Dr Sylvie Simonds is a psychotherapist and counsellor working with adults and specialising in perinatal mental health with a particular emphasis on parent-infant therapy and dyadic work. She is also leading the development and implementation of a new perinatal and parent-infant therapy counselling service within the new Families Centre based in York.

About Sylvie’s Approach

“I believe in the psychological transformations that are possible for mothers and fathers experiencing postnatal and mental health distress, both at the complex and less severe spectrum.

It is my passionate belief that when we support mothers, fathers, grandparents and carers with assurance, empathy, trust, compassion, knowledge and security we provide psychotherapeutic opportunities for the carer/ mother and baby to experience new encounters of joy, wonder and compassion.

These experiences allow mothers to psychically ‘heal,’ connect and open themselves to hope and security, which otherwise might have not been possible. Secure attachment and developmental attunement creates new neurological pathways for the infant, which are not only generative for the baby but also for the mother/carer and provide longstanding positive effects for emotional self -regulation and cognitive development.

The benefits of emotional regulation are mutually beneficial, generating neurological plasticity which can radically alter and interrupt the longstanding and devastating effects of transgenerational trauma and childhood adversity. I have seen and witnessed profound change occur not only in myself, but also directly in my clinical experience as a psychotherapist working in both general and perinatal specialisms.”