About Karen Kleiman
MSW, LCSW
Founder & Executive Director
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Karen Kleiman is an American author, speaker, psychotherapist, and internationally recognized expert in maternal mental health. For nearly four decades, she has been a leading voice in the treatment and advocacy of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). She founded The Postpartum Stress Center, LLC, in 1988, a pioneering treatment and training facility, and later launched The Karen Kleiman Training Center, LLC, which advances clinical expertise through her therapeutic model known as The Art of Holding Perinatal Women in Distress™.
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Karen received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Indiana University in 1976, and her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1980. Since then, she has dedicated her clinical and academic work to supporting new parents, educating professionals, and advocating for maternal mental health.
She has authored over a dozen groundbreaking books for both professionals and new parents, including the bestselling This Isn’t What I Expected (with Dr. Valerie Raskin), Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts, Therapy and the Postpartum Woman, and The Art of Holding in Therapy. Her publications are widely used in clinical settings and academic programs across the country. (see "book" page)
Karen is frequently featured in national media and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, The Katie Couric Show, and Alanis Morrisette's podcast. (see "media and press" page)
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The Art of Holding™ Framework & Clinical Training
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Karen Kleiman’s signature clinical approach, The Art of Holding Perinatal Women in Distress™, has become a cornerstone in the field of perinatal mental health. This unique therapeutic model emphasizes the transformative power of the therapist’s presence, emotional attunement, and relational responsiveness—what Karen calls “holding”—to help mothers feel seen, safe, and supported in their most vulnerable moments. Developed through decades of clinical experience, this framework challenges traditional therapeutic paradigms by centering maternal resistance, ambivalence, and despair as entry points for deep and compassionate work. It teaches clinicians how to sit with distress, decode what is not being said, foster relational healing. Unlike structured, protocol-driven interventions, Holding invites a deeply personal, enduring clinical alliance that speaks directly to the unspoken suffering of new mothers.
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To bring this work to clinicians worldwide, Karen launched The Karen Kleiman Training Center, LLC. The training programs—ranging from foundational to advanced—offer immersive, interactive education in the theory and practice of The Art of Holding, with a focus on the clinical nuances of perinatal work and the therapist’s use of self.
Therapists from around the world have integrated the Holding framework into their clinical practices and healthcare systems, expanding its reach and relevance across diverse populations. These trainings are known not only for their rigorous clinical content, but also for the profound emotional resonance they create among participants—what many describe as a professional and personal paradigm shift.
…Women are rarely informed about the range of emotions that can develop after the birth of their baby. When they experience difficulty, they are often silenced by well-intentioned healthcare providers or family members: “all mothers experience this”, or “this is normal,” or “you’ll feel better if you get out of the house,” or “find a hobby.” This advice doesn’t work. In fact, it can make her feel worse, misunderstood and isolated.
As her usual coping skills diminish, and her feelings of shame and guilt abound, her depression deepens. It is this scenario that has compelled me to do the work I do. To reassure mothers that they are not alone, that there is help available and contrary to what they may think, they do NOT have to continue to feel hopeless and sad. We live in a society that does not make it easy to admit that being a mother sometimes doesn’t feel so good.
Sometimes, it’s hard, it’s exhausting, it’s overwhelming and it’s just not always what we feel like doing. And even in the absence of a clinical depression, motherhood can challenge a woman in a way she has not previously known.
Women need a private place they can go to talk, to cry, to be angry, to be by themselves, to rediscover who they are, what they need and how they can get it. A place where they are safe to disclose their most secret and painful thoughts. A place where they no longer have to prove how strong they are, how perfect they are, how in control they are. A place where they can reclaim their lost self and find the courage to explore where they are and where they would like to go from this point forward. The Postpartum Stress Center offers them this opportunity.
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