It is not unusual to feel unsure when, or if, to add to your family. Maybe you are stuck trying to determine whether having children is something you want to move towards. Maybe you are already parenting but aren’t sure if you want to build your family further, or whether you can endure pregnancy or the early stages of parenting after a difficult experience. I can help you wade through this uncertainty and decide the best next steps for you.

Trying to conceive is often an emotionally challenging process. It matters so much - you think about it often, your life may feel “on hold” and making future plans feels impossible - but you have such limited control over how this process plays out.

Added to this may be pressure from loved ones, and complicated feelings towards others in your life who are growing their families.

If you have made it to considering, or undergoing, medical intervention to support conception you may be experiencing the intense physical and emotional strain that can accompany this process in addition to the aforementioned challenges.

I can offer support with navigating the challenges, and endurance, that getting to pregnancy can bring.

Pregnancy can be a fraught experience, with both physical and emotional difficulties. Anticipation, fear of loss, and pregnancy symptoms themselves are among a list of many reasons it can be a challenging time to endure.

Additionally, if you have experienced loss, pregnancy can hold with it many added layers that may change the landscape of what you experienced before your loss.

I can offer support as you process and navigate pregnancy, and the buildup to the arrival of your baby.

Hopes and expectations play a massive role in the experience of building a family. As much as we may place ultimate priority on health and safety, there can also be deeply felt layers of loss or disappointment regarding gender.

Associations and assumptions about what it may mean, or what it may be like, to raise a specific gender create real feelings within us, some of which can be hard to acknowledge.

I offer a space to feel and process the complexity of loving the child or children you have, while still feeling the loss or disruption to expectations about who the members of your family might be.

The process of bringing your baby into the world can bring unexpected layers of difficulty. A birth that took unexpected scary turns, or a baby who required care in the NICU, can leave parents with lasting emotions to process.

However it’s not always obvious where those emotions are supposed to go, or how to work through them. Sometimes the distraction of taking care of your new baby sends these emotions underground, at least for a while, only to re-emerge when a trigger brings them to the surface. For others the power of these emotions is so intense it’s difficult to care for their new baby.

If your birth experience has left a difficult mark, reach out to me to discuss finding a place to process this experience.

All genders can experience postpartum distress. Even those who have never struggled with mental health can find themselves suddenly suffering during what is “supposed to be” a joyful experience. It’s disorientating, confusing, and distressing. And because the spectrum of postpartum experiences varies so widely, even reaching out to those we normally seek support from can add to isolation if our experience doesn’t sound familiar to them.

Some symptoms you may be noticing that mean extra help could be beneficial include: trouble sleeping (even when the baby sleeps), rage, irritability, catastrophic imagination (consistently imagining terrible scenarios), compulsive focus on/preoccupation with baby, repetitive “checking” (checking doors/windows, milk temp, car seat straps, etc), intense longing for pre-baby life, feeling like you can’t be fully honest with trusted others about how you are doing, or intrusive thoughts (disturbing thoughts which pop into your mind and don’t easily go away).

This is a short list, but if you are suffering, please consider reaching out, even if you’re not sure if therapy is a right next step. You don’t have to know for sure right now. We can use our consultation to discuss whether moving forward feels right for you.

As much as we wish it weren't true, loss can and does occur for those trying to grow their families.

Whether you have lost a pregnancy, needed to terminate a pregnancy for medical (or other) reasons, endured the trauma and tragedy of a stillbirth, or have devastatingly lost an infant, I can offer space to process and build capacity for your grief.

I am a firm believer that grief is a vital and sacred part of our humanness. I do not approach it like a problem to be solved, despite how difficult and painful it can be to live alongside it. We will work together to process and build the emotional muscle to cope with your loss, gently and at your pace.

I am a recipient of the Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification in Traumatic Loss through the MISS Foundation, taught by Dr. Joanne Cacciatore (author of Bearing the Unbearable).