Reproductive Trauma and Attachment: Emotionally Focused Therapy for Individuals and Couples Facing Infertility and Pregnancy Loss

CPD

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts

Speaker

Kristy Koser, PHD, LPCC Related seminars and products

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Kristy Koser, PhD, LPCC, is an author, speaker, and educator on the topic of reproductive mental health, trauma, and loss. She has been invited to speak, collaborate and contribute to the growing field of reproductive psychology many times over the last decade. Dr. Koser is a certified emotionally focused couples therapist and supervisor and has written extensively in peer reviewed journal articles and other outlets about infertility and the impact on the couple relationship. She has presented on EFT at numerous professional conferences around the world and has been an avid consultant to other therapists wanting to know more about incorporating EFT into their practice. Dr. Koser has created several self-help courses for fertility patients and teaches a 10-month postgraduate fertility counseling course that is a fundamental first step for any mental health professional considering working with this population. In addition, Dr. Koser has contributed countless blog posts, guest lectures, and more recently several book chapters in foundational fertility counseling texts with Cambridge Press. She is an active member of ASRM and her specialty areas include working with couples during and after fertility treatment and the transition into parenthood. Dr. Koser maintains a private practice serving clients in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

 

Speaker Disclosures
Financial: Kristy Koser is the co-owner of Aporia Counseling & Psychotherapy, PLLC and has an employment relationship with VA Department of Health. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Kristy Koser is a member of the Ohio Counselor Association and the American Society for Reproductive Health.

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Objectives

1. Evaluate the impact of infertility on individuals and couples as it relates to clinical practice.
2. Assess for clients’ reproductive history and related mental health symptoms.
3. Analyze the relationship between attachment and psychological parenthood.
4. Utilize at least two interventions to decrease emotional reactivity.
5. Construct a grief management plan to reduce client distress around reproductive trauma-related reminders.
6. Determine length of treatment needed for clients experiencing infertility and pregnancy loss.

Outline

This Wasn’t Supposed to Happen
The Psychological Impact of Pregnancy Loss and Infertility

• Impacts on the individual and the couple
• Tools to validate invisible grief
• Basics of the medical diagnosis of infertility
• Assisted reproductive technology decisions clients face
• Key differences between generalists and fertility counsellors
• Case study

What’s Attachment Got to Do With It?
Assessment Tools to Understand Reproductive Trauma

• Intake strategies for obtaining reproductive information
• Essential questions to understand clients’ reproductive journey and narrative
• Top tips for evaluating couples’ relationship dynamics and communication styles
• How to take an effective attachment history with individuals and couples
• Attachment and psychological parenthood basics
• What happens to attachment when there is no baby
• Common couples issues - intimacy, finance, and more
• When to be concerned – mental health symptoms after loss and infertility
• Case study

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) as a Roadmap
Interventions for Connection, Repair, and Accessibility

• Theoretical and scientific foundation for using EFT in pregnancy loss and infertility
• EFT with couples and Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) with individuals
• The C.A.R.E. model – create a safe haven alliance with individuals and couples
• Case conceptualisation using EFT/EFIT
• Key interventions to bring core emotions alive in therapy sessions
• Strategies to decrease emotional reactivity and lessen numbing
• Top techniques to increase emotional vulnerability and widen window of tolerance
• How to choreograph corrective emotional experiences with individuals and couples
• Strategies to revise how clients see themselves and each other
• Key markers of client change and how to monitor them
• Grief management plans for subsequent attempts to conceive, triggers, and anniversaries
• Case study

Clinical Considerations

• Decision-making around course of treatment – short- or long-term
• Countertransference and family building
• Self-care and burnout prevention tips
• How to identify and reduce therapist bias regarding assisted reproductive technology
• ASRM Practice Committee reproductive counselor guidelines
• Cultural competency to creative inclusivity for all families
• Limitations of the research and potential risks

Target Audience

• Counsellors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counsellors
• Case Managers
• Psychiatric Nurses
• Physicians
• Nurses
• Other Mental Health Professionals