As a clinician with training in issues related to infertility and non-traditional family building, I am prepared to p
rovide individual and couples counseling that is informed and sensitive about
- Grief and loss,
- Time-sensitive decision-making support
- Management of coping and stress
- Discernment processes related to identity, values and reproductive stories
- Reproductive and medical trauma
Support the entire family system through life-long processes of balancing openness, privacy, emotional security, connection and resilience when families are built through donor conception or adoption, including concerns related to:
- Overcoming emotional or developmental barriers to open talking and telling related to the use of donor conception or adoption
- Navigating new discoveries (such as medical information, new relationships, vast numbers of known or unknown genetic relatives)
- Nuances and complex emotional processes associated with hope, joy, risk of rejection, and long-term impacts of parental decisions
- Creation of social stories to support children in understanding their family origin story and support identity development and integration
- Accompanying grief processes
- Provide attachment-focused parenting support to protect secure attachment and secure functioning
I hold the fundamental belief that children are extremely smart and capable people who thrive when provided the truth about their origins within the context and safety of securely attached relationships.
When supporting families with the above needs, I believe my greatest obligation is to the child, or future child. I help families attune to the child’s voice, even when the child is not yet able to speak, and I consistently attend to what will bring the child a sense of health, security and connectedness.
I am very active in advocacy efforts that center and elevate voices of donor conceived people and adoptees. I consider them my greatest teachers and guides for how we can improve outcomes for families built through adoption and donor conception.
