Kirsten Finn is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Restored Wellbeing, a perinatal psychology practice in Brisbane. With lived experienced of birth traumas and infant loss, and over 20 years of experience as a psychologist, Kirsten is committed to improving the mental health and wellbeing of expectant and new parents. Kirsten and her team offer psychological support to address a range of issues including prenatal and postnatal anxiety and depression, adjustment difficulties, and bonding and attachment issues. Restored Wellbeing therapists also offer a safe and compassionate environment for those navigating the complex emotions and challenges associated with traumatic birth experiences and the loss of a pregnancy and baby.

The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?

I have always been drawn to working with mothers and babies and began working as a perinatal psychologist long before having children of my own. Stories shape our narrative and our identity. My own birth was medically traumatic, and I spent the first 6 weeks of my life in a neonatal intensive care unit. These early life experiences led to a deep curiosity about the impact of trauma on our attachment relationships and on how trauma has historically been undertreated in women. Attachment theory has been a pivotal component of my learning. What makes a good mother? Why does it sometimes go awry? This is the fascination – what are the psychological issues, barriers or events that impact on a mother? How do we support a mother to work through these challenges to ensure that she is able to meet her own needs and thrive and then meet the needs of her child? Perinatal psychology allows us to consider all aspects of the parent, the baby and their relationship. Working in a private perinatal practice allows me to have a significant impact on the lives and mental health of whole family systems, primarily by enhancing the mental health of parents.

What draws me in?

The perinatal period, from preconception through to 3 years after birth, is critical time where the mental health of a baby begins, and it is a unique time where women are highly motivated to seek help. Women are much more open to accessing support when they know their baby will benefit! By supporting mothers, we support entire family networks and interrupt cycles of intergenerational trauma or poorly managed mental health issues. We work with women at a point where they just don’t feel like themselves – they know there is something not right, even if they are unsure of what exactly that is. They are worried about how their mental health might impact on their baby, family or their relationship, and they know that things could be a lot better. While a mother is attending to the needs of her baby, the role of a therapist is to attend to the psychological needs of the mother.

Being a perinatal psychologist means that I need to be able to provide psychological interventions for all mental health conditions but be able to tailor those interventions to the specific needs of women at this developmental point in time.

Why focus on women?

There is a complexity to women’s mental health. In the perinatal period, there are significant hormonal changes, physical body changes, identity changes, role changes, workplace and financial changes and often significant shifts and changes within our social and attachment relationships. Interestingly, any time of change is a high-risk time for mental health symptoms, and a woman in her fertility years is experiencing several significant changes all at once. At Restored Wellbeing, our therapists hold in mind a holistic view of each mother and consider the numerous stressors and pressures that might be impacting on her wellbeing. Each woman we encounter has her own unique experience that we seek to understand, and together we develop plans to enhance her mental health and wellbeing.

Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?

As a team, we are clear on our own values around prioritising our families, and the health and wellbeing of our team members. Therapists spend all their time at work concentrating and attending to the needs of others, and this work brings us much joy and satisfaction when we notice the shifts and changes in our clients. However, we also really consider how we are meeting our own needs and those of our loved ones.

The balance of work and family is always tough. We feel awful when we are sick or our children are unwell and we need to cancel sessions. But setting boundaries means we can be fully present when we are at work and allows us to switch off and be present for our loved ones when we leave.

As for our kids, it’s always interesting to listen to their commentary and to see how their understanding of our work shapes their views. Last year, when my primary school aged son was watching a movie with me, he asked, “Is she behaving like that because of her traumatism?”. Yes, psychologists like to add “ism” to the end of most words, but traumatism was a new one for me 😊.

The drive: What challenges have you overcome?

There are several challenges that we have experienced, but with each challenge comes growth. We have recently moved premises, which has been a very stressful process to do whilst still running our standard clinic. We now have a warm, inviting and peaceful new space to welcome our clients into.

Through Covid, our practice in virtual therapy really expanded, which was a delight. This has allowed us to provide services to women without the constraints of a physical location. We now have clients throughout Australia and several overseas. Our staff enjoy telehealth consultations – surprisingly, some local clients have only ever accessed us via telehealth – the convenience of remaining in the home or at work without having to factor in time for transport allows some of our clients to engage in therapy, which wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.

Everybody has their own unique story and therapists are no different. As experienced therapists, we are mindful of the therapeutic space that we hold for others. We are aware of our own triggers and have developed skills and capacity to put our own experiences aside while we attend to the unique experience of the person in front of us. Women will often downplay their experience or compare themselves to others, and what is important to understand is that the experiences of others don’t matter when it comes to your own mental health – whatever has happened or whatever you are experiencing is significant and worthy of our time to explore and understand.

For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?

The pros are that we get to decide where to put our energy – we have specifically chosen to work with women and families through fertility, pregnancy and early parenting and loss experiences. Working in our chosen field is incredibly rewarding. The longer we work in this area, the more we continue to learn – the field of women’s mental health is evolving at a very fast rate.

The con is that it requires a lot of effort, time, energy and expense behind the scenes for a business to be sustainable.

Hopes and dreams: What next?

At Restored Wellbeing, our immediate plans are to settle into our new home and enjoy our surroundings with our clients. The plan is to increase access to psychological support to as many new parents as possible, while supporting our team to continually develop further therapeutic skills. Connecting with likeminded colleagues really does make a difference.

The other part of this plan involves providing supervision to other perinatal therapists, especially in the space of perinatal loss. Our team has decades of experience, and we are happy to talk about all things perinatal with emerging perinatal therapists.