Therapy for Infertility
Process feelings with compassionate guidance
Develop tools to manage anxiety
Rebuild trust in your body
Cope with isolation and comparison
Strengthen emotional resilience with yourself and your partner
We are here to support you in all stages of your preconception journey.
It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Isn’t this what you were meant to do? Why is this happening? How are you supposed to move forward when this precious dream feels so out of reach?
Infertility is isolating and infuriatingly painful. Well-meaning friends and family members ask when you’re going to finally have a baby. They give unsolicited advice. Strangers may even feel entitled to say something when they hear you don’t have a baby yet. Maybe you have had a pregnancy and/or baby before, but for some unknown reason, it’s not happening now. For a couple or person hoping to expand their family, infertility can be a devastating and highly stressful occurrence.
Therapy for Infertility Can Help.
We are here to help you navigate the emotional challenges of fertility treatments and helping you build your family.
Coping with infertility is not something you have to do alone. A skilled infertility therapist can work with you to move through this pain. We don’t know exactly what will be on the other side of this mountain, but you can get the support and skills to cope with whatever happens next. For many people, the ability to easily have a child may have felt like a given. Encountering difficulties in becoming pregnant can raise new issues within a couple, or heighten known differences. Some issues couples may encounter include:
- Self-blame and mistrust of body
- Financial stress due to medical intervention
- Ambiguous grief
- Anxiety over future pregnancies
- Anger/mistrust towards the medical system
- Isolation- feeling like others don’t understand
- Difficulty being around others who are pregnant or have babies
- Struggling to be intimate with others
- Anxiety due to waiting & hoping
Empathetic Help and Healing for Infertility Challenges at Matrescence Therapy.
Discover a safe haven for self-exploration and find solace in the support of compassionate professionals. Allow yourself to embrace a multitude of benefits, from coping with overwhelming emotions to fostering resilience in relationships and navigating the intricate nuances of the fertility journey. Here’s how therapy for infertility can offer you guidance and support:
- A safe and supportive space to explore your emotions and experiences
- Strategies to manage feelings of anxiety, depression, or overwhelm
- Tools to cope with Grief
Sessions are typically 45-55 minutes long and done from the comfort of your own home. Our therapists are comfortable discussing fertility challenges, pregnancy loss, IVF, and more. Our first session will discuss how you have been feeling lately, and we will learn a little more about you. We will then work together to create a plan to help you start feeling better.
What is Matrescence?
Matrescence is the physical, psychological, and emotional change that occurs during the process of becoming a mother. However, here at Matrescence we consider it to be ALL parenthood, not just motherhood. It is considered a developmental phase, much like adolescence, that can involve a variety of things such as hormonal shifts, body changes, identity reconstruction, and relationship transitions. The four components that contribute to the challenges of matrescence are:
- Changing Family Dynamics: adding a child or children to a relationship undoubtedly causes strain and stress
- Ambivalence: the push and pull of wanting a baby close, but also an intense desire for space
- Fantasy vs. Reality: anticipating parenthood will go one way, and then discovering it may look different
- Guilt and Shame: fear that one may never live up to the “perfect” parent.
If you and/or your partner feel these challenges, contact us to learn more about
how we can help.
Therapists you can trust,
because they’ve been there.
At Matrescence Therapy we offer a compassionate and personalized approach to postpartum mental health care.
Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship issues, our team of experienced therapists are here to support you on your journey towards healing and wellbeing. With Matrescence Therapy, you’ll receive the care and guidance you need to thrive during your postpartum journey.
Lauren Ratliff, LCSW, PMH-C
Owner, Therapist
As a certified perinatal therapist and mother of three, I am passionate about mental health during reproduction, pregnancy, & parenthood.
Paula Voigt, LCPC, CGIP
Therapist
Having personally faced struggling to conceive, followed by both early and late miscarriages and various treatments including in vitro fertilization, I have intimate experience in working through these unique and difficult challenges.
Insurance & Payment Information
We are currently in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois PPO, BCBS Blue Choice, Cigna/Evernorth, Aetna, and United Healthcare plans. We strongly recommend checking with your individual plan to inquire about therapy benefits. You may be responsible for co-payment or other costs. If we are out of network with your provider and you would like to submit through your insurance, we are able to provide you with a receipt (known as a “superbill”). You are then able to submit this to your provider for reimbursement, if your plan provides this type of coverage.
Get Started Now
Step 1: Call us at 224-999-0591 or fill out the form below
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MATRESCENCE THERAPY
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Phone number: 224-999-0591
Virtual Sessions Throughout Chicagoland & Illinois
*This is a virtual practice.
All sessions are held through video. You must be residing in Illinois.