I had a client who started therapy during her IVF struggle say to me:
"I will never have a surprise pregnancy. It will never be a private event between me and my husband. I feel like a science experiment".
It was so insightful, so true and so painful for her.
I work with people to support them while they navigate the stress, physical trauma and emotions of infertility, IVF, single mothering by choice and miscarriage.
Trying to conceive and being repeatedly unsuccessful creates an intense, and at times overwhelming, range of emotions, all of which can impact your wellbeing and your mental health.
Your body is being prodded and probed. You are dealing with the medical staff and office staff. You may suffer with the side effects or potential complications of medical treatment- hot flashes, headaches, mood fluctuations. You are thinking about injections, sonograms, future health concerns, and decision making about embryos, their disposition and multiple pregnancies. Relationships can be tested.
Reproductive trauma is often kept quiet, left undiscussed and handled privately. Sometimes people may be embarassed, exhausted, jealous, angry.
All of this impacts you emotionally. Therapy can help you come up with coping strategies to handle the anxiety. You can use the space for decision making. You can practice how to ask for support, look at who is a safe space to share with. EMDR can be helpful with healing the pain of infertility, miscarriage and infant loss, medical trauma, birth trauma.
And when you work with a therapist who is trained in maternal mental health (specifically fertility ) you are already in the hands of someone with understanding, knowledge and tools. My own personal journey to motherhood, which included IUI, pregnancy loss, IVF, high risk pregancy and traumatic birth, led me to want to work with clients who I KNEW need real support and understanding. It became a passion.
I am honored with work with my fertility clients.
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