Fertility, Identity, and Mental Health: Supporting Clients Navigating Reproductive Uncertainty

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Fertility, Identity, and Mental Health-Supporting Clients Navigating Reproductive Uncertainty (2HR)

$32.00

Course Description

This course supports clinicians working with individuals navigating the emotional complexities of fertility struggles, including loss, uncertainty, identity disruption, and reproductive decision-making. Participants will explore the psychological impact of fertility struggles and the fertility journey, cultural narratives around motherhood, and the grief of ambiguous losses. Using CBT, mindfulness, and relational strategies, clinicians will learn how to support clients in processing difficult emotions, clarifying values, and making empowered reproductive choices. The training also includes a focus on inclusive, trauma-informed language.

Upon the completion of this training, participants will be able to:

Describe the emotional and identity-based impacts of fertility struggles and reproductive loss.
Apply CBT, mindfulness, and values clarification to support client decision-making.
Use culturally sensitive language to explore grief, meaning-making, and family planning.

Social workers completing this course receive 2 Clinical asynchronous continuing education credits.

For other board approvals, this course qualifies for 2 Clinical continuing education training.

Course Instructor: Samantha Silverberg, Ph.D., L.P.

Recording Date: May 13, 2026

Course Format

NBCC ACEP # 7091, CE Training Workshops has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP #7091. Programs that do not qualify are clearly identified. CE Training Workshops is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. CE Training Workshops designates this continuing education activity for 2 continuing education hours.

CE Training Workshops, LLC, #1770, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/02/2025 to 08/02/2028. Social workers completing this course receive 2 Clinical continuing education credits.

Meet Your Facilitator

Samantha is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Infant Mental Health Expert (IMH-E®), EMDR Certified Therapist (EMDRIA), and Hypnobirthing Childbirth Educator. Holding dual master’s degrees in psychology from the New School and Clinical Psychology from La Salle University, she recently completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Fielding Graduate University, with a dissertation on parenting and serious mental illness (SMI).

Syllabus

Introduction

Objective #1: Describe the emotional and identity-based impacts of fertility struggles and reproductive loss

Prevalence and invisibility of fertility struggles
Emotional landscape of the fertility journey: hope, anticipation, disappointment, and grief cycles
Chronic stress and trauma-like responses
Identity disruption: loss of imagined future self and assumptions about parenthood
Cultural narratives and societal pressures

Objective #2: Explain ambiguous loss and its role in fertility-related grief

Introduction to ambiguous loss and its clinical relevance
Loss without closure: failed cycles, shifting timelines, uncertain outcomes
Disenfranchised grief and lack of societal validation
Types of loss in fertility

Objective #3: Identify trauma responses and nervous system dysregulation in fertility clients

Fertility as a cumulative stress and trauma experience
Medical trauma and repeated exposure to uncertainty
Nervous system responses
Hypervigilance, emotional reactivity, and body mistrust
Clinical reframe: adaptive survival responses vs. pathology

Objective #4: Identify cognitive and behavioral patterns associated with fertility-related distress

Common cognitive distortions
Behavioral patterns
Impact of these patterns on emotional distress

Objective #5: Utilize CBT, mindfulness, and somatic-informed interventions to support emotional regulation

Cognitive restructuring with focus on flexibility, not forced positivity
Mindfulness practices
Somatic grounding:
Immediate-use interventions for clients
Experiential: Guided fertility-specific mindfulness practice

Objective #6: Address relational dynamics and communication challenges in fertility journeys

Common relational patterns
Impact on connection, communication, and emotional safety
Teaching clients to express needs clearly
Therapist role

Objective #7: Apply values clarification and meaning-making to reproductive decision-making

Supporting complex decisions:
Differentiating acceptance from giving up
Exploring identity beyond fertility outcomes
Values-based decision-making
Encouraging agency and empowerment under uncertainty

Objective #8: Integrate trauma-informed and culturally sensitive language into clinical practice

Recognizing fertility as a potential trauma experience
Addressing shame, self-blame, and body mistrust
Using validating, non-pathologizing language
Cultural considerations:
Clinical vignette

Objective #9: Integrate case conceptualization and clinical application

Application of CBT, mindfulness, relational, and values-based interventions
Identifying intervention priorities based on client presentation
Balancing validation, regulation, and forward movement
Group discussion and clinical reflection

Summary and Q&A