Healing OCD with a Baby on Her Chest

Grace Bithell started her practice four days postpartum with nothing but grit, a bottle in hand, and a mission in her heart.

At Reignelle, we often speak with founders who started their journeys at unexpected crossroads but few stories are as bold and tender as Grace Bithell’s.

Grace is a licensed therapist and the founder of Peaceful River Counseling, based in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Her mission is deeply personal: helping women break free from the guilt and shame that often wrap themselves around OCD and trauma.

What makes her story remarkable?

She didn’t start her business after things got easier.

She started it four days after giving birth.

When Motherhood and Mission Collide

In those first hazy, sleepless days of newborn life, most people are learning how to swaddle.

Grace? She was also learning how to open a business bank account and network with local professionals with a baby strapped to her chest.

“I had to do two of the hardest, most wonderful things in my life at once,” she tells us.

And somehow, she did.

But Grace’s decision to start her business wasn’t just about ambition.

It was about necessity—emotional, financial, and spiritual.

Three days after giving birth, something clicked: “I realized I didn’t want to parent while working 45 hours a week anymore,” she says.

“I wanted slow mornings, library afternoons, and energy to be the mom I knew I could be.”

Entrepreneurship wasn’t just a career path.

It was a reclamation.

Overflowing with Clients, Overflowing with Feelings

Ten months later, Grace’s business is more than thriving—it’s booming.

She’s not only fully booked; she’s overbooked, with a growing waitlist and daily inquiries.

“It’s a wonderful problem to have,” she says, “but I’m tired. I never dreamed past having a full caseload—and now I don’t know what comes next.”

This is the real, often unseen tension of “too much growth.” Behind the success lies the quiet chaos of trying to be everything—to her clients, her kids, her marriage, her laundry pile.

Grace is deeply human, deeply in it, and still showing up with fierce compassion for her clients—many of whom have struggled with OCD or trauma symptoms for years.

“They come in stuck,” she shares. “And they leave… unstuck.”

That’s the power of her work.

No Regrets. Just Raw Courage.

Grace doesn’t believe in regret. “Some is better than perfect,” she says.

And it’s easy to see how that motto keeps her grounded when the pressure builds.

She honors her stress as a signal, not a flaw.

She leans into it.

She works with it, not against it.

There’s no polished persona here, no sugarcoated origin story.

Grace is showing us that real entrepreneurship isn’t built in boardrooms, it’s built in breastmilk-stained t-shirts, therapy rooms, and moments of terrifying clarity.

And her success? It’s not just in her full caseload.

It’s in the life she’s built around it: more sleep, more travel, more peace.

She’s still navigating challenges like balancing physical health after two pregnancies and paying off student loans but there’s light in her voice now.

The kind that only comes when you’re finally living in alignment.

Guilt Doesn’t Get the Final Word

At Reignelle, we celebrate stories like Grace’s—stories that say: You don’t have to wait for perfect timing to follow your truth.

You can be scared and still start. You can feel stretched thin and still be deeply rooted.

Grace Bithell teaches women to meet their guilt, not fear it.

To stop avoiding their trauma and start understanding it.

To choose joy, not shame.

And she does it all while raising two little humans and helping dozens more reclaim their peace.

You can work with Grace or learn more at:

Instagram: @theguiltgirl
Website: peacefulriverutah.com