Bereavement Counselling

Perinatal Trauma, Grief & Loss

The experience of trauma from your birth or the loss of your baby due to stillbirth, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy or infant loss can leave an everlasting and devastating impact on you, your body and those you love. From a place of deep compassion I integrate many years as a social worker counselling grieving parents, with current grief counselling approaches and trauma theory, with body based practices to offer support and healing.

I support women and parents who have suffered miscarriage, termination of pregnancy, stillbirth & infant loss, birth trauma and unexpected birth experiences, both recent and past. I also support women through subsequent pregnancy after experiencing previous loss or birth trauma as well as adoption, both adoptees and birth parents, recent or past.

Sessions are offered face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW or Online.

Reasons women seek support:

  • perinatal loss (early pregnancy loss, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons, stillbirth, neonatal death)

  • fertility difficulties

  • reproductive trauma

  • birth trauma

  • unexpected birth outcomes (incl. prematurity & NICU admission)

  • adoption (recent or past)

  • pregnancy after previous loss

Embodied Bereavement Counselling

If you are experiencing the grief of losing a child, either recently or from years past, my heart goes out to you. I am so sorry you are experiencing this unimaginable heartbreak and I acknowledge the courage you have in seeking out support.

The loss of a child is one of the most profound and devastating losses a parent can experience. It is often a hidden grief experienced by parents and one that often struggles to be acknowledged or supported well by others.

I offer you a safe and compassionate space in which you can access support as you navigate this journey. I offer bereavement counselling specifically with an embodied healing approach. Drawing on eight years as a perinatal social worker walking alongside parents who have experienced the loss of their child, I have been honoured to witness the anguish as well as strength within parents. Combining this lived experience of many parents with a range of therapeutic approaches and theories, including attachment theory, trauma theory, mind-body practices and current grief models, I collaborate with you in navigating your grief and the process of integrating your loss into your ongoing life.

Sessions are offered face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW or Online.

“I come away from every session with a deeper sense of calm, breath and clarity of mind.”

- Nadia - Embodied Counselling client

Embodied Healing for Birth Trauma

The experience of birth whilst empowering for some women, for others can be extremely distressing and traumatic impacting their adjustment to motherhood. Some births leave physical injuries, whilst some leave psychological trauma, whilst others a combination of both. The conflict between the desired expectation of their birth and the reality, the sense of a loss of control of their body or the triggering of past trauma may contribute to an experience of shock and severe distress which can have ongoing psychological and physiological impact for women. A woman’s birth does not have to be medically traumatic or life threatening to be experienced as traumatic. Trauma is very subjective and can in impact on physical recovery, the emerging relationship with their baby or difficulties in adjusting to motherhood. It can significantly influence her mental health and the consideration or experience of future pregnancies and births.

Working from an understanding of the adjustment that occurs within women through the perinatal period and the impact trauma can have on this transition, I work with women from a foundation of attachment theory, perinatal mental health, compassion focussed practices, and a recognition of how trauma responses reside in the body even long after the traumatic experience has past. Fostering a warm and safe space of compassion, I offer an embodied healing approach in my counselling, supporting women to feel heard, inviting reconnection of mind and body and rebuilding safety within their body. 

Sessions are offered face to face on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW or Online.

Grief & Loss