Maternity and related issues​
Some of the most painful issues in life arise around the desire to become a parent or the pain of bearing or losing children. Sometimes the hurt and anger cannot be spoken of. The suffering affects WOMEN and MEN, often in very different ways. Women may feel unheard and misunderstood while men can feel excluded and find it harder to access therapy. This can have a devastating impact on your relationship when you most need strength, support and understanding from the other. I work with men and women individually on these issues, with either member of a same-sex partnership and with single parents in whatever ways seem helpful and healing. The issues I work with include:
​
-
infertility treatments and the roller coaster of waiting to get pregnant
-
The challenges of donor conception
-
fear of pregnancy/ giving birth
-
miscarriage
-
still birth
-
termination of pregnancy
-
bearing a disabled child
-
repeating bad parenting experiences from your childhood
-
post-natal depression
-
failures around breast-feeding or parenting
-
the effect of a new baby or loss of a child on the family
-
the impact on your relationship with your partner.
I have experience and a special interest in this work developed over a number of years working in the maternity and gynaecological department of a major London hospital. Therapy is a safe and confidential place to explore and speak about the pain and awfulness of your feelings which may go against everything you believe about parenthood and about yourself. In therapy you have the opportunity to explore these contradictions, to begin to understand where they come from and to look at ways you can move on to a healthier and happier way of being, with or without a child.
​
Sometimes short-term therapy is suitable to deal with a crisis and sometimes longer-term work at a deeper level is better to explore what lies behind your feelings of loss, sadness and failure and the meaning for you of being with or without a child in your life. We will discuss your needs at the outset and decide what best suits you as a way to go forward in therapy.
If you are affected by any of these issues why not email me for a free, confidential chat to see if therapy might help you to deal with the pain and confusion and move forward in your life.
​
Articles:
​
​