Meet Maeba

After going through a divorce before the age of 30, I knew I needed to end my pattern of toxic relationships. I fully believe that marriage and partnership can be magical and sacred, but only if the relationship you are in is held sacred by all involved. After all, what’s more important? Blind commitment to another person? Or commitment to yourself and your own healing? Ultimately, by choosing to commit to myself, I ended up saving my life. This was the first step in learning to trust myself again. After a long journey of trauma-informed therapy, somatic retreats, yoga, breathwork, meditation, and more, I eventually had enough confidence and skills to put myself out there again.

Luckily, I found my soul-love and amazing partner, but when we decided to start a family, all my past struggles re-emerged and hit me like a ton of bricks. Transitioning to parenthood can be a challenge, not just for the birthing parent, but for the relationship itself.

Especially as a survivor, the lack of control present in becoming a parent can be overwhelming, triggering, or even scary.

I did everything I could to avoid postpartum depression. Read every book on the shelf, restarted therapy, met with a postpartum doula, joined support groups (pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, etc.), and even cycled through a series of medications (many with adverse reactions). Yet, something was still missing. When I returned from my time of self-care to my new reality of motherhood, I would sink back into depression, isolation, and anxiety.

I finally realized what was missing in my healing journey - inviting my partner to join me.

After all, I wasn’t becoming a parent alone (for which I feel truly grateful every day). Rather, we were becoming parents together. So why was all the postpartum support I could find focused just on me? This transition was not only about me becoming a mother, it was about us becoming a family - which by definition is more than one person. So, I decided to put my skills and training in premarital and relationship counseling to work for me, and for us.

Background

I am not a therapist. (Don’t get me wrong, therapy is super important! And it can be a wonderful complement to the work that I do.) But some of us need a different kind of support than a weekly talk session. What I offer is a way to integrate the learnings and self-knowledge you have discovered into your whole being: body, mind, and soul. And most importantly, back into your relationship. 

I am an Ordained interfaith chaplain (UCC) with a Master of Divinity from Yale University. I am a member of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Educators (ACPE) and am also a certified Trauma-Informed Yoga Instructor and Meditation Teacher. My background is in premarital counseling (Prepare/Enrich) with a special focus on interfaith relationships, LGBTQIA+ couples, and couples where one or more partners is a survivor of sexual assault or an abusive partner. 

I am trained in Prepare/Enrich Relationship Counseling, Level I and II of The Gottman Method Couples Therapy and a certified leader of the Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.

I have also completed the Gottman Institute courses on the Transition to Parenthood and Emotion Coaching for parenting well-adjusted children. In addition, I am a long-time leader at Shalom Mountain Retreat Center and am the founder of the Shenandoah Shalom Community, which offers in-person and online workshops in the Shalom Process model of somatic experiencing and personal growth work (click here to learn more).

Mostly, I am a mom to a delightful, at times challenging, but always curious son (and now daughter!) who every day makes me question the wonders of the universe. Today, when I look at my loving, compassionate, and generous partner and the children we are raising together, I cannot help but wonder how I got here - and then I remember: it was through an immense amount of self-compassion, hard work, challenging conversations, and trusting that our partnership would be stronger for all of it. 

Today

Now, I work with couples hoping to start a life together, new parents in their transition to parenthood, couples in struggling marriages who need new skills to reconnect and reimagine their love journey.

I also have a special interest in survivors and their partners who have been on a healing journey from trauma or toxic relationships. Maybe you have reached a place of feeling safe and secure with your self-care routine but now are faced with exploring intimacy, or growing a family and are struggling to fully engage in your relationship in the midst of these transitions. You "know" all the ways to ground yourself and feel safe in your own body, but now that you are with your partner (or perhaps have a baby growing inside you), you feel disconnected, triggered, and frustrated that you are not "over it".

My goal is to help people overcome the battles in themselves so that they can bring more compassion, intimacy, and love into their lives. 

When I am not reading, writing, or pausing to ponder life’s big questions, I love to do crafts as well as bake anything that seems challenging and worth the work. I have a past as a documentary filmmaker, actor, and theater director. My favorite things include going for bike rides with my family and trying new craft beers (my husband and I, not the baby). Since you asked, my favorite beer is the one he made for our wedding and named LOML (“love of my life”).

If you, or you and your partner, are going through a challenging time, or could just use some extra support, reach out to schedule a FREE call and to find out if we are a good fit—I am happy to meet with you as individuals or as a couple. Together, we can bring more hope and happiness into your life and your relationship.

Let’s get started!