Claire Judd

Therapist for Maternal Anger, Anxiety & Overwhelm

When motherhood keeps pulling reactions out of you that you don't recognise and it just isn't the experience you hoped for.

Not because you don't love your child.

Not because you're doing it wrong (you're trying so hard to get it right).

But because ordinary moments can suddenly feel too much and because some of what’s coming up now may have roots long before you became a parent.

For many of the mothers I work with, this isn’t about ‘anger issues’ or a lack of patience. It’s about a nervous system that’s been carrying too much, for too long and the ways our early experiences continue to influence how we react and respond today.

Motherhood can stir memories, patterns, and questions from your own childhood.

Moments you didn’t get the support, comfort, or recognition you needed. Pain you had to hold inside. Things you learned to survive that now show up when your child needs you.

A small request for water at bedtime, turns into a rush of anger that scares you.

A reach for comfort tightens your chest instead of softening it

Your heart races, you see red, or you shut down completely. And afterwards you're left wondering 'what just happened?'

You might look calm on the outside. But inside, your body feels constantly braced.

You've tried coping strategies.

You've told yourself to be more patient.

You try count to 10 before responding or take a deep breath.

And still, in the moments that matter most, your body reacts before you can think.

That's not because those methods are wrong, it's because behaviour is rarely the place real change starts.

You're ready to understand why this keeps happening, and to create change you can actually maintain, even around the moments of chaos.

You're in the right place.

I'm Claire, and I'm really glad you're here.

Work with me

"It can be really hard putting into words how you've been feeling - not just content but because the emotions feel scary. But Claire is the most amazing therapist, there is absolutely no judgement, just total recognition of what you're going through and solid, consistent support to work through it."

Mum of 18 month old

"I thought I was such an awful mum, it took me so long to come to see you because I was just so ashamed. but I view myself so differently now."

Mum of 2 year old

"I came wanting strategies to cope with it all, and yes we explored some strategies, but it wasn't that that helped, it was being really, truly listened to and understood. Claire allowed me to get to my emotions when I felt ready, she helped it feel less scary and now I feel so much more secure in sharing that part of myself. I'm no longer bottling it up and anger is no longer exploding out of me."

Mum of 7 and 4 year old

Does this feel familiar?

It's early morning, coffee going cold in your hands, whilst you brace yourself for another day, still carrying the weight of yesterday's reactions.

You can't quite explain why your chest tightened when your child reached for you.

Why your heart started racing.

Why you snapped, or even went numb, even though you promised yourself you wouldn't.

This is what so many mums tell me they feel confused about...their reactions don't match their desires.

Or maybe it's late. Much later than it should be.

You're begging your child to just go to sleep so you can finally sit on the sofa and zone out (or do the tidying that you know is waiting for you).

Your patience is gone. Your body feels brittle. You're on the edge of tears while they're still wide awake.

You love your child deeply.

And still there are moments when something in you feels overwhelmed, flooded or unreachable.

Moments when you think:

Why am I reacting like this?

Why can't I handle this when I care so much?

What's wrong with me?

Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with you.

There is a reason your body reacts this way, and once that reason is understood, those reactions stop feeling so frightening and out of control.

So many mums I work with learned ways of coping that once helped them get through difficult moments. Those responses were intelligent. Protective. Necessary.

But motherhood has a way of applying pressure where old strategies no longer work.

So your body reacts fast.

Or shuts everything down.

Not because you're not cut out for motherhood, but because it's trying to protect you with tools it learned a long time ago.

Therapy with me, isn't about trying to 'fix' you

We don’t just look at what’s happening now.

We also explore how some of your reactions might be shaped by early experiences, the ways you had to cope, the support you didn’t get, or the patterns you learned to survive.

In therapy, we don’t start by asking you to change your behaviour.

We start by helping your body feel safer.

Because when your body isn’t constantly braced or on high alert, your capacity naturally changes.

Over time this means:

☆ Those ordinary moments don’t escalate in the same way
☆ You’re not carrying hours of guilt afterwards
☆ You can pause more often before reacting
☆ And perhaps most importantly, you stop feeling afraid of your own responses

You begin to notice the difference between what’s happening now, and what you’ve carried forward from the past.

And that understanding helps you respond in ways that feel conscious, gentle, and more connected.

When your body no longer feels under threat, your reactions soften, often more quickly than you expect.

Not because motherhood becomes easy.

But because you’ve made room for more choice, connection, and repair, both with yourself and with your child.

Book an enquiry call

Hello, I'm Claire

I'm an NCPS Accredited Maternal Psychotherapist, and a mum of two.

After having my first child, I felt completely cracked open.

Parenting felt impossible, not because I didn't care, but because my body and mind were so completely overwhelmed. My heart would race. My chest would tighten. Anxiety was ever present. And sometimes the anger that bubbled under the surface came out as visceral rage.

I was eventually given a diagnosis of depression after being signed off work. It helped in someways, but it didn't fully explain why my body reacted so strongly in the moments that mattered most.

Nothing really changed until someone took my reactions seriously and without judgement, rather than minimising them or normalising them away.

That experience shaped the way I work today.

I pay close attention to the body responses that show up beneath the story, because that's where change actually happens.

I know how intense, exhausting and unpredictable life can feel when your nervous system is constantly on high alert.

Now I've helped many mums just like you to navigate anger, anxiety and overwhelm in ways that feel realistic, human and sustainable.

You don't have to get rid of your feelings.

You don't have to be superhuman.

because honestly? None of us are perfect, including me.

But I also know this: when you feel safer, you don't just 'cope better', you start to trust yourself again.

And that's exactly what I help you create.

Work with me

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