Our Story

We met while completing our doctoral training in clinical psychology at Trinity College Dublin and have been friends ever since. Cradle was conceived through many conversations over the years - some over a glass of wine, some over a string of WhatsApp voicenotes and texts.

When Marese became pregnant with her first child, it got us thinking about what supports are available during the complex transition to parenthood, that time when you go from being just ‘you’ to ‘you as a parent’. Despite having a world of knowledge about psychology, wellbeing and mental health, it was still a challenge for Marese to make sense of what she was feeling and what she needed emotionally during this time. This emotional complexity became even more apparent after her beautiful baby was born. During this time it became more clear to us than ever how valuable the strategies and psychological theories that we use in our everyday practice could be both during the perinatal period and beyond. Having a space to talk through and reflect on these experiences was essential. For Marese, that space became Johanna’s kitchen!

We know how important it is to identify what nourishes and supports you emotionally as you embark on your transition to parenthood. The first step to becoming a ‘good enough parent’ is knowing how to take care of yourself. This has been proven across the research literature on parenting and infant mental health. As Dr. Gabor Mate, expert in childhood development, once said, “the primary task of parenting is self-parenting, taking care of ourselves”.

We developed our perinatal workshops because we want to give soon-to-be and new parents the opportunity to truly engage in this experience at an emotional level, with the trusted support and guidance of experienced clinical psychologists. Our workshops are educational and experiential, meaning you will learn a lot, but will also be guided therapeutically through supportive exercises. We want attendees to feel that our workshops are a self-compassionate and self-caring activity during your pregnancy journey. You will also meet, and have the opportunity to swap stories and learn from other expectant or new parents.

Our consultation clinic is available to expectant and new parents as well as parents of young children (under 5). This service offers one-to-one sessions with experienced senior clinical psychologists, focused on helping you to explore and work through difficulties you may be experiencing yourself, or psychological problems that your child may be experiencing. You can read more about this service by clicking the Consultation Clinic tab.

Our workshops, therapy supports and consultation clinic centre around the everyday experience of pregnancy and wider parenthood, framed through the lens of clinical psychology. Our service does not aim to provide specialist clinical or mental health support for those experiencing or at risk of experiencing significant mental health difficulties. If you are reading this and you think that you would benefit from more specialist support we would encourage you to speak with your GP or maternity hospital. Those services are available and are a crucial part of perinatal, adult and child health services.