Reproductive mental health · EMDR & IFS
Therapy for women navigating pregnancy loss, stillbirth, infertility, and IVF
I'm Francesca Walker, a licensed mental health counselor in New York. I specialize in reproductive mental health: pregnancy loss, infertility and IVF, traumatic birth, NICU trauma, and grief after difficult decisions about a pregnancy.
Pregnancy loss is one of the most common griefs and one of the least acknowledged.
Maybe you had a miscarriage, or more than one. Maybe IVF cycles didn't work. Maybe your baby was stillborn, died shortly after birth, or spent weeks in the NICU. Maybe you ended a pregnancy after a diagnosis you weren't prepared for. Maybe you're pregnant again and afraid to hope.
Whatever happened, the support probably didn't last. People checked in for a few weeks and then stopped. Some said things like "it wasn't meant to be" or "at least you can try again." For some women, the dismissal started earlier, with concerns during pregnancy that weren't taken seriously.
So you went back to work and kept going, and you've been carrying it mostly on your own.
How I work
EMDR and Internal Family Systems
I use EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS). EMDR helps your brain and body process memories that still feel stuck, like the ultrasound, the phone call, or the delivery room. IFS helps you work with the different parts of you reacting to the loss: the part that's grieving, the part that's afraid to hope, and the part that's been holding it together for everyone else.
Read about my approach and the Careful Confrontation™ Method
Who I work with
Women in New York State navigating
- Miscarriage, including missed miscarriage, chemical pregnancy, and recurrent pregnancy loss
- Stillbirth and neonatal death
- TFMR (termination for medical reasons), including terminations recommended to protect the mother's life or following a severe fetal diagnosis
- Infertility, failed IVF cycles, failed transfers, and secondary infertility
- Traumatic birth and birth injury
- NICU stays and their aftermath
- Carrying a pregnancy after a terminal or life-limiting diagnosis
- Grief following abortion or an adoption decision
- Pregnancy after loss
You don't need to know which of these fits before you reach out.
What to expect
There's no timeline for grief here, and no stages you're expected to move through. An early loss counts. So does a loss that happened years ago.
You don't have to be strong in session.
You don't have to prove that what happened was serious.
To be seen and to be witnessed are two different experiences. Schedule your consultation today to learn the difference.