Therapy for Pregnancy Anxiety, Postpartum Anxiety & Infertility in Colorado
I help women who are struggling with anxiety, overthinking, uncertainty, and the overwhelming responsibility that can come with trying to conceive, being pregnant, postpartum, and motherhood. The women I help want to quiet the mental noise, trust themselves again, and feel more confident making decisions without needing to get everything exactly right.
Who I Commonly Work With
I often work with high-functioning, motivated women who are used to being the responsible one. The person others count on, trust, and look to when something needs to get done. Many are navigating trying to conceive, infertility or fertility treatment, pregnancy after infertility or loss, pregnancy anxiety, postpartum anxiety, or the transition into motherhood.
They often come to therapy when the strategies that have helped them feel capable in the past, like planning, researching, anticipating problems, staying busy, taking care of others, and working harder, aren’t working anymore.
Instead, they may find themselves:
Googling symptoms or researching decisions over and over
Checking their body, their baby, fertility apps, test results, or other signs for reassurance
Replaying decisions after they make them
Seeking reassurance but finding that the relief never lasts very long
Struggling with intrusive thoughts or frightening “what if” scenarios
Feeling responsible for anticipating everything that could possibly go wrong
Having difficulty resting, even when they finally have the opportunity
Feeling guilty, jealous, angry, resentful, irritable, or unlike themselves
Struggling to tolerate uncertainty when there isn't one obviously “right” answer
For women trying to conceive or going through infertility or IVF, this can look like tracking, researching, comparing lab results, calculating dates, questioning whether enough is being done, and feeling as though getting pregnant has become another problem they are personally responsible for solving.
During pregnancy, it may look like monitoring symptoms, worrying that something is wrong, struggling to trust good news, researching decisions until they feel completely certain, or feeling afraid to get excited or attached.
Postpartum, it can look like constantly checking on the baby, questioning parenting decisions, having scary intrusive thoughts, struggling to let other people help, or feeling unable to turn off your brain even when the baby is asleep.
Many of the women I work with are also overwhelmed by the sheer amount of responsibility and input that comes with motherhood. The mental load of carrying it all becomes too much. They may feel overstimulated, touched out, irritable, emotionally exhausted, or desperate to have a little time when nobody needs anything from them.
What often brings them to therapy is the realization that they are spending so much energy trying to make sure they are doing everything “right” that they are struggling to actually experience their lives.
They want to feel like themselves again, trust their own judgment, and stop treating every uncertain decision as though getting it wrong could mean failing someone they love.
Services I Offer
I provide individual therapy for adult women navigating anxiety and overwhelm related to trying to conceive, infertility and fertility treatment, pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood.
My primary areas of focus include pregnancy anxiety, postpartum anxiety, intrusive thoughts, overthinking, reassurance seeking, difficulty tolerating uncertainty, fertility-related grief, pregnancy after infertility or loss, and the mental and emotional load of motherhood.
If you're struggling with fear, checking, reassurance seeking, or constant “what if” thoughts during pregnancy, start here → Pregnancy Anxiety Therapy
If anxiety, intrusive thoughts, checking, self-doubt, or the mental load of caring for a baby is taking over postpartum, start here → Postpartum Anxiety Therapy
If you're trying to conceive, going through infertility or IVF, trying again after a loss, or feeling consumed by tracking, waiting, uncertainty, and fertility-related grief, start here → TTC, Infertility & IVF Support
When This Work Is a Good Fit
This work is often a good fit for women who are capable and self-aware but find themselves caught in patterns of overthinking, checking, researching, planning, or seeking reassurance that provide temporary relief without actually quieting the anxiety.
You may be a particularly good fit for my approach if you want to understand what your anxiety is doing and why, not simply be told to relax, think positively, or use another coping skill.
My approach is compassionate, relational, practical, and active. I don't simply sit back and nod. We look together at what triggers the anxiety, what your brain predicts might happen, and what you do to try to make uncertainty disappear.
Depending on what you are experiencing, our work may include learning to recognize when checking or reassurance is keeping an anxiety cycle going, responding differently to intrusive or frightening thoughts, making decisions without requiring complete certainty, understanding your nervous system and anxiety responses, identifying triggers before you reach overwhelm, making room for difficult emotions without judging yourself for having them, communicating your needs, and reconnecting with the parts of yourself that can get buried beneath anxiety and motherhood.
My work draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), nervous system regulation and somatic approaches, values-based therapy, psychoeducation, mindfulness, attachment-based therapy, and trauma-informed care. I use these approaches based on what is actually happening for you rather than expecting you to fit into one rigid treatment model.
The goal isn't to promise that you will never worry, feel uncertain, have a hard parenting day, or experience grief again. It is to help anxiety and uncertainty stop making every decision for you.
When This May Not Be the Best Fit
This may not be the best fit if you are looking for couples therapy. My TTC, infertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood work is individual therapy. If couples counseling would be more appropriate, I can help point you toward a therapist who provides that service.
I also do not provide crisis or emergency mental health services. If you need immediate or crisis-level mental health support, a provider or service equipped to offer that level of care will be a better fit.
Because my practice is private pay, this may also not be the right fit if you need to use an in-network insurance provider for therapy.
Practical & Legal Clarity
I’m Annika Papke, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Addictions Counselor in Colorado and a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional (PMH-C).
I work with adults.
I provide online therapy to clients located throughout Colorado and in-person therapy at my office in Broomfield, Colorado.
My practice is private pay. I am not in network with insurance companies, although I can provide a superbill that you may submit to your insurance company for possible out-of-network reimbursement.
Sessions are 53 minutes.
I offer a free 20-minute consultation for prospective clients so we can talk about what is bringing you to therapy and determine whether working together feels like a good fit.
Where to Go Next
If anxiety during pregnancy has you checking symptoms, seeking reassurance, fearing something is wrong, or struggling to enjoy your pregnancy → Pregnancy Anxiety Therapy
If postpartum anxiety has you constantly monitoring, researching, questioning yourself, experiencing intrusive thoughts, or struggling to turn your brain off → Postpartum Anxiety Therapy
If trying to conceive, infertility, pregnancy loss, or IVF has taken over your mental and emotional life → TTC, Infertility & IVF Support
If you're not sure which of these describes what you're experiencing, you can schedule a free 20-minute consultation and we can talk about what has been happening.
Ready to turn down the mental noise?
You’re allowed to get support before you hit your breaking point.
STEP ONE
Schedule a free 20-minute virtual consultation so we can talk about what’s been happening and see if we’re a good fit.
STEP TWO
Meet with Annika Papke, maternal mental health specialist, for your first therapy appointment.
STEP THREE
Start turning down the worry, rebuilding trust in yourself, and making space to actually experience life instead of constantly bracing your way through it.
You don’t need to figure everything out before you’re allowed to feel okay.