Moon + Gem offers therapeutic programming including groups and psycho-educational workshops, while facilitating mental health wellness and connection in the postpartum period and early parenthood years.
Moon + Gem supports parents and families with:
Life Transitions and Adjustment
Learning How to Care for one self while Caring for Children
Improving Communication + Challenges within Relationships
Relationship building + Connection between Parents and Infants/Children
Inner Child Healing Amongst Parenting (Supporting parents with a history of trauma)
Treating and Supporting Mood Disorders and Difficulties
(anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, feelings of worthlessness, fear, pressure)
Our mission is to improve the landscape of perinatal mental health care across Canada, and improve infant, child and parental mental health experiences for all families.
Creating opportunities and access to mental health supports are an essential component of the work at Moon + Gem. We believe that parents need and can benefit from collective care, meaning that community and connection are core to the health and wellbeing of parents and families.
Through programming, groups and workshops we skillfully facilitate and encourage conversation and dialogue to reduce shame & isolation and improve mood & wellness. Moon + Gem provides education to improve perinatal, infant, child and family mental health outcomes, while reducing the stigma attached to parental, infant and children’s mental health.
Moon + Gem embodies the belief of ‘coming together’. The collaboration of Caitlin Beukema and Lisa Azzopardi has facilitated an opportunity to organically foster a mental health collective that makes a difference in perinatal and family mental health.
Why are we here?
After experiencing our own individually rocky perinatal & postpartum experiences, we both deeply empathize with a need for improved mental health care during one of the most major life transitions. From pregnancy losses, crushing anxiety and overwhelm to grief and depression, we both really do get it.
We also recognize the privileges we hold in accessing supports and in being heard within the healthcare system; albeit still lacking. We acknowledge that systemic oppression takes place in moments where parents are at their most vulnerable. Weaved so tightly into the fabric of the swaddle, we hold space for the telling and sharing of your lived experiences.
Having felt the gaps first hand in postpartum mental health care, we endeavoured on being a part of the solution.
Connecting new parents to a community layered with opportunities for healing and health.
Because let’s be honest, the journey has just begun.
Lisa Azzopardi, CYC, MSW, RSW
Lisa Azzopardi ( she/her/they) is the co-creator of moon & gem and practices as a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist in private practice.
Lisa holds over 15 years of experience practicing in child, adolescent and family mental health. They’ve practiced as a Child & Family Therapist at the SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health in the intensive services programs. She has extensive experience supporting children, youth, parents and families coping with anxiety, depression, OCD, sexual abuse, domestic violence, trauma and relationship challenges. Prior to working with SickKids, Lisa worked with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services where she practiced as a Clinical Therapist, supporting children and families across Ontario with complex mental health experiences.
Lisa has co-developed clinically innovative groups and programs for parents that have received national attention at the Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Conference & Children’s Mental Health Ontario.
Lisa values creating opportunities for families where they can embody the experience of feeling safe, secure, and connected while feeling well in both their individual minds + bodies.
Caitlin Beukema, MSW, RSW
Caitlin Beukema (she/her) is the co-creator of moon & gem and practices as a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist in private practice.
Caitlin holds expertise and passion in the areas of maternal and family mental health and wellbeing. Her career began in palliative care and oncology at both the Montreal General Hospital and Royal Victoria Hospital. In these environments, she witnessed, supported, and held space for individuals and family members' grief as they journeyed through complex and diverse loss. This experience was truly transformative, as Caitlin was a privileged observer to the deep bonds that we hold with those in our lives. Caitlin brings this experience into her work today- her compassion for others is truly palpable.
Caitlin holds a wealth of experience supporting individuals, families and groups through life’s big transitions, these days focusing on the major life transitions felt in the perinatal period. She has completed certifications with Postpartum Support International and is an EMDR Certified Therapist.
Connection is an underlying value and a necessity which Caitlin strives to facilitate in every aspect of her work. She believes that connection is a driving force to feeling well in ourselves, our communities and our families.
Tuana Kant, MSc
Research Lead
Tuana is a medical student at the University of Toronto. Prior to her medical studies, she completed her Master of Science in Medical Science, studying the genetics of childhood psychiatric disorders, and HBSc in Neuroscience and Psychology, both at the University of Toronto. She is very passionate about mental health research, women’s health, childhood psychiatric disorders and working with parents and their babies! Tuana has held a Research Analyst position at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Her published work titiled Mental Health Care for Women of Color: Risk Factors, Barriers, and Clinical Recommendation (2023) can be accessed at the Psychiatric times.
In her free time she loves to read historic fiction books, do pottery, go out for a run, or spend time at her not-for-profit organization STEP UP working with Turkish youth refugees.