You are pregnant again, but the excitement isn’t there. You feel anxiety before your OB appointments and try to make sure you are prepped enough to ask all the questions you need to. More stress keeps coming up. The thought of announcing your pregnancy and each new pregnancy symptom brings anxiety. You can’t help but wonder if you will lose this baby too. No one seems to understand. It hurts to hear your family and friends encouraging you to forget about your loss and move on. You want the best for your baby, but you keep thinking about the things you did or didn’t do during your last pregnancy. You wonder if you will be “enough” to bring home and care for a healthy baby. You feel helpless and isolated. You wonder if you can trust yourself, your pregnancy care provider and your body to protect this baby after what happened last time. You are anxious, frustrated and on edge...when do you get to be happy about your pregnancy? My name is Shanna and I am a Perinatal Mental Health Therapist, Trained Doula, Lactation Counselor, Mama, Educator, Researcher and Advocate. Over the last 10+ years in my work supporting families, I have encountered many people who have struggled with challenges experienced throughout their lives, including upsetting birth or postpartum experiences, which have created a barrier which prevents them from reaching their highest potential as parents during their child's crucial early childhood years. When I became a parent, I also experienced Pregnancy loss, Lactation challenges and Postpartum mood and anxiety disorder. I found a support system, evidence based knowledge and community resources helped me heal and my family thrive. I found my life’s purpose in dedicating myself to providing that same type of support and knowledge with others families.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
During our first session together, I look forward to holding space for you to share the "quiet part" out loud. Our sessions are a safe space for you to speak about everything on your heart related to challenges you have experienced on your reproductive journey and anxiety about the future of expanding your family or raising your children. We'll identify what areas you want to focus on most, and set goals for the healing journey we are navigating together.
What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?
Fertility challenges and pregnancy or infant loss involve your body throughout the entire experience. Your body holds on to this trauma, and even when you logically understand you and your baby are safe in this moment, it can be hard for your nervous system to be calm enough to actually believe it to be true. Therefore, you need interventions that heal your body as well as your mind. I integrate approaches like Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting and Mindfulness with approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Narrative Therapy and Person centered approaches. I intentionally hold space for the way in which your spirituality, sexuality, trauma history, postpartum/lactation related changes are impacting you during this journey to grow your family.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
You might be finding that others have trouble understanding the medical and physiological aspects of your fertility or pregnancy journey. You might need strategies to deal with relationships, including your partner or anxiety related to baby showers or buying baby items. Many parents also find that the biggest impact has been felt in one aspect over another, such as grief from your previous loss, the trauma related to your birth, time your baby spent in the NICU or Postpartum anxiety, depression or PTSD. The combination of experience I have as a Doula, Lactation counselor, family & couples therapy, and my own personal experience of navigating pregnancy after loss allows me to have a unique and personalized perspective on your journey.