Perinatal Mental Health
More than people tend to talk about.
Perinatal therapy for TTC, Fertility Treatment, Pregnancy, Postpartum, and Birth Trauma -- including partners of birthing people
You may be holding more than you expected.
Trying to conceive, fertility treatment, pregnancy, postpartum, and birth trauma can be some of the most emotionally complex experiences of your life. Hope, grief, anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty often exist side by side. You may feel joy and fear at the same time, or pressure to be grateful while quietly struggling.
You don’t have to hold all of this on your own.
What might be coming up for you?
There’s often a lot that people are holding during this time, including:
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Month after month of negative pregnancy tests, and the quiet grief that follows
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The loss of predictability when effort and planning no longer lead to clear outcomes
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The emotional ups and downs of fertility treatments like IVF or IUI
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Feeling like your body has become something to manage rather than something that feels like your own
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Anxiety during pregnancy, especially after infertility or pregnancy loss
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Processing a birth experience that felt frightening, out of your control, or involved a loss of dignity
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The intensity and exhaustion of postpartum life
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Missing parts of yourself that feel harder to find right now
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Identity shifts that come with pregnancy, postpartum, and becoming a parent
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Feeling disconnected from yourself, your partner, or the life you imagined
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Supporting a partner while also managing your own experience
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Grief related to miscarriage, infertility, or unexpected outcomes
If this is where you are, you’re not doing it wrong. This is just genuinely hard.
How can therapy help?
Therapy isn’t about fixing your feelings or moving past them quickly. It offers space to understand what you’re going through, without pressure to feel any particular way.
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In our work together, therapy can help you:
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Make sense of the complexity of fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, or loss
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Find language for feelings that are hard to explain to others
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Process difficult or traumatic experiences in a steady, supportive space
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Feel less overwhelmed by understanding what your mind and body are responding to
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Navigate identity shifts that come with becoming a parent
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Strengthen communication and connection in your relationship
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Stay connected to yourself during a time that can feel all-consuming
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Cope with uncertainty, waiting, and unexpected outcomes
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Relate to yourself with more compassion in a season that can bring pressure and self-blame
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This isn’t about getting it right. It’s about having space to work through what’s here.
Why work with Susanna Vargo?
I work extensively with individuals, partners of birthing people, and couples navigating fertility treatment, pregnancy, postpartum adjustment, and birth trauma.
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As an IVF mom of two, I bring both professional training and lived understanding to this work. I’m familiar with the clinical side of the process: the appointments, the waiting, the acronyms, the uncertainty that can come with it.
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Our work doesn’t need to center on explaining the medical details. It can focus on what often gets less attention: the emotional experience of living through it.
There’s a lot that can come up during this time. Below are answers to common questions about how therapy can support you.