Fertility & Perinatal Support in Santa Barbara
Becoming a parent is often imagined as a joyful beginning. For many people, it is also a time of uncertainty, grief, hope, and profound change.
I provide fertility and perinatal support for individuals and couples in Santa Barbara and throughout California by telehealth. Whether you're navigating fertility challenges, a difficult pregnancy, postpartum adjustment, or the emotional complexity of becoming a parent, you don't have to carry it alone.
When the Journey Looks Different Than You Expected
These experiences are often deeply personal and difficult to explain to others. Friends and family may not fully understand the emotional weight of repeated disappointments, the uncertainty of fertility treatment, or the way hope, love, fear, and grief can exist all at once.
You may be navigating:
infertility or fertility challenges
IVF or other fertility treatments
pregnancy after loss
difficult or high-risk pregnancies
postpartum depression, anxiety, or adjustment
changes in your relationship
uncertainty about what comes next
There is rarely one right way to move through these experiences. Therapy offers a place to make space for all of it.
Your Fertility Journey
I understand the complexities and emotions involved in fertility challenges. My clients come with confounding and painful experiences as they build their family, including pregnancy loss, unexplained infertility, fertility issues associated with medical complications, prolonged conception processes due to age or medical conditions, the impact of work-life balance, same-sex parents and those on solo parenting paths.
My approach is holistic, knowledgeable, and validating. Along with the emotional and psychological support of therapy, I am well versed in the interventions and procedures associated with fertility treatment, including options such as IUI, IVF, cycle tracking, acupuncture and homeopathic interventions, donor choices, and many of the associated tests and procedures to identify and resolve infertility.
If you are grieving a pregnancy loss, I also offer dedicated support for grief and loss.
Pregnancy and Postpartum Support
I support individuals and couples during pregnancy and postpartum, recognizing that this rite of passage often brings both joy and mental health challenges.
If you're suffering from the blues, depression, anxiety, obsessions, or traumatic thoughts and feelings, you don't have to manage alone. My approach draws upon evidence-based approaches to help you feel better, and focus on your family and yourself as a parent.
Postpartum and Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Care
I respect and validate all birthing choices, whether hospital, high or low intervention, birth center, midwife-assisted, or home-birth, ensuring you feel empowered and supported in your decision-making process.
Respect for Your Choices
Becoming a parent, whether it is your first time or you already have children, is a rite of passage. I help you integrate the meaning of this milestone, and support the ways your identity expands as a parent.
A Rite of Passage
I offer practical, judgment-free support for early postpartum parenting: feeding approaches, managing sleep for the whole family, bonding and nurturing, physical healing, and navigating relationships with your partner, family, and beyond. We can also work through boundaries, your return to work, and disability and family medical leave choices, clarifying which actions and decisions are yours to make in ways that align with your family's values
Parenting Support
Disability and Leaves of Absence
The journey to parenthood and the postpartum period can be both rewarding and challenging. Many people find themselves navigating the tension between work responsibilities and the demands of home life. In some cases, taking a leave of absence, whether paid, unpaid, or through disability benefits, can be an important step toward prioritizing mental health and well-being. I support my clients through this process by helping them explore their options, complete necessary documentation, and prepare for a smooth transition back to work when they're ready.
A Collaborative Approach to Care
There is no single roadmap for fertility or perinatal experiences. Rather than offering predetermined answers, therapy becomes a collaborative process of exploring what these experiences mean for you personally, and what actions and choices are yours to make.
Together, our work may include making space for grief, processing uncertainty, strengthening your relationship, and finding steadiness through experiences that often feel unpredictable. The goal is not to erase difficult emotions, but to help you move through them with greater understanding, self-compassion, and resilience.
As a licensed clinical psychologist in California (PSY32771), I bring both clinical training and specialized knowledge of fertility and perinatal mental health to this work. You can read more about my training and approach here.
Perinatal and Fertility Groups
Holding Hope: The Fertility Process Group (virtual, California statewide)
Motherhood In Motion (Santa Barbara postpartum hiking group)
Birth Story Narrative Therapy Group (join the interest list)
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between fertility counseling and infertility counseling?
The terms are often used interchangeably. Fertility counseling can support anyone navigating questions about conceiving, including before a formal infertility diagnosis, while infertility counseling often specifically addresses the emotional impact of a diagnosed fertility challenge. I work with both.
Do you work with couples, or only individuals?
Both. Fertility and perinatal challenges affect relationships, and I support individuals processing this journey on their own as well as couples navigating it together.
I'm not currently in fertility treatment. Can I still reach out?
Yes. Many clients are still deciding on next steps, or processing feelings that arose long before any formal treatment began.
Do you offer support after a pregnancy loss?
Yes, pregnancy loss is a profound loss, and every person's experience is different. Therapy offers space to grieve at your own pace. You can read more about how I work with grief and loss here.
Whether you're navigating infertility, pregnancy, postpartum adjustment, or the emotional complexities of becoming a parent, you don't have to carry these experiences alone.
Whether you’d like to meet in-person at my office in Santa Barbara or via telehealth from anywhere in California, reach out to schedule a complimentary consultation.