Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Richert.
Megan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Sure! I am the founder and owner of BLOOM Maternal Therapy, a boutique group practice on the Central Coast that specializes in perinatal mental health for women and couples.
I grew up in Clovis, CA and as a Cal Poly graduate I have called the Central Coast home for more than 20 years. Growing up, I was always so curious about people, their stories, and what makes them who they are. I’ve always known I wanted to be in a helping profession, and as the daughter of a business man and a therapist I have a combination of both of these skills and interests. After graduating with a Masters in Social Work at the University of Denver in 2010, I moved back to San Luis Obispo and worked as a Medical Social Worker at local home health and hospice agencies.
Then, in 2015, I became a first time mom and I really struggled with the transition to motherhood.
I experienced postpartum depression in the early postpartum months and struggled to find support for what I was going through. I knew where to go for lactation support and mommy and me classes, but I just remember thinking, “Where is the support for the mom’s mental health?” And that question stayed with me.
This experience really opened my eyes to a gap in care in perinatal mental health for new moms on the Central Coast – and eventually became the beginning of something much bigger.
In February 2020, I opened my own solo private practice, just six weeks before the world changed. And I began specializing in perinatal mental health, combining my professional experience with my personal understanding of the struggles in early motherhood.
Then in April 2023, BLOOM Maternal Therapy was born.
What began with a simple belief, that moms deserved better care, has grown into a thriving group practice with deep roots in the Central Coast community. I’m so proud that today, BLOOM is supported by a growing network of local OB-GYNs, hospitals, psychiatrists, doulas, lactation consultants, and other providers who share the belief that perinatal mental health deserves specialized attention and care.
My vision for BLOOM is to raise the standard of perinatal mental health care on the Central Coast and throughout California.
I have intentionally built a female-owned practice made up of women who are deeply passionate about this work, bringing specialized training, clinical experience, and genuine compassion to the families they serve.
In 2026, BLOOM was honored with a Best of the Central Coast Bronze award for Best Women’s Clinic – which further confirmed to me that this type of specialized care is needed and appreciated in our community.
As a hands-on founder and visionary, I remain deeply involved in BLOOM’s growth, its team, and the community it serves. And my hope for BLOOM’s future is simple: that no woman on the Central Coast going through the perinatal phase of life has to wonder, “Where is the support for my mental wellness?” again.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While it has not always been a smooth road (hello opening up my solo private practice six weeks before the world shut down in March 2020), it has been an enjoyable ride! Some of the struggles I have faced are not uncommon to the entrepreneurial journey but are unique to my individual story.
I realized early on in creating my business that I needed to work though my scarcity mindset as my fear of saying “no” to a potential client or referring provider lead to extreme burnout and not enjoying the solo practice I had worked so hard to build. After considering leaving the therapy field all together, I decided to restructure my practice to start a group practice as I have always enjoyed being on a team and desired to use not only my clinical skills but also engage my leadership & entrepreneurial skills.
I have also had to learn how to be an effective leader and create not only the vision for my practice but also make the hard decisions around hiring, letting people go, calling it on marketing ideas that have flopped, and how to grow a local private pay practice during a time when insurance based online tech backed therapy practices are becoming so mainstream.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
BLOOM Maternal Therapy is a boutique group practice that specializes in perinatal mental health care for women and families on the Central Coast and throughout California.
We provide individual, couples and group therapy at our office locations in Pismo Beach and Atascadero and provide Telehealth/online video for all California residents.
We specialize in women’s mental health across the perinatal life stages—from pre-conception, pregnancy, postpartum, parenting and peri-menopause. Our Perinatal Mental Health Therapists are specially trained to understand the complex interaction between hormones, identity, relationships, and emotional well-being.
We specialize in seeing women and couples who are struggling with Postpartum Depression and Anxiety, Perinatal OCD, Birth Trauma, Perinatal Grief & Loss and Infertility as well as first time moms and parents who are adjusting to the monumental transition in their lives.
At BLOOM, we pride ourselves in being therapists who “get it”. Our team of specialized Perinatal Mental Health Therapists are also mothers who genuinely understand the emotional highs and lows of pregnancy, postpartum and parenting. We pair personal experience with evidence-based perinatal mental health care to support our clients through every phase of their journey.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t believe in luck with in comes to creating and growing a business. I do believe that my entrepreneurial intuition, vision, creativity, ability to pivot and hard work ethic have all played a foundational role into creating the group practice that BLOOM Maternal Therapy is today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bloommaternaltherapy.com/
- Instagram: @bloommaternaltherapy
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