This is a six-week group on Wednesday evenings 8-9:30 pm EST/5-6:30 pm PST.
About: This group is open to LGBTQ+ people who have experienced a reproductive loss (broadly defined as losses related to fertility, pregnancy loss, abortion, stillbirth, infant death, adoption disruption). This group will provide space to build community, share the emotional challenges of reproductive loss, and discuss the ways that reproductive losses are connected to all kinds of other disruptions around finances, identity, imagined futures, and relationships.
Dates: From January 20, 2021 – February 24, 2021.
Format: Each week will include time to check in, practice grounding exercises or creative activities to support grief process, and engage in discussion around topics related to queer and trans experiences of reproductive loss. Participants will also receive handouts and resources related to bereavement process.
Potential topics include:
-Overview of grief process and space to share experiences of loss
-Navigating homophobia, transphobia, and stigma around reproductive loss
-Coping with emotions of grief
-Reimagining identity after loss
-Recognizing impact of loss on relationships with partners, family, friends, and others
-Ritual and memorialization
-Sources of hope
Facilitators: This group is being facilitated by Katie Byron and H. Osian McKenna. Katie (they/them) is a full-spectrum doula who has also worked supporting families experiencing reproductive loss as a hospital chaplain and social worker.
H. (they/them) is a full-spectrum doula-in-training with a focus on supporting people through reproductive loss, grief, and trauma. They both strongly believe in the power of group spaces to foster mutual aid, share resources, and honor losses that are so frequently erased from mainstream narratives of family building.
Any questions? You can contact Katie at hi.katiebyron@gmail.com