About
Hi! I’m Kate
Author, Thought-Leader, Maternal Mental Heath Advocate, Coach & Consultant
My Philosophy
Becoming a mother changes everything.
It can fill you with a kind of love you didn’t know was possible and, at the same time, bring you face-to-face with uncertainty, discomfort, and parts of yourself you may never have had to meet before.
This can be especially disorienting when you’re used to being highly capable. You know how to plan, anticipate, organize, solve problems, and make things happen. These are extraordinary strengths. I call them strategic intelligence, and they may have helped you build much of the life you love.
But motherhood asks you to develop another kind of intelligence too.
Relational intelligence is the capacity to stay engaged with what is actually happening, especially when it’s uncertain, uncomfortable, or different from what you expected, so you can respond in a way that reflects your values and the relationship you want to build.
This is the heart of my work.
For more than 20 years, I’ve helped ambitious mothers build the nervous system capacity and relational intelligence to stay connected to themselves and their children when their instinct is to rush, fix, control, criticize, or pull away.
Because motherhood isn’t a project to master. It’s a relationship to build.
And over the years, I’ve come to see that what motherhood makes so visible is something much bigger. The hardest parts of being human—parenting, leadership, relationships, conflict, change, uncertainty—cannot always be solved.
We need our strategic intelligence. But we also need the capacity to stay present, listen, tolerate discomfort, repair, and connect.
I believe our families, workplaces, and communities need people who can move fluently between both.
Our ability to solve has shaped the world we live in. Our ability to connect will determine where we go next.
My Background
I’m Kate Kripke, LCSW, PMH-C—founder of Mom Fluency™ and the Calm Connection Experience™ and a passionate advocate for mothers thriving in both their lives and their relationships with their children.
For more than two decades, I’ve worked with women and families through the transition to motherhood. In 2007, I founded the Postpartum Wellness Center of Boulder, now the Parent and Family Wellness Center, and served as its Founding Director and Senior Psychotherapist for more than 15 years. During that time, I helped build one of Colorado’s most trusted centers for perinatal mental health ensuring women and families had access to expert, compassionate care.
Today, my work reaches women nationally and internationally through coaching, teaching, speaking, and consulting. I work primarily with ambitious, high-achieving mothers who care deeply about the lives they are building and the relationships they have with their children.
My work has also taken me beyond the therapy room. I’ve trained health care professionals, spoken at conferences and organizations, contributed to conversations about maternal and child mental health in national media, and served on state and national initiatives aimed at improving support for mothers and families.
I hold a BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master’s in Clinical Social Work from Smith College, with advanced training in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. I’ve served on state and national task forces, including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Pregnancy-Related Depression State Advisory Committee, and am certified by Postpartum Support International as a Perinatal Mental Health Counselor.
More than 20 years after beginning this work, mothers and the relationships they build with their children remain at the center of everything I do.
I believe deeply in supporting women early in motherhood, but I also know there is no point at which it is too late to change how motherhood feels or how you relate to your child. Our relationships are built over time, and there are opportunities throughout motherhood to understand yourself more deeply, strengthen connection, and become more of the mother—and woman—you want to be.
On a personal note, my own joy is found hiking Colorado trails with my dog Darwin, dancing in the kitchen with my daughters (despite their eye-rolls), swapping stories with friends, planning adventures with my husband, and starting my mornings with writing and meditation.
Kate Kripke is exceptional. She combines compassion with research-based modalities for mental health and wellbeing. Through her practice and unwavering support, moms learn to take a breath and to feel their emotions. She is exactly what you want in a therapist and coach —intelligent and kind—creating a safe space to grow not only as a parent but as an individual.
— Susanne, Mom of two