Counselling in the Comox Valley
Reproductive Mental Health Counselling in the Comox Valley
Maybe you’re holding your breath between appointments, or grieving a loss most people never knew about. Maybe your body is changing in ways nobody prepared you for. Whatever this season is asking of you, you don’t have to carry it alone.
If any of this feels close to home, I’m glad you found your way here.
Fertility, loss, and the changes our bodies move through are some of the most private struggles there are. From the outside, life looks like it’s carrying on as usual. On the inside, it might feel more like this:
- You’re living in two-week increments—afraid to hope, and just as afraid to stop hoping.
- You smiled your way through another baby shower or pregnancy announcement, then cried in the car.
- You’re grieving a miscarriage the rest of the world moved past in a week—while you’re still in it.
- You’re facing enormous decisions—another round of IVF, donor conception, surrogacy, stopping—with no map and a running meter.
- Your relationship is strained by treatment calendars, injections, money, and conversations you’re both too tired to have.
- Perimenopause has left you foggy, irritable, and unlike yourself—and you keep being told it’s “just part of getting older.”
- You feel like your body has let you down, and you don’t know how to trust it—or forgive it.
How counselling can help
This isn’t “regular” anxiety or ordinary sadness. What you’re carrying is woven into your identity, your relationship with your body, your partnership, and your hopes for your family. It deserves support that understands those threads—not advice to relax, stay positive, or be patient.
I’ll be honest: this work is personal for me. My own family was built through both in vitro fertilization and adoption, so I know from the inside that the path to parenthood is rarely a straight line—and how lonely the waiting rooms, the phone calls, and the quiet grief in between can be. That experience is part of why I pursued specific training in the psychological impact of infertility. You won’t need to explain why this hurts. We can start from there.
My work is grounded in attachment theory and Emotionally Focused Therapy, because so much of this pain is, at its heart, about longing and connection—to a child you’re hoping for, to a body that feels unfamiliar, to a partner who grieves differently than you do. Together, we’ll make room for all of it: the grief and the hope, the anger and the love, at a pace that feels right for you.
What we might work on together
Every story here is different, so counselling follows yours. Depending on what you need, we might spend our time on:
- Grieving losses others can’t see—miscarriage, failed cycles, or the version of your family you imagined.
- Finding steadier ground through the anxiety of appointments, waits, and results.
- Making sense of hard decisions—more treatment, donor options, surrogacy, adoption, or stopping—without pressure toward any of them.
- Tending to your relationship with your body, and with a partner who may be carrying this differently.
- Navigating perimenopause and menopause—the identity shifts, the mood changes, the sense of not recognizing yourself.
- Building gentle boundaries around well-meaning questions and unsolicited advice.
Questions you might be holding
How do I get started?
The easiest first step is a free consultation—a short, no-pressure conversation where you can ask questions and get a feel for whether I’m the right fit. You can book it online through Comox Valley Counselling’s booking page, and if it doesn’t feel right, that’s okay too.
I’m not in crisis. Is counselling still for me?
Yes. You don’t have to be falling apart to deserve support. If the waiting is wearing you down, if grief feels stuck, or if you simply don’t feel like yourself, those are all valid reasons to reach out. Many people find it helps to have somewhere to set things down before they become too heavy.
Do you offer virtual or phone sessions?
Yes. I meet with clients in person at Comox Valley Counselling in Courtenay, and virtually or by phone anywhere in BC. If you’re in the middle of treatment, appointments, or an unpredictable season, we can find a format that fits your life.
Do you only work with people who are trying to conceive?
No. Reproductive mental health spans much more than fertility treatment. I support people through pregnancy loss, surrogacy, donor conception, the decision to stop trying, choosing or accepting a life without children, and the changes of perimenopause and menopause. Wherever you are on that spectrum, you’re welcome here.
What if my grief is about a loss other people don’t recognize?
Then it’s exactly the kind of grief that deserves a witness. A failed cycle, an early miscarriage, the family you imagined—these are real losses, even when the world doesn’t send flowers. In counselling, your grief doesn’t need to justify itself before it’s taken seriously.
However your family takes shape, you don’t have to walk this road alone.
Whether you’re in the thick of treatment, grieving a loss, or finding your footing in a changing body, I’d be honoured to walk alongside you.
Book your free consultationIn person in Courtenay · virtual & phone across BC · individuals aged 10+