Grief after pregnancy or infant loss is not linear. You might feel numb one day and devastated the next. You might experience anger, confusion, guilt, or nothing at all. You might have intrusive images from the hospital, dreams about your baby, or an ache that feels impossible to describe.
All of this is normal. Grief doesn’t follow a script. At The Motherhood Wellness Center, led by Danielle Kornacki, LMHC, PMH-C, we create space for whatever you're feeling without judgment, pressure, or timelines.
Our approach is trauma-informed, which means you control what we talk about and when. You can pause, redirect, or stop at any point. We prioritize safety and stabilization first, then move into deeper grief work only when you feel ready.
We serve individuals and couples throughout Massachusetts, including Boston, Worcester, Cambridge, Newton, and surrounding communities. All sessions are conducted via secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth, so you can receive support from the privacy of your home.
Did You Know?
Miscarriage and stillbirth are far more common than most people realize. About 10 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, and stillbirth affects about 1 in 175 births in the U.S., according to the CDC. Yet even with how many of us have been through this kind of loss, it can feel incredibly lonely. Grief after loss often lives quietly, unseen by the world, even when it’s taking up so much space inside you.
Ways We Can Help
Miscarriage
A miscarriage can happen at any point in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Sometimes it happens before you’ve even had the chance to share your news, which can make the loneliness feel even heavier. You may hear well-meaning comments like “at least it was early” or “you can try again,” but those words don’t ease the pain. Your grief is real and valid, no matter when or how your loss occurred.
Therapy helps you process the shock, navigate triggers like due dates or pregnancy announcements, and make sense of what happened. We also support those experiencing recurrent miscarriage, which carries the added burden of repeated loss and medical uncertainty.
Stillbirth
Stillbirth is a profound trauma. You carried your baby, felt movements, prepared for birth, and then everything changed. The labor and delivery experience can be traumatic in itself, and the silence afterward is unbearable.
Many parents experience post-traumatic stress symptoms after stillbirth, including flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, and avoidance of reminders. You might replay the moment you learned your baby had died, wonder what you missed, or feel disconnected from your body.
Therapy provides space to process the trauma at your own pace. We use grounding techniques, narrative work, and body-based interventions to help you feel safe again. We also support decisions around memorial rituals, keepsakes, and how you want to remember your baby.
With your consent, we can coordinate care with your OB-GYN or other medical providers to make sure your physical and emotional recovery are both supported.
Loss We Support
Loss takes many forms, and each one carries its own weight. We provide compassionate, individualized care for all types of pregnancy and infant loss.
TFMR (Termination for Medical Reasons)
Termination for medical reasons is one of the most complex forms of loss. You may have wanted your baby deeply while also making the decision to end the pregnancy due to fetal anomalies or threats to your health. This combination of grief, love, and relief can feel impossible to hold at the same time.
TFMR often involves moral distress, stigma, and isolation. Many people struggle to talk about their experience because of fear of judgment or misunderstanding. In our sessions, you can speak openly about what happened and how you feel without filtering your words or defending your choice.
We help you process the medical information you received, the decision-making process, and the grief that follows. We also address triggers, anniversary reactions, and the emotional complexity of future pregnancies.
Neonatal Loss & NICU Aftercare
Losing a baby after birth, whether hours, days, or weeks later, is a unique kind of grief. You may have held your baby, made medical decisions under impossible pressure, and said goodbye in ways you never imagined.
The NICU can be deeply traumatic, even when your baby comes home. The sounds of monitors, the medical terms, and the feeling of having so little control can stay with you long after you’ve gone home. If your baby didn’t survive, those experiences may be woven into your final memories, making them especially tender and difficult to hold.
We offer trauma-informed support for NICU parents during and after loss. This includes processing medical decisions, managing triggers related to hospitals or medical settings, and finding ways to honor your baby's life while also moving forward.
If you have other children, we can help you navigate sibling care and age-appropriate conversations about loss.
Our Trauma-Informed Approach
Trauma-informed care means we prioritize safety, choice, and collaboration in every session. You are always in control of what we discuss, how fast we move, and what feels right for you.
Safety, Choice, Collaboration
You decide what to share and when. We never push you to talk about details before you're ready. Some clients want to tell the full story in the first session. Others need weeks or months of stabilization before they're ready to process what happened. Both paths are valid.
Our priority is helping you feel safe, supported, and steady again. Together, we’ll focus on things like sleep, calming your nervous system, and creating small routines that bring a sense of stability. From there, once things start to feel a little more manageable, we can gently move toward the more profound healing of grief, trauma, and the process of making sense of it all.
You can opt out of any exercise, topic, or approach at any time. Therapy is collaborative, not prescriptive.
Stabilization First
Grief and trauma disrupt your nervous system. You might feel constantly on edge, numb, or like you're moving through fog. Before we process the loss itself, we focus on helping you feel grounded in the present moment.
This includes teaching breath work, body scanning, sensory grounding, and orientation exercises. We also address sleep, appetite, and basic daily routines that support your body's recovery.
Stabilization is not avoidance. It's preparation. Once you feel more regulated, you'll have the capacity to process grief without becoming overwhelmed.
Gentle Evidence-Based Tools
We use practical tools from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and grief-informed approaches. These tools help you manage intrusive thoughts, tolerate difficult emotions, and reconnect with what matters most to you.
CBT helps you challenge unhelpful thoughts like "I should have known" or "I did something wrong." ACT teaches you how to make space for grief without letting it consume your entire life. Grief mapping helps you identify triggers, track patterns, and plan for difficult dates like due dates or anniversaries.
We also use values-based planning to help you decide how you want to remember your baby, what rituals feel meaningful, and how you want to move forward in a way that honors both your loss and your life.
Attachment-Informed Work
Loss affects your sense of self, your relationships, and your trust in the world. We use attachment-informed approaches to help you process these shifts.
Together, we might explore how your loss has touched different parts of your life, your relationship with your partner, your sense of safety in your own body, and your hopes or fears about future pregnancies. We also hold space for the tender questions that often follow loss: Am I still a mother? Who am I now?
Attachment work is gentle and paced to your readiness. We don't force insight or healing. We follow your lead.
Care Coordination
With your written consent, we can coordinate care with your OB-GYN, NICU or pediatric team, or doula. This might include aligning on medical follow-up or discussing future pregnancy planning.
Coordinated care helps ensure that everyone involved in your recovery is informed and working toward the same goals. We only share information you've approved.
What Sessions Can Help With
Grief counseling provides practical support for the daily realities of living after loss. Here's what therapy can address:
Managing triggers like medical appointments, social media pregnancy announcements, due dates, baby showers, or seeing pregnant people in public
Sleep and appetite disruption caused by grief, trauma, and hormonal changes after pregnancy
Routine rebuilding when basic tasks feel impossible or pointless
Meaning-making and remembrance rituals only if and when you want them.
Partner communication when you and your partner grieve differently or are on different timelines
Return-to-work planning including boundary scripts, disclosure decisions, and pacing your transition back
Future pregnancy anxiety if you're considering trying again or already pregnant
If you're thinking about, or already in, a pregnancy after loss, you may find this gentle read helpful: Pregnancy After Loss: Coping With Anxiety and Finding Support.
Practical Details
Access: HIPAA-Compliant Telehealth Statewide
All sessions are conducted via secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth across Massachusetts. You don't need to leave your home, face the outside world, or worry about running into someone you know. Virtual care offers privacy, flexibility, and immediate access without the burden of commuting.
Frequency: Weekly to Biweekly as Stabilization Improves
Most clients start with weekly sessions for the first few weeks, then shift to biweekly as symptoms stabilize. We can increase frequency around difficult dates like anniversaries, due dates, or the date of loss.
Therapy length varies. Some clients need a few months of support. Others benefit from ongoing care for a year or more. There's no pressure to end before you're ready.
Inclusivity: All Family Structures and Paths to Parenthood Welcome
We welcome individuals and couples of all backgrounds, family structures, and paths to parenthood. Whether you conceived naturally, through IVF, via donor conception, through surrogacy, or were pursuing adoption, your grief matters. We affirm all identities and honor all forms of family.
Take a Small Step
Grief is exhausting, and reaching out takes courage. You do not have to commit beyond a conversation. Book a free 15-minute consultation to share what you are experiencing, ask questions, and see if our approach feels right. There is no pressure to disclose more than you want. The call lets you calmly learn, explore next steps, and decide what feels best.