Perinatal Loss & Reproductive Trauma

Therapy for Miscarriage, Infertility & Loss in South Pasadena, Los Angeles and throughout California

Perinatal loss can leave you feeling like your life is falling apart.

When you’re grieving a loss or feeling traumatized by your experience, it’s not unusual to be struggling with lingering feelings of grief, sadness and despair, to feel overwhelmed with anxiety, anger, and uncertainty; to feel like your body is failing you or to develop fears around pregnancy and childbirth.

You may have gone from being excited and optimistic about the future to feeling a deep sense of loss and hopelessness.

You don’t have to suffer through on your own. Getting support can help you make meaningful and lasting changes in how you feel and how you move forward. 

THERAPY for miscarriage, infertility and loss

Therapy may be right for you if…

  • You’ve suffered a devastating loss, and you’re not sure how to move forward or what to do next.

  • You’re questioning a lot of things about yourself, and feeling like “I don’t know who I am”

  • You need to address lingering emotions and stress responses connected to a loss or trauma before TTC and entering a new pregnancy

  • You’re still coping with the effects of being pregnant and having a baby during the Pandemic

  • Needing to resolve past trauma that’s resurfaced as you go through fertility treatment, pregnancy, childbirth or during early parenthood.

  • You’re feeling indecisive about whether to try to conceive again and want to make the decision without the element of fear.

    Taking the time to connect to your loss experience in a meaningful way can help you move forward with more hope, confidence and self-compassion.

  • Greive your losses and process your story (IVF/ART, losses, birth trauma) so that you can talk about your experiences without distress and emotional overwhelm

    Overcome avoidance, be able to look at your photos, hear about others’ birth stories, or see babies or pregnant people and not be overwhelmed with painful feelings and memories

    Address your fears to prepare for your next pregnancy and childbirth, or another round of fertility treatment with more confidence

    Set boundaries that support you and your family at every stage of family building

    Cultivate self-compassion for what you’ve been through and the challenges you’re currently facing

    Learn coping skills to help you understand and manage your emotions as you navigate fertility, pregnancy and postpartum

    Feel more connected to your body, your sense of identity, and the people most important to you

  • 1 You believed you or your baby were in danger or would die.

    2 You can’t remember important details or have blocks of memory that you can’t recall.

    3 You felt stripped of your dignity, unsupported, disrespected or violated.

    4 You had an “out of body experience", things didn’t seem real, you felt detached from your body or what was happening around you.

    5 You felt helpless, terrified, horrified, flooded by fear and anxiety, a lack of control.

    6 There was poor communication, things weren’t explained to you, or you had to make critical decisions quickly.

    Most importantly, if you feel your experience was traumatic, then it was.

  • I work with women, birthing people and parents who’ve experienced traumatic or distressing experiences including:

    birth related traumas

    fertility challenges

    pregnancy loss/miscarriage

    high risk pregnancy/medical complications

    TFMR

    Abortion care

    NICU experience

    death of an infant/baby loss

    postpartum depression, anxiety, and PTSD

    childhood trauma and abuse

    Complex PTSD

AN INTRODUCTION TO EMDR

EMDR: An evidence- based therapy to help you recover from traumatic experiences, PTSD & Complex-PTSD

EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a therapy developed to help people heal from the symptoms and distress caused by traumatic or disturbing life experiences. EMDR has been extensively researched and found to be effective for the treatment of PTSD and other effects of trauma.

Common Questions

Research shows that EMDR therapy during pregnancy can reduce distress and PTSD symptoms, help diminish fears of childbirth and build confidence about going into labor and delivery.

  • EMDR helps to diminish the effects of a traumatic experience, reducing trauma symptoms that can interfere with caring for yourself and your family. EMDR works to provide relief from trauma symptoms including nightmare, flashbacks, depression, intrusive thoughts, and fears.

  • Perinatal trauma is any traumatic or disturbing event that occurs around the time of conception, pregnancy, during childbirth and postpartum. Common experiences that families find traumatic including fertility challenges/treatment, pregnancy loss, termination and TFMR, NICU stays, medical complication during pregnancy/postpartum and the death of an infant. But the most important thing determining whether your experience was traumatic? If you feel your experience was traumatic then it was.

  • You may have felt scared, helpless or unheard and unseen during labor and delivery. Afterward, it’s common to feel shocked, numb or disconnected, to feel guilty or angry about what you went through. The most important factor determining if giving birth was traumatic is how you feel about it. If you feel your experience was traumatic, then it was.

Hi there, I’m Holly Evans.

Has your journey into parenthood been complicated and hard? You’re in the right place.

I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), specializing in trauma recovery and perinatal mental health. I offer EMDR and trauma focused therapies to support people who’re facing struggles with depression, anxiety and the effects of trauma during the perinatal period (from trying to conceive and fertility journey, through pregnancy and postpartum).

Sessions are available online throughout California or in-person in my South Pasadena office. Babies are welcome.

LGBTQ+ affirming

Here when you’re ready to talk.

Reaching out for help is a big step and I want to make the process as comfortable and easy to understand as possible. To get started, just call or email me to schedule your free consultation. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

@hollyaevansmft