Seleni Spotlight: Dr. Kira Blaustein

August 2022 - Seleni is excited to announce that Dr. Kira Blaustein joined our team. Dr. Blaustein is a clinical psychologist and certified perinatal mental health professional who works with individuals, couples, and families, helping with anxiety, depression, role transitions, relationships and parenting. She uses a psychodynamic approach to therapy to collaboratively explore thoughts, feelings, conflicts, and difficulties in order to find opportunities for growth. Dr. Blaustein has specialized training in working with parents, babies and toddlers. She also offers parent-infant psychotherapy, meeting with parents together with their babies.

What excites you most about being part of the Seleni family?

I appreciate the complexity of the many joys and challenges that women and families must navigate in the family building years, and the corresponding need for good support. The Seleni Institute is a community of professionals dedicated to this need, providing a multitude of resources to women and new families and also offering support and resources to the professionals working with these populations.

How do you practice self-care?

I feel best when I am active with my mind and body. I enjoy reading and listening to music and comedy. I love hiking, playing pickleball, walking in the park, and spending time with family and friends. I also try hard to eat well and to get good sleep!

What is your favorite podcast, movie, book, or magazine, related to the field of mental health?

A book I personally found transformative is What Can the Matter Be? Therapeutic Interventions with Parents, Infants, and Young Children. It is a compilation of the excellent work of the Tavistock Clinic Under Fives Service and is edited by Louise Emanuel and Elizabeth Bradley.

What is a quote that inspires you?

What comes to mind for me is the popular and important quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He stated, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” We all have fears, and I find it is better to recognize and face them, rather than run from them.

Learn more about Dr. Kira Blaustein here.