physical fear responses while travelling
- Intrusive memories and accident-related nightmares
- Hyperarousal and exaggerated startle responses
- Chronic pain and pain-related distress
- Loss of independence or confidence
- Anxiety about returning to work, driving, or previous activities
- Stress related to treatment, insurance, or compensation processes
Therapeutic approaches and modalities
About Me
I have worked in mental health since 2009, beginning in community crisis support and family preservation before moving into private practice. My clinical work has included maternal and perinatal mental health, trauma, anxiety, parent-child attachment, childhood mental health, relationship concerns, and family stress.
I have experience supporting first responders and other professionals exposed to critical incidents, cumulative trauma, workplace violence, and high levels of responsibility. I also work with people recovering from traumatic motor vehicle accidents, including those experiencing post-traumatic stress, driving anxiety, chronic pain, avoidance, hyperarousal, and difficulties returning to work or their previous routines.
I hold a Master of Counselling from Athabasca University and a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Correctional Studies from Lethbridge College, now Lethbridge Polytechnic.
Alongside my clinical work, I co-founded MamaPsychologists, an online maternal mental health community followed by more than 675,000 people. I am also the co-author of Not Your Mother’s Postpartum Book, a candid guide to postpartum anxiety, mental load, relationships, identity, boundaries, body image, and the realities families are rarely prepared for.
My insights have appeared in TIME, Forbes, Today’s Parent, Parents, Parade, CNBC, and Global News.