Infertility Grief and Trauma

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - Relevant relationships

Handouts

Speaker

Loree Johnson, PhD, LMFT Related seminars and products

---

Loree Johnson, PhD, LMFT, graduated from Syracuse University with a master’s and doctorate in marriage and family therapy. Inspired by one of the first mental health programs to weave the basic tenets of social justice into the field of family therapy, she started her career in community mental health and now works in private practice in Hermosa Beach, CA. As a result of her reproductive story, Dr. Johnson sought training in fertility counseling and trauma-informed reproductive mental health. She is certified in EMDR. Dr. Johnson has been an active member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy for more than 20 years and has served in various board positions at the state and national levels. She served as a member of the Anti-Racism Task Force for the Mental Health Professionals Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. In addition to reproductive psychology, Dr. Johnson is passionate about therapists and reducing disparities in the infertility and loss communities that impact access to treatment, care, and outcomes.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Loree Johnson maintains a private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Loree Johnson is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the EMDR International Association.

Additional Info

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.

Objectives

1. Analyze the DSM V-TR™ definition of trauma and how it relates to infertility-related grief and stress.
2. Identify how intersectional identity factors influence the experience and expression of infertility-related grief.
3. Choose evidence-informed strategies to reduce stigma associated with infertility in individual clients.
4. Utilize interventions to reduce emotional distress related to infertility in individual clients.
5. Assess the impact of infertility on intimate relationships.
6. Investigate the potential risks and benefits of therapist self-disclosure related to fertility.

Outline

• The most surprising facts about infertility
• Where is the line between infertility stress and infertility trauma
• Social infertility
• Top questions to understand your client’s experience
• Cultural humility as a critical element
• Tips for assessing your client’s intersectional identity
• Exercise – therapist self-assessment
• Case study – mental health symptoms alongside ongoing fertility treatments

• Infertility and reproductive grief as disenfranchised loss
• Embracing and avoiding loss - dualprocess grief model
• Best practices for assessing and monitoring your client’s grief
• Infertility loss grief interventions
• Strategies for decreasing grief stigma
• Grief and cultural humility
• Case study – termination for medical reasons after IVF

• EMDR and somatic resourcing techniques
• Adapting EFT and Gottman Method for infertile couples
• Strategies to strengthen attachment, reduce emotional distress, and facilitate grieving
• Common partner communication challenges: resentments, intimacy, financial strain, and more
• Crisis management techniques to address immediate trauma
• Foundational strategies to address chronic experience of infertility
• Exercise – resource development for infertility distress
• Case study – couple contemplating involuntary childlessness

• Tailoring interventions to clients’ unique identities
• Self-disclosure and how culture influences it
• Management of countertransference and therapist reactivity
• Limitations of the research and potential risks

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counsellors
• Case Managers
• Psychiatric Nurses
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals