Hi! I’m Libby.

I'm Libby Orrick, a reformed early-stage startup product marketer turned Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#156099), born and raised in San Francisco. I work with individuals through fertility, pregnancy, birth, and the early years of parenthood, in person at my office in Cow Hollow and virtually throughout California. I have a soft spot for people in the startup world, including founders and the people who love them, and understand the pressure-cooker environment you're operating in firsthand.

This work is deeply personal to me. I was already practicing as a therapist during my first pregnancy and assumed I'd be reasonably prepared for what was coming. I was not. Between graduate school and my prenatal care, I had received almost no formal education on perinatal mental health, so I sought out specialized training myself. Having a clearer understanding of what was happening, why it was happening, and what was within my control shaped how I moved through that experience. That is what led me to specialize in this work.

My training in this area is specific: Postpartum Support International's Advanced Perinatal Psychotherapy Training, the Covington Fertility Counseling postgraduate course, EMDR training, and specialized certificates in reproductive trauma and women's mental health. The full list is below. Before this I spent eight years in broader clinical work, including rape crisis centers, wilderness therapy programs, Stanford's Autism Clinic, and Kaiser Permanente's Intensive Outpatient Program.

I love working with women and couples at an impasse, where what used to work doesn’t anymore. I see therapy as a waystation: we’ll unpack what’s weighing you down and get you back on the road when you’re ready. Together we’ll identify what’s helping and what isn’t, including patterns shaped by past experiences and internalized beliefs, and build practical tools to move forward.

I believe most people are doing their best with the information, filters, and skills they have. My approach combines insight with action: knowing the “why” behind our behaviors is important, but my clients tend to also want help building the tools necessary to change them. Sessions are active and conversational. I like to blend humor, validation, insight, and skill-building. I use EMDR for trauma processing, CBT for unhelpful thought patterns, and DBT for emotion regulation. For a sense of my style, here's a piece I wrote for Green Street Social on a parenting decision-making framework and my contribution to their Three Things series about the postpartum period.

I live in San Francisco with my husband, our two young kids, and our mutt named Gorp. I love backpacking (I hiked the John Muir Trail solo and SOBO) but have yet to be brave enough to do so with two kids in tow. I've never been to Alcatraz, which has long been my go-to mildly-interesting fact at parties, and as a result I increasingly fear I never will. Most mornings start with my son asking me the names of construction equipment, dinosaurs, or street furniture I've walked past my entire life without ever knowing had names. The number of things I cannot name in that category, it turns out, is staggering.