NICU Parent Therapy in San Diego, California & Arizona
You’re carrying more than most people know
As a therapist who specializes in NICU families and a former Medical Social Worker with more than a decade of experience in neonatal intensive care settings, I deeply understand the emotional weight of this journey. Whether your baby arrived prematurely, is facing a diagnosis such as Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, or requires advanced life-saving interventions like ECMO, you are living through an incredibly intense and uncertain time. You might also be caring for a child with complex medical conditions such as Trisomy 21 or another rare genetic diagnosis.
The NICU experience can feel overwhelming and disorienting. You may be moving between fear, exhaustion, hope, and grief in the span of a single hour. You are asked to advocate, absorb medical information, make high-stakes decisions, and keep showing up in your daily life, all while your heart is stretched beyond what you ever imagined.
Your story matters
For more than ten years, I worked bedside in the Level IV NICU at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, one of the highest acuity NICUs in the country. I have held tiny hands during moments of hope and heartbreak. I have listened to the steady hum of monitors and learned the language of medical teams and complex care. I have seen how a few seconds can feel like an eternity when everything is unknown.
I understand the exhaustion of living minute to minute, never knowing what the next update will bring. I know the ache of returning home to an empty crib. I have watched parents carry bravery they never asked for. And I know how hard it is to hold space for your child while trying to hold space for your own emotions.
Your experience is deeply personal and profoundly challenging. You do not have to go through this alone. Your feelings are valid. Your grief, fear, and uncertainty deserve a place to be held with care. I am here to walk with you and provide support that is tailored specifically for NICU parents. Together we can create a path that holds both your strength and your tenderness.
Your Nervous System Remembers
Whether you are still in the NICU or months or years past discharge, the emotional impact of that season can live on in your nervous system and shape how you move through the world.
You may be carrying medical memories that replay in your mind. You may feel both grateful and disoriented at the same time. You may feel afraid to relax or unable to stop scanning for danger. You may feel guilty for still struggling when others think you should be relieved or grateful. All of this is real and understandable.
This work is personal to me. With more than a decade of NICU and perinatal mental health experience, I offer trauma-informed, somatic, and EMDR-based therapy designed specifically for NICU parents. You will not need to explain medical terminology or what certain machines do. You can bring your full story, exactly as it is.
This is a space where you do not need to be strong every moment. A space where your experience is seen. A space where healing can begin.
What Healing Can Look Like
You deserve support that understands both the medical realities and the emotional layers of the NICU journey. Therapy may include:
EMDR therapy for birth trauma, NICU trauma, medical stress, or ongoing PTSD. Somatic tools that help calm your nervous system and reconnect you with your body. A safe, compassionate place to grieve, process fear, or make sense of the identity shifts that come with this experience. Support for life during and after the NICU, including caregiving burnout, emotional fatigue, and parenting a medically complex child. Guidance and support if you are navigating a new pregnancy after a NICU experience. Virtual or in-person sessions for residents of California and Arizona.
Together, we will create a space that honors your story, supports your healing, and helps you find your footing again, at your own pace.
