What should people know about the counseling process?
Hi, I am Pam Larkin and I’m a clinical director here at Optimum Joy. Something that I would love for people to know about counseling is that you truly can come as you are and that we are going to work together to reflect on the experiences that you’ve had and even the week that you’ve experienced. Something else that I want to tell people about counseling in terms of coming as you are—you can also bring the resources that feel important to you in this space. And so if faith feels important to you, if that feels like a resource for you, then we will figure out a way to integrate that into our space.
Can you tell us about your work with the perinatal journey?
Some populations that I really enjoy working with is women of color and particularly helping women in their perinatal journey. And so perinatal is defined as the period of pregnancy until birth, but I really like to look at it a step before and then steps afterwards. So before, we’re talking about the moment that you decide that you want to do some family planning and that journey along the way of getting to what people call a successful pregnancy.
But I also want to work with women who are experiencing everything that comes up to having a successful pregnancy. So when we look at miscarriages that may happen, ectopic pregnancies, maybe even dealing with infertility—all of those things are areas that I really want to focus on. I think it’s really important to be able to help people to talk about their grief, to talk about their disappointment of every month and not being pregnant, and to talk about the moments of maybe trauma that they experience in going through certain procedures to get to a point of having a successful pregnancy.
I think the other thing that I want to say about that period of time is that it is common to feel disappointed, to feel some level of grief, to feel like your body is failing you, to feel like, “what am I putting myself through?” All of those things are really common experiences and so I want to be a soft space for people to feel validated in their feelings and then also to be able to find their voice so that they can advocate with family members, with medical providers, to get their needs met. And so that feels really important to me and is something that I want to walk with people through.
What is your focus on postpartum care?
And then when we look at post-pregnancy, it is very common for women to experience postpartum mood disorders and that can be depression, anxiety, that can be fluctuations in mood—so you’re seeing more like that bipolar type presentation as well as even OCD type characters that can occur post-pregnancy. And so being able to walk with folks along that piece of their journey is also super important to me.
What brings you joy?
My son brings me joy and I would say that the reason why he brings me joy is because my husband and I tried to have kiddos for about four years and we actually had our son through IVF. And so he truly is a miracle and I know that every child is a miracle but I think he especially really feels that way. And I really love the delight that I experience in getting to see him grow and discover the world and just so many adventures that we get to go on.
What do you enjoy doing in your personal time?
Outside of the office, I really enjoy reading murder mysteries and I especially really enjoy going to see the authors who have written the book. And so one of my favorite authors, Louise Penny—Louise Penny had a gathering and I went with my mom and it was me with her and like a sea of older women and I loved every minute of it.
What first interested you in becoming a therapist?
I really became interested in becoming a therapist because of the comfort that I have received myself in therapy. So during my college years, I really struggled with anxiety and low mood and with the advice of my parents, I saw a therapist. And I think something that was really powerful for me within that first session is I was kind of saying something like, “Oh, whatever I’m going through, it’s like not that bad.” And she was like, “Actually, I can see why it would be hard.” And it was just like that sense of permission and validation that I received from her that like not everything needed to be perfect, but that I could have someone that would journey with me to help me kind of unpack what was going on and for me to have a better understanding of myself.
What do you find most rewarding about being a therapist?
I have a couple things that I really enjoy about being a therapist. I think one is just helping people to have a better sense of who they are and to understand how their experiences may have shaped the way that they see themselves and the way that they view the world.
And then the other thing that I really love in therapy is that I grow as a person and being connected with folks, especially when they say, “Hey, Pam, I watched this Instagram post and I want to talk about that in therapy today.” I’m like, “Yeah, bring it!” Or they have listened to a podcast episode that really resonates with their experience and then I listen to it and I get to hear why that was so significant in their life. And so I think I feel like I have grown as a person in getting to connect with folks.
