Prenatal and postpartum therapists & psychiatrists in Kansas City, MO

Hello, I’m Abby Pease, LCSW, QS! As a therapist, I strive to create a safe and welcoming space where clients feel truly seen and supported. I bring warmth, energy, and a touch of humor into my work, helping clients navigate challenges while also reminding them that healing doesn’t always have to be heavy. My goal is to walk alongside you with compassion and clarity as you move toward growth and resilience.

Great to meet you!

I offer a wide range of therapeutic services, including individual therapy for adolescents, and adults. I specialize in creating a supportive environment where clients can explore personal challenges, improve communication, and work toward healthier relationships. My experience extends to school counseling, working with high school students to foster emotional resilience, addressing academic stress, and promoting mental well-being. I facilitate group sessions, providing participants with a collaborative space to connect with peers and developing coping strategies for navigating life’s challenges.

Hello,

I look forward working with you as you navigate

Life’s transitions—whether in relationships, work, or health—can be challenging. Together, we’ll navigate these changes and uncover new possibilities for growth and peace.

If you've spent much of your life feeling misunderstood, overwhelmed, different, or exhausted from trying to fit into expectations that don't feel right for you, therapy can offer a space to better understand yourself and build a life that works for who you truly are. Many of my clients come to therapy feeling stuck in cycles of anxiety, OCD, trauma responses, burnout, self-doubt, or emotional overwhelm. Others are navigating ADHD, identity exploration, chronic illness, LGBTQIA+ experiences, relationship challenges, or life transitions and are looking for a place where they can show up authentically without judgment.

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I work with adolescents and adults from diverse backgrounds, with a special focus on neurodivergent individuals, LGBTQIA+ clients, and those navigating trauma, chronic health concerns, and identity-related challenges. My goal is to help you better understand your experiences, build on your strengths, develop effective coping tools, and create a life that feels more aligned with your values, needs, and sense of self.

I’m an affirming, open-minded therapist who works with adults navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, panic, stress, relationship challenges, identity concerns, and major life changes. I also support clients dealing with maternal mental health concerns, including the emotional weight that can come with pregnancy, postpartum changes, infertility, and adjusting to a new season of life.

Since earning my master’s in 2021, I have worked in mental health with both children and adults in settings including crisis care, which has deepened my understanding of how overwhelming life can feel when symptoms start affecting your relationships, confidence, and daily routine. My goal is to offer a space that feels warm, approachable, compassionate, and real.

I am curious and validating, providing a nurturing environment to talk openly and honestly about your struggles, strengths, weaknesses, needs, likes, and dislikes. I love helping people explore their unique and particular powers as well as how these powers impact their world and their relationships. As a passionate supporter of those who have been through unjust or otherwise traumatic experiences--including those experiencing discrimination based upon race or gender identity or sexual orientation--I am particularly interested in helping people gain skills for dealing with, and making sense of, the remnants of their pasts.

Having completed Bessel Van der Kolk's Trauma Research Foundation's Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies in early 2025, I have a strong foundational understanding of the most cutting edge approaches to treating trauma. I am also comfortable using a combination of approaches, including Psychodynamic, Gestalt, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I received an MSW from the University of Pennsylvania, a psychodynamically focused program, after which I completed Bryn Mawr's certificate program in psychodynamic psychotherapy. I have also completed 1 year of Gestalt Therapy training and the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Immersion Program.

As an LCSW, my training emphasized the role of social environment--from the family to society at large--in how we construct our narratives, enabling me to help you make sense of what in your life is yours to own and what is a product of your environment.

I get to know each client individually, so we can work collaboratively to come up with goals that we work toward at your pace, ebbing and flowing as your needs change. My clinical experience has included intensive in-home crisis stabilization therapy, complex trauma treatment, solution-focused brief therapy, and treatment of dual-diagnoses.

I moved to St. Louis, MO from Tampa, FL in 2019 to study Social Work at Washington University, and chose to make a home here with my husband, child, and pets. I spend most of my leisure time cooking, gardening, reading, hiking, and going on crafting sprees. I also love to travel away from home, in search of grand museums and new foods.

I began my career in community mental health in 2010. I completed my Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Evangel University. Prior to becoming a therapist I worked as a nurse for 13 years. This background leads me to take a holistic, whole-person approach to my practice. I work with children, adolescents, and adults and have specialized in treatment of trauma, ADHD, and child-parent conflicts.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor. I earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 2003 and a master’s degree in counseling in 2005, both from Missouri State University.

For the past 20 years, I have had the opportunity to work with students and parents, in high school, middle school and elementary settings, as an educator and Professional School Counselor. Over the years, I have also worked with many struggling youth during my role as a Missouri Options Liaison, as well as a Community Service Liaison, providing outreach in the community. More recently, I received court mediator training, which provided new insight into conflict resolution procedures. Prior to counseling, I was an elementary teacher, working with students to help them achieve academic goals, while also facilitating emotional growth, and social awareness as well.

For over 20 years I have worked with students of all ages, as well as many parents and families. I specialize in helping one navigate the neurodivergent brain, anxiety and depression in adolescent youth, family counseling, couple’s counseling, emotional and social struggles, as well as adults working through childhood trauma.