Counseling for fertility, perinatal loss, and family building in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine
Are you experiencing challenges growing your family?
Perhaps you have been trying to conceive for several months, a year, or multiple years without success
Maybe you are in a same-sex couple and feel overwhelmed with decision-making (directed donor or a bank? who will the donor be? which partner’s eggs or sperm will be used? who will carry the baby?)
Or perhaps you have experienced miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy, or another form of pregnancy loss
You might be just beginning fertility treatment, or maybe you have been in the trenches of fertility treatment for a while
You may be considering growing your family with the help of a donor or surrogate, or you may be considering adoption
Regardless, the path to becoming a parent is feeling difficult, and you are needing support to get through it all.
Hi, I’m Katie! I am a clinical social worker, fertility counselor, and certified perinatal mental health professional (PMH-C). My practice, New England Fertility Counseling, PLLC supports women, individuals of all genders, and couples experiencing reproductive grief and trauma. More specifically, New England Fertility Counseling, PLLC specializes in therapy for infertility, family building, pregnancy loss, and baby loss.
I am passionate about supporting individuals and couples wade through their reproductive grief and trauma, explore paths to family building, and adjust to their lives after infertility and/or loss (sometimes as parents and sometimes childless not by choice). It would be a privilege to walk alongside you and provide support.
Therapy Specialties:
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![infertility, fertility challenges, family building challenges, IVF, assisted reproduction]()
Infertility & Family Building Challenges
As someone facing infertility or other family building challenges, you may be experiencing a grief response, a trauma response, or both. You may notice elevated anxiety, changes to your self-image and self-worth, and/or challenges in your relationship and support network as a result of your reproductive trauma. Additionally, the losses associated with infertility are typically invisible to people who haven’t experienced it, and our society does not deem grief about infertility and family building challenges as socially acceptable or worthy of being openly acknowledged and grieved (called disenfranchised grief).
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Pregnancy Loss & Baby Loss
If you have lost a pregnancy or a baby, then you know how commonly other people misunderstand, minimize, and ignore this type of loss. Like infertility, our society often does not consider pregnancy loss and infant loss as socially acceptable or worthy of being openly acknowledged and grieved (called disenfranchised grief). Even the people who love and care for you may not know what to say, and their words may come off as dismissive or hurtful. You may be feeling isolated, overwhelmed, anxious, sad, numb, or stuck as you try to wade through the waves of grief.
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![image by fertilit_arty on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/CxD0Ft_slCa)]()
Childless Not By Choice
You’re feeling exhausted and questioning your ability to emotionally, mentally, or physically continue your family building efforts. Maybe you’ve gone through IUI or IVF multiple times without success. Perhaps you’ve explored other paths, such as private adoption, adoption from the foster care system, donor-assisted conception, and gestational surrogacy, but none felt right. There can be such grief with ending your family building efforts, even if it feels like the right decision or if the decision has been made for you.
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Pregnancy & Parenting After Infertility and Loss
You may feel like the legacy of infertility and loss continues to impact you, even after experiencing pregnancy or having a child. For example, this could look like heightened anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum for parents who needed assistance to conceive (such as IVF, a donor, or a gestational carrier) or who experienced prior loss (such as a miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy, or a stillbirth). During pregnancy and postpartum, parents who conceived with assistance may feel a lot of pressure to be “grateful” and “perfect” parents to the child for whom they have longed.
