Virtue Counseling

Virtue Counseling 1009 Arnold Avenue Point Pleasant, NJ 08742. Telehealth available

08/21/2026

As a postpartum therapist, I see the same thing over and over: parents who weren’t given the full picture. Not about the sleepless nights, everyone warns you about that. I mean the identity shifts, the hormone chaos, the way fatherhood rewires a brain too, and the grief that doesn’t always get named out loud.

So here are four books I hand to my clients (and read myself):

📖 Becoming Two & Keeping You by Samantha Breslin — for anyone planning a pregnancy who’s terrified of losing themselves in the process. This one helps you make decisions from clarity, not fear.

📖 The Hormone Loop by Dr. Gillian Goddard — because hormonal health from puberty through menopause deserves way more than a passing mention at your annual physical.

📖 Dad Brain by Darby Saxbe — the science on how engaged fatherhood literally changes a man’s brain and body. Dads need this validation too.

📖 Mama Bird Lost an Egg by Evelyne Fournier and illustrated by Chloloula — a gentle way to help little ones understand miscarriage and loss. Grief education starts young, and this book does it with so much tenderness.

Parenthood asks a lot of us. These books are honest and meet you where you’re at.

Which one are you picking up first? 👇

Turns out there's a name for "why do I love this baby and also feel like I got hit by a truck": adjustment to parenthood...
08/08/2026

Turns out there's a name for "why do I love this baby and also feel like I got hit by a truck": adjustment to parenthood. Nobody puts it on a onesie.

If you've caught yourself thinking I love my baby, but I don't feel like myself — that's not a red flag. That's just what it sounds like when a person becomes a different person in about six weeks.

You can be grieving your old life and completely smitten with your new one in the same afternoon. Both things are allowed to be true. Neither one cancels the other out.

Some days this eases on its own. Some days it doesn't, and that's worth telling someone about — especially if you're white-knuckling it, or quietly running on "I guess this is just surviving now."

Real talk: right now the bar is low and that's fine. Potato's alive, potato's fed. That's the job. Feeling like yourself again can happen on its own schedule.

What's one thing about this stage that has surprised you most?
Tell me below

Book your free consultation at virtuecounseling.com

Pregnancy after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss is one of the most emotionally complex experiences there is. You...
07/01/2026

Pregnancy after miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss is one of the most emotionally complex experiences there is. You’re expected to feel joy, but what you might actually feel is fear, grief, guilt, and a whole lot of holding your breath.

Therapy for pregnancy after loss isn’t about “fixing” you. It’s about having a space where your anxiety, your intrusive thoughts, and your grief are understood, not minimized.

Swipe through for 5 signs that pregnancy after loss counseling could help:

🤍 You’re struggling to bond with this pregnancy

🤍 Anxiety is interfering with your sleep, work, or relationships

🤍 Intrusive thoughts are persistent and distressing

🤍 Grief from your previous loss still feels raw

🤍 You feel like no one around you truly understands

You don’t have to white-knuckle your way through the next several months. Support exists, and telehealth makes it reachable no matter where you are.

I’m a New Jersey licensed therapist specializing in perinatal mental health, pregnancy after loss, and postpartum support. Secure video sessions, on your schedule, from anywhere in the state.

Ready to talk? The link in my bio is the first step. 🌿

If you’re ready to feel more confident supporting clients through the postpartum period, this upcoming CE training with ...
06/25/2026

If you’re ready to feel more confident supporting clients through the postpartum period, this upcoming CE training with Jerusha Hull, LCSW, PMH-C is for you ⬇️

Preparing Clients for the Fourth Trimester: Identification of PMADS and Postpartum Planning

📅 Friday, July 17 | 🕛 1-2:30pm ET | 💻 Virtual via Zoom
🎓 Earn 1.5 Clinical CEs (ASWB + NBCC approved)
💰 Just $60 – Limited Spots Left!

Don’t miss this highly-rated training designed to deepen your skills in perinatal mental health and postpartum planning — even if you’re already certified or experienced!

What past attendees are saying:

“I’m a PMH-C and still learned so much. Highly recommend!”

“The training yesterday on how to help parents prepare for the fourth trimester was amazing, extremely useful and I learned a great deal on how to implement it in my practice. Thank you!”

“This was engaging and informative — anyone can benefit from Jerusha’s expertise!”

Perfect for:
✔️ Therapists new to perinatal work
✔️ Clinicians expanding into maternal mental health
✔️ PMH-C professionals seeking a refresher

🎟️ Register Now at the link in my bio!

Paternal postpartum depression is real. 1 in 10 dads will experience it, and almost no one is screening for them.When we...
06/20/2026

Paternal postpartum depression is real. 1 in 10 dads will experience it, and almost no one is screening for them.

When we talk about postpartum mental health, the attention goes to the birthing parent, and it should. They move through the biggest physical and hormonal shifts. But there’s a second story happening in the same house, and it rarely gets named.

Here’s why postpartum depression in dads and non-birthing parents slips through:

📆They don’t get a six-week OB visit

✏️No one screens them at the pediatrician’s office

❤️‍🩹 The one person who might notice is deep in their own recovery

The risk factors read like an ordinary newborn season.

Sleep deprivation.
Financial stress or a job change.
Feeling shut out of the caregiving role.
A partner with PPD or anxiety. traumatic birth or NICU stay. Limited support.

Each one is survivable on its own. Stacked together, that’s clinical risk before it has a name.

If you read that list and counted four or five, that’s something to pay attention to. Data for you.

What it can look like: irritability, withdrawal, exhaustion that sleep won’t touch, drinking more than you used to, struggling to feel connected to the baby.

None of that is a character flaw or weakness. It’s a body and mind asking for the same care we so readily offer the birthing parent.

A whole-family postpartum is one where everyone gets included in the plan.

If this is hitting close to home, you are carrying more than you’ve been given language for, and you deserve support too. 💙

🔖 Save this and send it to a new dad who needs it.

I recently sat down with on the Rewire For Birth podcast for a 59-minute conversation about what’s actually happening i...
06/01/2026

I recently sat down with on the Rewire For Birth podcast for a 59-minute conversation about what’s actually happening in the fourth trimester, and the kind of care every new parent deserves access to before they need it. It’s the conversation I wish more parents got to hear.

🎧 Podcast available wherever you listen!

P.S. If the episode lands and you want to go deeper, my workbook There’s a Fourth Trimester?! walks you through building your own postpartum plan — including the web of care framework Cindy and I talked about. Grab it at my link in bio!

05/28/2026

Did you notice how fast I spoke just then?

That’s how fast the thoughts come, too. 💭

In the fourth trimester (those first three months postpartum) I expect my clients to have what we call intrusive thoughts.

They sound like:

Is baby sleeping okay?

Did I buckle the car seat right?

Am I holding the handrail tight enough on the stairs?

They’ve been asleep a long time… are they okay?

They loop. They race. They don’t seem to stop.

But, knowledge is power and if we can let new parents know before these thoughts start that this is expected, it could be a completely different experience.

It’s not a sign that something is wrong with you. It’s your nervous system doing exactly what it’s wired to do to keep your baby safe.

But you shouldn’t have to carry it in silence.

If no one has told you yet, you’re not alone, and you’re not broken.

Your body just did something incredible. And now it’s going through one of the most dramatic hormonal shifts of your lif...
05/21/2026

Your body just did something incredible. And now it’s going through one of the most dramatic hormonal shifts of your life.

Estrogen and progesterone, which were at an all-time high during pregnancy, drop to their lowest levels almost overnight. Oxytocin — the “bonding” hormone, rises to help you connect with your baby, but it also increases anxiety. Progesterone’s drop makes it harder for your body to regulate that anxiety. Cortisol spikes, leaving you exhausted and emotionally depleted. And all of these changes happening at once? That’s why everything can feel so out of control.

These 5 changes happen to every postpartum person, and they explain so much of what you’re feeling.

The mood swings. The overwhelm. The moments where you don’t recognize yourself. It’s not weakness. It’s biology.

You are not broken. You are healing. 💕

The first 3 months after baby arrives are a whole new world. And most of us walk in completely unprepared for the sleepless nights, the hormone shifts, feeding struggles, bonding challenges, and figuring out your village (or realizing you don’t have one).

That’s exactly why I created “There’s A Fourth Trimester?!” — a realistic workbook to help you prepare for AND navigate those first three months with more clarity and less freaking out and uncertainty.

I can’t wait for you to have this resource that I wish I had when I was postpartum.

Link in bio to grab a copy for yourself, a friend, or as a baby shower gift!

05/19/2026

“I should be able to do this better.”

That’s what moms tell me. Not “I’m failing” — but “I should be doing this better.”

And here’s what no one prepared you for: the fourth trimester isn’t something you’re meant to white-knuckle through.

Your hormones are shifting. Your body is recovering. You’re sleep-deprived. You’ve never done this before — or never done it with this baby, or with a toddler in the mix too.

And underneath all of it, you’re renegotiating your entire relationship with who you thought a mom would be.

That’s not failure. That’s a transition.

I sat down with Rewire For Birth for Episode 73 — Navigating the Fourth Trimester — for an unfiltered conversation every mother deserves to hear before baby arrives.

Inside the episode:

🤍 What’s really happening hormonally postpartum — and how oxytocin can fuel both bonding and anxiety

🤍 The difference between baby blues and postpartum depression — timelines, signs, and what to watch for

🤍 Why intrusive thoughts are so common in early motherhood (and how understanding them softens the shame)

🤍 The “web of care” and the four kinds of support every new mom needs

🤍 Why doing motherhood alone isn’t strength — it’s risk

🤍 How perfectionism quietly makes postpartum harder

🤍 How partnerships shift after baby, and simple ways to stay connected

🤍 Why processing your birth story is part of postpartum healing

If you’re pregnant, planning to be, in the thick of it, or loving someone who is — this one is for you.

You were never meant to do this alone.

🎧 Listen to Episode 73 of Rewire For Birth wherever you get your podcasts. Link in bio.

The first three months after birth have a name.They’re called the fourth trimester — and they might be the most overlook...
05/18/2026

The first three months after birth have a name.

They’re called the fourth trimester — and they might be the most overlooked, under-supported, and misunderstood season of a woman’s life.

We prepare for pregnancy. We prepare for birth. And then we hand mothers a baby, send them home, and expect them to “bounce back” into a body, a brain, an identity, and a life that has fundamentally changed.

That’s the gap I wanted to fill in this conversation.

I joined Rewire For Birth for Episode 73 — Navigating the Fourth Trimester — to talk about what postpartum actually looks like underneath the highlight reel, and what every new mother (and every person who loves one) deserves to understand.

Inside the episode, we get into:

🤍 What the fourth trimester really is — and why it’s so much more than recovering from birth

🤍 The hormonal shifts that quietly shape your mood, anxiety, and mental health postpartum

🤍 The role of oxytocin in bonding, hyper-vigilance, and the protective instincts you didn’t know to expect

🤍 Baby blues vs. postpartum depression — how to tell the difference and when to reach out

🤍 Why intrusive thoughts are so common, and why naming them takes away their power

🤍 The “web of care” — the four kinds of support every postpartum mother needs (and why one isn’t enough)

🤍 How perfectionism and rigidity make postpartum harder, and why flexibility is the real skill

🤍 The mental load of motherhood and the impossible standard of “doing it all”

🤍 How partnerships shift after baby, and small ways to protect connection

🤍 Why your birth story matters in your postpartum healing

Postpartum was never meant to be something you survive in silence. It deserves care. Community. Language. Support.

If you’re expecting, planning to be, deep in the newborn fog, or walking alongside someone who is — press play.

🎧 Episode 73: Navigating the Fourth Trimester — on Rewire For Birth, wherever you listen.

Address

1009 Arnold Avenue
Sea Girt, NJ
08742

Telephone

+15716355855

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