PERINATAL GRIEF & LOSS COUNSELLING — GOLD COAST & ONLINE
This loss is real. Your grief is real.
Even when the world around you doesn't seem to understand that.
The loss of a baby - at any stage of pregnancy or in the newborn period - is one of the most profound and devastating experiences a person can face. It is also one of the most hidden. Often minimised, rarely well supported, and carrying a weight that those around you may not know how to hold.
I offer specialist bereavement counselling and somatic trauma therapy for women navigating this particular grief - with deep knowledge of its complexity, and without asking you to simply move on.
THE GRIEF THAT IS OFTEN UNNAMED
The grief that is often unnamed
Perinatal grief is not like other grief. It is layered with experiences and emotions that are hard to describe: the loss of your baby, a future, an identity, a version of yourself. You may be grieving something that others don't fully recognise as a loss. You may have been told - in words or in silence - that you should be getting on with things by now.
You may recognise yourself in some of this:
- A grief that feels too big to speak about because others become uncomfortable
- Being told 'it was early' or 'you can try again' when the loss feels profound
- Emotions that don't follow a predictable path - sadness, anger, numbness, guilt, fear, and relief can all coexist
- A body that carries the physical memory of pregnancy and loss
- Struggling to be around pregnant women or new babies
- Feeling disconnected from your partner in the grief
- Anxiety that saturates a subsequent pregnancy
- A grief that re-emerges at anniversaries, at milestones, at unexpected moments years later
Your grief does not have an expiry date. And it does not need to be justified by the gestation of your baby, the circumstances of your loss, or what anyone else thinks you should be feeling by now.
THE LOSSES I SUPPORT
Wherever you are on this journey — there is support here
I support women through all forms of perinatal loss — recently experienced or carried from years past. Old losses can carry as much weight as recent ones, particularly when they were never properly witnessed or supported.
Miscarriage - early or late, single or recurrent
Stillbirth
Termination for medical reasons (TFMR) - including unexpected prenatal diagnosis and the decision-making that accompanies it
Newborn loss
Infant loss
Subsequent pregnancy after loss
Infertility as grief - the ongoing loss of not being able to conceive
A note on termination for medical reasons (TFMR)
TFMR is a distinct and particularly complex experience of perinatal loss. The grief of losing a wanted baby is compounded by an impossible decision, often made under enormous time pressure, with incomplete information, and without adequate support.
I draw on many years of supporting parents through this journey in a hospital maternal fetal medicine setting. I offer non-directive, compassionate support - whether you are navigating a diagnosis and weighing your options, processing your decision before or after a TFMR, or carrying the grief of this loss into a future pregnancy.
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Your complex experience is held. Unbiased support offered. Whichever path you have taken, your grief is honoured compassionately.
HOW I WORK WITH PERINATAL GRIEF
Grief is not a problem to be solved. It is something to be witnessed.
I bring together postgraduate qualifications in bereavement counselling, many years as a specialist perinatal loss social worker, and experience as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner to offer a therapeutic approach that supports grieving in the body as well as the heart and mind.
Grief is not a problem to be solved or a process to be completed. It is something to be witnessed, integrated, and learned to carry in a way that doesn't break you. My role is to walk alongside you in that - at whatever pace your system allows.
I offer this support whether your loss was recent or many years ago. Old losses can carry as much weight as recent ones, particularly when they were never properly witnessed or supported.
PREGNANCY AFTER LOSS
Holding grief and hope at the same time
Navigating a subsequent pregnancy after a loss is its own distinct experience - one that can hold grief and hope simultaneously, and that often brings anxiety, hypervigilance, and complicated feelings that are hard to share with others who simply expect you to be happy.
I offer specific support for women in this space - holding both the grief of what came before and the present experience of this pregnancy.
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Maia has a way of making you feel so safe and held. I'm able to drop all of my masking and not feel silly or scared to say all that I am feeling or have experienced.
ALSO LOOKING FOR SUPPORT WITH
Other areas I specialise in
02
Perinatal grief & loss
Specialist bereavement support for women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, newborn loss, or infant loss - including support through subsequent pregnancy.
LEARN MORE ➔
02
Perinatal grief & loss
Miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, newborn and infant loss — the grief that is often invisible, and rarely well supported.
LEARN MORE ➔
02
Perinatal grief & loss
Specialist bereavement support for women who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, newborn loss, or infant loss - including support through subsequent pregnancy.
LEARN MORE ➔
READY TO BEGIN?
Grief that is seen can finally be carried.
The intake call is free and entirely without obligation. If you're not sure whether this is right for you, that's exactly what the call is for.
Or reach out directly: maia@maiaanin.com.au