The stories we tell new parents rarely match what their nights feel like. With licensed clinical social worker Brittany Gallagher, founder of The Mom Chat, we get honest about maternal mental health, the pressure to be thrilled, and why the most common birth complication in the U.S. is psychological, not physical. Brittany works across family planning, pregnancy, postpartum, and early motherhood, and she explains how education and validation cut through shame while practical therapy tools restore a sense of control.

We talk about real-world accessibility—sessions from a car during nap time, babies on laps, flexible scheduling—and the modalities that help most: cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure and response prevention for OCD, inference-based CBT, and trauma-focused EMDR. If talk therapy has helped but not fully moved the needle after birth trauma or medical stress, Brittany shares how bilateral stimulation in EMDR can reprocess stuck experiences and reduce the emotional charge.

The conversation widens to include dads, who also face perinatal mood and anxiety disorders yet often carry stigma and silence. We unpack how unspoken stress strains relationships, and how normalizing support for men strengthens the whole family. Brittany also brings deep experience supporting parents of children with disabilities, offering guidance on special education navigation, behavior strategies, and the layered grief that comes with adjusting expectations while advocating for your child.

You’ll walk away with language to name what you’re feeling, frameworks for getting help before a crisis, and a reminder that you don’t have to do this alone. If this conversation resonates, share it with a friend who needs the nudge, subscribe for more local stories that matter, and leave a review to tell us what you want to hear next.

The Mom Chat Therapy & Wellness
Brittany Gallagher
12 Lincoln Blvd., Suite 203
Emerson, NJ 07630
201-378-3564
[email protected]
themomchattherapy.com