Your Grief Matters Too

Many fathers, partners, husbands, wives, and non-birthing parents describe feeling as though they have to stay strong for everyone else. You may have been supporting your partner while quietly carrying your own grief, fear, guilt, or disappointment. Others may assume you are “doing fine,” even though your world has changed completely.

After miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, IVF, recurrent pregnancy loss, or termination for medical reasons (TFMR), partners often experience profound grief, traumatic stress, helplessness, anxiety, and isolation. Yet these experiences are frequently overlooked or minimized because you were not the one physically carrying the pregnancy.

You may also find yourself grieving differently than your partner. One of you may want to talk while the other withdraws. One may focus on planning another pregnancy while the other is still processing what happened. Different ways of coping do not mean either of you are grieving incorrectly—but they can leave couples feeling disconnected at a time when they need each other most.

For some, these struggles continue into a subsequent pregnancy or even after bringing home a healthy baby. Anxiety, hypervigilance, emotional distance, relationship stress, and lingering fears about the future are common responses to experiences that fundamentally change how you experience parenthood.

Many partners tell me they have never had a place where their experience was the primary focus. Therapy offers an opportunity to slow down, make sense of what you’ve been through, and understand how grief, trauma, attachment, and loss have affected both you and your relationships.

My approach is grounded in attachment theory, relational psychotherapy, and emotion-focused therapy. Rather than simply teaching coping skills, I help clients understand their emotional responses, develop greater self-compassion, strengthen relationships, and integrate experiences that can otherwise remain overwhelming or isolating.

Whether we work individually or as a couple, therapy provides a space where your grief is acknowledged, your reactions make sense, and you no longer have to carry these experiences alone.

• A warm, compassionate therapeutic relationship
• A therapist who understands the unique experiences of fathers and partners
• Space to process grief that others may not recognize
• Help understanding complicated emotions rather than pushing them away
• Support navigating pregnancy after loss or infertility
• Therapy that strengthens emotional connection within your relationship
• An attachment-based, emotion-focused approach to healing