Why Nurture?

As with many good ideas, the name Nurture Therapy was conceived at brunch with friends. I was actually helping another friend brainstorm a name for her women-driven business and suggested Nurture. Nurture means to care for and encourage the growth or development of; to supply with nourishment. I liked that the name implied a feminine-strength and inherent caring of self and others. My friend politely declined the name suggestion and we decided that it would be a better fit for my future practice, if and when, I decided to start a group practice.

And so the name was with me for almost a year before anything came of it. During this time, I became a mother myself and grew my business. I opened a second office location and hired five additional psychotherapists to join the practice. All the while, trying to raise a strong, sweet and sassy baby girl. It felt like time to change the name to reflect our growing group practice. But what to call it, I did not know.

Those who really know me know that I am a recovering perfectionist. While I had a name with significance and meaning, I was still not convinced. I was renaming my business, after all—my first baby—and it needed to be just right. I played around with spelling Nurture with “her” at the end “Nurtuher” –a decision that I am relieved I was talked out of. I played around with a few other names, but I always came back to Nurture Therapy. So after practicing under my name (Jamie Kreiter Therapy) for several years, I renamed my practice Nurture Therapy; a practice that specializes in maternal mental health and here is why…

Nurture is how I think about my work as a therapist. There is, of course, the debate of Nature versus Nurture, and while I believe that both have a significant impact on one’s development, nurture is often the part of ourselves that we can change and heal. Human beings are resilient and this is something that we should nurture. Time and time again, I have sat in the therapy room with survivors of abuse, trauma and significant mental illness. They bring strength and resilience to our sessions. As providers, it is our job to nurture this inner strength, while also giving our clients warmth and guidance. In this, healing takes place.

I believe that mothers have a natural nurturing side. Some of this appears to be instinctual. The way a mother can soothe her baby, sometimes instantly. Or the way she can differentiate the meaning of one cry from another—this cry means he is wet; this one means he is hungry. Mothers can even hear the difference between their baby’s cry from another crying baby. However, sometimes a mother’s nurture impedes on her ability to take care of herself. She sacrifices her own needs for the needs of her baby.

In the therapy room, there is space to nurture a mother. To remind her that nurture can be a reciprocal process. We can care for mothers in subtle ways, through a kind gesture, offering her a glass of water, giving her some reassurance and comfort. Sometimes I find myself holding infants during sessions. There is also space to teach a mother to redirect some of this nurturing back to herself, giving her a gentle reminder and permission to take care of her own needs too.

Nurturing and allowing oneself to be nurtured reflects motherhood, particularly early motherhood. Mothers need to be able to ask for help. They also need to be taken care of. It is so difficult for a new mom to come to therapy. Sometimes there is a sense of shame or stigma that prevents mothers who are struggling from reaching out. Other times, mothers are too overwhelmed, too exhausted and too busy to consider their own needs and the benefits of therapy. But maternal mental health is important and continues to be overlooked. If our name implies that nurturing can be reciprocal then maybe, just maybe, it will give these mothers the strength and energy to walk into our front door.

So, we proudly introduce Nurture Therapy, LLC. We hope that you take this journey of nurturing and healing with us. We encourage you to explore what nurture means to you—both how you give nurture and how you receive nurture. In turn, we commit to treating, healing and nurturing.