We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Puliz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.

Alright, Lauren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I was a therapist before I became a mother, but I didn’t specialize in maternal mental health until I became a mother. When my first daughter was born in February 2021, the identity shift of motherhood (known as matrescence) was nothing like I expected and much harder than I ever anticipated. I remember consistently thinking “why did no one tell me it would be like this?” The mood shifts, relationship changes, constant demand on my body, mind, heart, and soul… It felt like the Old Me was swallowed up and nowhere to be found – and the New Me (much like my newborn) was someone I didn’t know yet.

Interestingly, nearly every new mother I spoke to felt the exact same way – regardless of our experiences during pregnancy, regardless of our birth stories, regardless of our backgrounds. Universally, new mothers are struggling and this was the spark for what eventually became Millennial Mama Therapy.

As I progressed further into motherhood and simultaneously finished my training/licensing as a therapist, I decided that I wanted to specialize in maternal mental health. I never envisioned myself as a business owner and truthfully, the idea of going solo in private practice scared me. When I finally became licensed in July 2022 and evaluated all the possible career routes I could take, private practice made the most sense for the future I envisioned myself and my growing family. I created a small, fully virtual private practice called Lauren Puliz Therapy that consisted of the hodgepodge caseload I brought with me from the nonprofit agency where I trained. I maintained that practice until my second daughter was born in September 2023. Then, when I returned from maternity leave in January 2024, I knew it was time to re-brand my business and pursue my goal of working with moms and parent couples.

It was in a scary place to be: I knew where I wanted to end up, but I wasn’t sure how to get there. I enrolled in Danielle Swimm’s Private Practice Accelerator course, and the information, training, tools, and people in that space helped me grow the skills and confidence to push forward with identifying my ideal client (millennial moms who feel lost in motherhood), re-branding my business (from Lauren Puliz Therapy to Millennial Mama Therapy), and developing plans and strategies for networking and marketing my business (social media, podcasts, workshops, etc.).

I know that Millennial Mama Therapy is a worthwhile endeavor because I know the kind of provider that I had needed as a new mother. I know firsthand how the medical, insurance, and hospital systems (amongst others) are not equipped to support the needs of new moms and parents. I know the level of education and resourcing I received not only in grad school as a therapist, but as a patient during pregnancy and how it does not measure up to what new moms and parents actually need. I have made it my mission to be the provider that I needed when I was a newly postpartum mom.

Lauren, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Sacramento, CA. My private practice, Millennial Mama Therapy, focuses on maternal mental health. I’ve wanted to pursue a career in a helping profession since high school, but it wasn’t until I took a Family Communication class centered on John Gottman’s book “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work” in college that I began to seriously think about a career as a therapist. After grad school, while I pursued my therapy license, my husband and I decided to start a family. The birth of our first daughter triggered my desire to specialize in maternal mental health – specifically for us anxious, overinformed (yet under supported) millennial mamas and parents.

In addition to offering individual therapy for moms and couples therapy for parents throughout California (both virtually and in-person at my office in Orangevale, CA – Sacramento County), I also host a weekly drop-in support group called New Mom Crew.

I also collaboratively developed the Planning for New Parenthood Workshops with my colleagues Kelly Conroy (Fierce Unfolding) and Brittney O’Brien (Itsyourleave). The workshop is designed to education and resource first-time parents so they can begin to think about and plan for their postpartum needs while they are still pregnant. We have hosted the workshop in-person and are excited to bring it to a virtual format for fall of 2024!

I have also had the opportunity to be featured in on several podcasts (“Therapeutic Intentions” with Stefanie Dingbaum and “Entre Tias y Amiguis” with Adri Rodriguez) to have conversations about maternal mental health and how as a society we can do a better job supporting parents.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I love this question because I speak with my clients about resilience often. In grad school, I was challenged to develop my personal definition of mental health and I chose “resilience.” While while we can never be fully free of any and all mental health challenges (there is always SOMETHING to be anxious about), we can CAN develop tools and skills and help us navigate life’s ups and downs. The tools that build and support resilience are the exact tools that new parents need in their arsenal.

Truthfully, 2024 has been a test of my resilience, bother personally and professionally. On the personal side, I’ve been raising two kiddos, recovering from pregnancy and birth, breastfeeding my baby, staying connected with my husband, making time for family (and maybe myself). Simultaneously, on the professional side, I’ve been raising my other “baby” – my business: self-seeking the skills and tools I need to run a business, improving my mindset, building a belief in abundance rather than fearing scarcity, continuing to try even when I am discouraged, allowing myself to feel discouraged and then picking myself up to try again. It’s been exhausting and discouraging, exhilarating and rewarding. I’m a big fan of “both/and” – life is never just one thing, it is many things at once and this year in my life perfectly encapsulates that concept and demonstrates my resilience.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Seeking genuine connections and friendships with my fellow perinatal providers has been the best thing I’ve done to raise awareness of myself and build a good reputation in my community!

I hadn’t done much marketing or networking for my business in 2023 because I was “maintaining” what I had already built until I went on maternity leave. In hindsight, that created a huge hurdle when I came back from maternity in January 2024. I returned to a business I wanted to re-brand and re-focus on my “Ideal Client” (aka the demographic I work with), but I didn’t have any of the basic marketing systems or plans in place to do so. I got things rolling for social media and online marketing, but these processes take time to work and I was very nervous of being “seen” online and unsure how to move forward.

Something I learned in the Private Practice Accelerator course is the power of community marketing. So while I practiced getting comfortable in the online space, I began reaching out to fellow local perinatal providers. I “cold emailed” perinatal mental health providers in my closest counties, inviting them to virtual or in-person coffee dates. When I met with them, I intentionally focused on creating a genuine human connection: learning about their life and practice, asking about their goals and dreams and challenges, sharing about my life and practice, hearing how I might support their businesses or send referrals their way. This helped get my name out there and also gave providers a sense of my personality and therapeutic style! Something I feel strongly is that the relationship/personality match between therapist and client is the ultimate predictor for positive client outcomes. Allowing myself to be known by fellow providers made it easier for them to send right-fit clients my direction. Plus it had the additional benefit of building in professional connections and friendships that I both wanted and needed to continue this journey as a business owner (and human!).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.millennialmamatherapy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millennial_mama_therapy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/millennial.mama.therapy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-puliz/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/millennial_mama_therapy

Image Credits

Headshot: Cameron Lahr (https://www.instagram.com/cameron.lahr/)
All others belong to Lauren Puliz/Millennial Mama Therapy