The Gentle Start Program
Your village, coming to you.
In-home support for families during the first three years of parenthood.
The early years of parenting can be filled with love, connection, growth, and wonder—but they can also bring exhaustion, isolation, identity shifts, relationship strain, and the feeling that you’re simply trying to get through the day. Gentle Start brings emotional, practical, and family support directly into your home.
Led by a Registered Social Worker, Gentle Start supports the whole family—not just the baby—through one of life’s biggest transitions. Whether you’re recovering from birth, adjusting to a newborn, welcoming another child, navigating toddler meltdowns, feeling disconnected from your partner, or simply stretched too thin, we meet you where you are.
The first three years are an enormous period of development for your child, including attachment, emotional regulation, and brain development, but they’re also deeply formative for you. Your identity changes, your nervous system is under new demands. Often your partnership and other relationships and family dynamics may change. Your routines disappear and have to be rebuilt. And somehow, you’re expected to figure it all out while exhausted.
Gentle Start creates a space where you and your family are supported through the transition—not expected to simply survive it.
Our approach is trauma-informed, inclusive, attachment-based, relational, and practical, with support designed around your actual family and your actual life.
Emotional and Mental Health Support Postpartum
Parenthood can bring emotions you weren’t expecting—or feelings that are difficult to put into words.
We can support you with:
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Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, depleted, or disconnected
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Identity shifts and changes in your sense of self
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Grief around your old life
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Postpartum emotional wellbeing
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Trauma and difficult birth experiences
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Nervous system regulation
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Building confidence as a parent
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Finding yourself again within your new role
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Early assessment and support for postpartum anxiety, depression, OCD, and psychosis
Support for the Whole Family
Led by a Registered Social Worker, Gentle Start supports the whole family through one of life’s biggest transitions. Whether you’re recovering from birth, adjusting to a newborn, welcoming another child, navigating toddler meltdowns, feeling disconnected from your partner, or simply stretched too thin, we meet you where you are and support you where parenting and family life actually happens.
One of the most important parts of Gentle Start is that we come to you. We can see the routines you’re trying to manage, the spaces where your child struggles, the moments when you’re overwhelmed, and the practical realities of your day, while supporting with what you need in that chaotic post natal period (we also come without judgement for how your home is- trust me, we get it!).
Your Baby & Toddler
Understanding the Little Person Your Raising
Sometimes the hardest part of parenting is understanding what your child is trying to communicate.
We can support you with:
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Soothing and regulation
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Sleep rhythms
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Feeding and transitions, including weaning and bottle/breast transitions
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Understanding developmental needs
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Toddler tantrums and meltdowns
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Co-regulation strategies
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Daycare transitions and separation
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Supporting developmental milestones
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Building connection and attachment
The goal isn’t to give you another list of things you’re “supposed” to do.
It’s to help you understand your child—and feel more confident responding to them.
Your Partnership
Becoming parents changes relationships.
Even strong relationships can feel different after a baby arrives.
There may be more conflict, less intimacy, resentment about the division of labour, or simply less time to connect.
Gentle Start can help with:
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Communication
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Conflict and repair
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Resentment
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Intimacy
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Changing relationship roles
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Division of responsibilities
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Co-parenting alignment
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Reconnecting with shared values
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Partnership transitions
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Blended family dynamics
Your whole Family
A new baby changes the whole family system.
Older siblings may experience excitement, jealousy, regression, grief, or big emotions that are difficult to understand.
We can help with:
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Preparing siblings for a new baby
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Sibling jealousy and regression
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Emotion coaching
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Connection rituals
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Sibling relationships
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Toddler and preschool transitions
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Extended-family dynamics
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Boundaries
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Big feelings and challenging transitions
Program Structure
Each month includes:
2 in-home visits per week
2 hours each (16 hours of in-person support)
Between-session support
Weekday text and voice-note support for guidance, reassurance, and check-ins
Whole-family care
Support can include parents, baby/toddler, siblings, and your partnership
Personalized resources
Tools, scripts, developmental information, reflection materials, and resources specific to your family
Connection to your village
Referrals and connections to trusted professionals and community resources when additional support would be helpful.
Total Monthly Cost
$1,920 CAD (480 weekly)
Includes:
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16 hours of in-home support (Two 2-hour visits per week)- can also be online if preferred
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Emotional and parenting support, baby/toddler support, couples/co-parenting support
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Between-session contact
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Personalized resources/referrals
Equity Pricing and Payment
Sliding-scale options are available for solo, LGBTQ+, racialized, and low-income families. Payment options are available, and because services are offered by a Registered Social Worker (MSW, RSW) this service may be eligible for extended-health coverage. Please contact me to discuss billing and payment options.
Program Costs
