What I Wish I Knew beyond Pregnancy Loss

Sharna Southan
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

What I wish I knew beyond Pregnancy Loss: The Intersection of Fertility, Trauma & Purpose This podcast is a space for deep, honest conversations about fertility struggles, pregnancy loss, and the unseen layers of healing. Here, we explore the intersection of trauma, the nervous system, and emotional recovery—because healing is not just about moving forward; it’s about understanding how loss changes us and how we can reclaim our power. Whether you’re navigating life after loss, facing reproductive challenges, or seeking purpose in your own healing journey, this is where we go beyond the surface. Through expert insights, personal stories, and trauma-informed support, you’ll gain the tools to heal, grow, and step into a future that honours your past while embracing what’s next. Your story matters. Your healing matters. And there is more waiting for you beyond loss

  1. Sep 6

    EP145: Narrative medicine, Infertility & the Power of telling your story — with Guest Kayla Branstetter

    🎓 FREE TRAINING: The Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Care Gap  Recurrent pregnancy loss is not simply a series of isolated losses. A woman may be carrying cumulative grief, fear, trauma, changes in identity, altered trust in her body and healthcare experiences from one pregnancy into the next — yet care can still focus primarily on the loss immediately in front of us. In my next FREE Gap Series training, we’re going deeper into the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Care Gap and exploring what practitioners across fertility, birth, mental health, grief and women’s health may need to understand about the whole reproductive experience. Because better care doesn't require one practitioner to hold everything. It requires more of us to ask better questions, recognise what may be sitting beneath the surface, understand where our scope fits — and know when another practitioner needs to enter her story. 📅 17 September 🎓 FREE practitioner training 🤍 For existing and aspiring practitioners supporting women through reproductive loss Join the training here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thereproductivelossleadershipnetwork  Let’s stop looking at each loss as an isolated event — and start asking what she may be carrying through the whole reproductive journey.     In this episode I sit down with Kayla Branstetter — English instructor, TEDx speaker, and doctoral candidate in narrative medicine — to talk about the stories we're not told about infertility, miscarriage, and medical gaslighting. Kayla shares her deeply personal journey: growing up as the daughter of a teen mom who overcame poverty and an unsupportive medical system, and how that legacy shaped her own path through three years of unexplained infertility, a devastating miscarriage, and pregnancies marked by anxiety rather than joy. We talk about the coldness of clinical language in moments of profound loss, the grief that comes with infertility and miscarriage that so few people know how to hold space for, and the judgment women face for decisions made in impossible circumstances. Kayla also introduces us to narrative medicine — the practice of centering patients' stories as part of their care — and shares how this work led to her forthcoming book, Don't Be An Athena, which reimagines the myth of Athena and Medusa to explore what happens when women are empowered instead of blamed. This conversation is a powerful reminder that behind every diagnosis, every lab result, and every "it was just a miscarriage" is a story — and that story matters. In this episode, we cover: How narrative medicine found Kayla through her own family history and lived experience The impact of medical gaslighting during her mother's teen pregnancy — and her own Three years of unexplained infertility and what it does to your sense of identity The cold, clinical way pregnancy loss is often delivered — and why language matters Grief after miscarriage: why it's real, why it's valid, and why so few people understand it The hormonal and physical "postpartum" experience after early loss that no one talks about Judgment, stigma, and why understanding someone's story matters more than casting blame The Athena and Medusa myth reimagined — and how it inspired her forthcoming book Why healthcare needs more humanities, not less Her upcoming book, Don't Be An Athena, releasing July 20th   Connect with Kayla: Website: kaylabranstetter.wordpress.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-branstetter/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kayla.branstetter.758 Don't Be An Athena — releasing July 20th

  2. Aug 23

    EP144: The Mental Health care gap after pregnancy loss - with Host Sharna

    In this episode, Sharna recaps a live training from her Gap Series, The Mental Health Care Gap + Postpartum. She unpacks the research on bereaved mothers that rarely gets shown, six gaps in how the current system fails them, and why talk therapy alone was never going to be enough. In this episode: The statistics on depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic distress after perinatal loss What a hazard ratio of nearly 26 actually means The six gaps the mental health care system has never fixed for bereaved mothers Why unresolved pregnancy loss trauma is stored in the body, not just the mind Gems from this episode: "She has not failed the process. The process has failed her." "If any other patient population showed a nearly twenty-sixfold increase in risk for a serious health condition, we would call that a public health emergency. And yet for bereaved mothers, this is treated as a footnote to a concluded medical event." "Her body isn't betraying her. It's still responding to unresolved danger. You cannot talk your way out of a biological response." "This is not acute grief that resolves. This is a persistent, layered, often invisible mental health crisis." "Bereaved mothers rarely present with depression or anxiety or trauma in isolation. They're often carrying all of it at once." Join the conversation: Catch the full training and future Gap Series sessions inside the free community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thereproductivelossleadershipnetwork

  3. Aug 16

    EP143: The root cause no one looks for: Miscarriage, MTHFR & reclaiming your body after loss with Guest Molly Sellers

    ✨ Join the FREE Masterclass: The Mental Health Care Gap for Bereaved Mothers  If you support women and have ever wondered “What am I missing?” after pregnancy loss, this training is for you. Discover what standard frameworks can overlook and leave knowing what to look for, what questions to ask, and where your role fits in supporting the whole woman after loss. Join the free masterclass here → https://www.facebook.com/groups/thereproductivelossleadershipnetwork      In this episode, I sit down with Molly Sellers, a certified nutritional therapy practitioner whose work is shaped by her own experience with two pregnancy losses — including a partial molar pregnancy — stage four endometriosis, burnout, and perimenopause. Molly specializes in root-cause, bio-individual care: hormone balance, mineral support through HTMA testing, blood sugar regulation, and nervous system health. We talk about what happens when the medical system hands you a "try again in six months" and nothing else — and why so many women are left to do the digging themselves after a loss. Molly shares her own story of miscarriage, an undiagnosed MTHFR gene mutation, a 15-year road to an endometriosis diagnosis, and how she eventually found her way to functional, whole-body healing. We cover: Molly's story of two pregnancy losses, including a partial molar pregnancy and emergency D&C The MTHFR gene mutation, synthetic folic acid, and why standard prenatal vitamins can do more harm than good for some women Why the body needs to feel safe before fertility can "come back online" — and how trauma and stress get stored in the body The emotional weight of watching others get pregnant easily — resentment, jealousy, and self-doubt Why a 15-year wait for an endometriosis diagnosis is far too common, and how to advocate for yourself The missing conversation around preconception care, and the total lack of support around perimenopause Molly's practical starting points for anyone trying again after loss: trauma-informed therapy, a provider who will actually listen, pelvic floor/body work, and a supportive network Why symptoms are communication, not something to dismiss — and how to reconnect with a body you no longer trust after loss A reminder from this conversation: you are not broken, and you don't have to have all the answers today — just permission to get curious about what your body is trying to tell you. Connect with Molly Sellers: Instagram: @goodforyoufd Website: www.goodforyoufood.net  Offers free 30-minute discovery calls, HTMA (hair mineral) testing, and 1:1 coaching If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it helps these conversations reach the women who need them.   Connect with Sharna  Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership  If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected. My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here. You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification. Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care. I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode. Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it. Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care. Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you are a practitioner supporting women through reproductive loss and want to go deeper on the neuroscience and body-based frameworks behind this work — the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification is where we take all of this further.

  4. Aug 9

    EP142: When the system sends you home and calls It care — with Guest Atara Parkinson

    ✨ Join the FREE Masterclass: The Mental Health Care Gap for Bereaved Mothers  If you support women and have ever wondered “What am I missing?” after pregnancy loss, this training is for you. Discover what standard frameworks can overlook and leave knowing what to look for, what questions to ask, and where your role fits in supporting the whole woman after loss. Join the free masterclass here → https://www.facebook.com/groups/thereproductivelossleadershipnetwork      There is a moment that Atara Parkinson describes in this episode that will stop you in your tracks. She has just given birth after 32 hours of labour. Third degree tears. A baby in the NICU. And a security guard who tells her — as her husband attempts to wheel her out of the hospital — that she cannot take the wheelchair. It can't leave hospital grounds. Figure it out. That moment, she says, became the image that defined her entire career. Because once the baby is out, it is as though the mother disappears. Atara is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 14 years in the mental health field, a certified integrative practitioner, and a mother of four — three of whom were NICU babies. Her work sits at the intersection of holistic healing, nervous system regulation, minerals and brain health, and postpartum support. She is also one of the most articulate voices I have encountered on what is actually happening inside the body when a woman cannot seem to move through her grief — and why. This conversation goes somewhere most conversations don't. We talk about the biochemistry of getting stuck. About what happens at a cellular level when trauma enters the body and the nervous system decides it is not yet safe to let the guard down. About why the calcium spikes. Why the magnesium can't get in. Why your body is not failing you — it is protecting you. And what it actually takes to move through that, not just talk about it. We also talk about the gap between what the medical system offers and what women actually need. About why talk therapy, as valuable as it is, is only ever engaging one part of the brain. And about why the body is sending 80% of the signals in this conversation — not the brain. If you have ever felt stuck in your grief and wondered why — this episode is for you. In this episode we cover: Atara's own story — three NICU babies, a gap in postpartum care, and the moment that shaped her life's work Why our culture treats the mother as invisible once the baby arrives — and how that plays out in pregnancy loss The shame–isolation loop and why connection (the right kind) is not optional in healing Why talk therapy alone cannot access where reproductive trauma is stored in the body The biochemistry of staying stuck — what happens when calcium spikes after trauma, why the protective shell forms, and what needs to shift for the body to feel safe again The role of magnesium and potassium in emotional regulation and nervous system calm How physical symptoms — disrupted sleep, shallow breathing, altered posture, blunted affect — are expressions of biochemical dysregulation, not separate problems The 80/20 communication ratio: why the body sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the body Why you cannot detox, heal, or regulate from inside a chronic stress state The 1% shift — how Atara approaches change with clients who are already overwhelmed Connect with Atara: Instagram: @atara.parkinson NICU & birth trauma focus: @nicufreedom Website: https://www.ataraparkinson.com/  Resources mentioned: The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk (heads up: it's a heavy read, but an important one) Connect with Sharna  Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership  If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected. My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here. You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification. Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care. I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode. Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it. Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care. Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you are a practitioner supporting women through reproductive loss and want to go deeper on the neuroscience and body-based frameworks behind this work — the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification is where we take all of this further.

  5. Jul 26

    EP141: Stillbirth, silence, and the grief you're never told you can feel — with Jennifer Senn

    If this episode named something in you, I want you to know there's a next step. Loss to Legacy is my four-week immersion for practitioners who know they're called to support women through pregnancy loss, but haven't yet found the clarity, the viability, or the roadmap to actually build it. Over four weeks, we work through exactly that — your specific vision, whether it holds up, and a 12-month plan you can actually follow. Loss to Legacy opens for a new intake on 4th August. Five spots. If you're ready to stop sitting with the idea, send me the word LEGACY and let's talk about the role you're here to play.  DM me HERE   In this episode, Jennifer shares her story with unflinching honesty: the impossible decisions made in shock (do you hold your baby? do you take photos?), the guilt that follows women for years after, and the physical reality no one prepares you for — a body that keeps producing milk for babies who aren't coming home. She spent nearly seven years running from her grief before it caught up with her, eroding her marriage and her health, until she finally chose to face it. Now a certified coach and founder of Navigating Baby Loss, Jennifer helps bereaved mothers release guilt, rebuild trust in their bodies, and find their way back to hope — including the complicated, fear-laced hope of a future pregnancy. Sharna Southan hosts this conversation, exploring the parts of stillbirth and baby loss that rarely get airtime. We talk about: What actually happens in the hours after a stillbirth diagnosis, and why there's no "right" way to handle it Why guilt is one of the heaviest and most persistent emotions in baby loss How grief lives in the body, not just the mind — and can resurface years later, unannounced Why relationships often buckle under the weight of loss (and the startling statistic on stillbirth and separation) The difference between therapy and grief-informed coaching, and why lived experience matters What to actually say (and not say) to someone living through this Why there's no timeline for healing, and why "you'll have another one" is never the answer This is a raw, generous conversation about a topic that doesn't get talked about nearly enough — and a reminder that no one should have to navigate this kind of grief alone. About Jennifer Senn Jennifer Senn is a certified coach, the founder of Navigating Baby Loss, and mom to twin daughters who were stillborn at 32 weeks. She helps bereaved mothers release guilt, overcome isolation, and move through overwhelming grief — empowering them to find peace and hope for a future that may include the joy of a new baby, with less fear and more confidence. Connect with Jennifer: Social: @navigatingbabyloss Website: https://navigatingbabyloss.com/  Navigating Baby Loss Podcast Free workshop (runs ~twice monthly): Practical Ways to Release Guilt and Navigate Grief After Pregnancy Loss A Note on This Episode This conversation discusses stillbirth, pregnancy loss, and grief in detail. Please take care while listening. If you're navigating loss yourself, know that support exists beyond what you may have been offered — you don't have to do this alone. Connect with Sharna  Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership  If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected. My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here. You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification. Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care. I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode. Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it. Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care. Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast

  6. Jul 19

    EP140: Six Losses, one foundation: Guest Catherine MacLennan on building the support she never dad

    Ready to stop wondering what you're here to build? If something in this episode landed for you — if you recognised yourself in it, either as a woman who has lived through pregnancy loss or as a practitioner who has felt the gap in your own work — I want to invite you into Loss to Legacy. It's my four-week immersion for women ready to move from "maybe there's something I'm meant to do with this" to complete clarity on your story, your purpose, and what you're actually here to build. Not a business course. Not a certification. The step that comes before all of it. 📅 Starts 4th August 🤍 FIVE spots only DM me LEGACY on Instagram: @reproductivelossleadership   Now into the show. Catherine MacLennan has been through six pregnancy losses — three of them in the second trimester, all of them traumatic. When she went looking for support, she found almost none. So she built it herself: first the Pinks and Blues, a peer support community, and later the Vilomah Foundation, a UK charity offering free, ongoing support to anyone navigating pregnancy loss or pregnancy after loss. In this conversation, we talk about what rarely gets named out loud: the trauma that doesn't get validated, the identity that has to be rebuilt from scratch, the partners grieving in silence because they didn't "physically" go through it, and the grandparents mourning a grandchild they never met. We also get into Catherine's workplace training — what happens when a compassionate manager gets replaced by a tick-box HR process, and why the way an organisation responds to loss determines whether an employee comes back at all. This is a conversation about grief without a timeline, about validation, and about what it actually looks like to build the support system that should have existed all along. In This Episode Catherine's story: six pregnancy losses and the search for support that wasn't there Why she started the Pinks and Blues, and later the Vilomah Foundation How Vilomah supports people through Zoom — free sessions, no limit, from loss through pregnancy after loss The silence and shame around pregnancy loss, and why validation matters so much Naming trauma: what it meant for Catherine to hear a therapist call her experience traumatic Miscarriage awareness gaps — including that UK miscarriage is recognized up to 24 weeks The identity shift after loss: redefining who you are when everything gets stripped back Supporting partners: why their grief is valid even when they "didn't go through it physically" The ripple effect on grandparents and extended family Pregnancy loss in the workplace: compassionate management vs. tick-box HR The UK's new pregnancy loss bereavement leave law, and what it does (and doesn't yet) cover Why grief has no timeline — and what workplaces can do to make room for that About Catherine MacLennan Catherine MacLennan is the founder of the Vilomah Foundation, a UK-based pregnancy loss support and charity organization dedicated to walking alongside families through one of the most profound losses. As a specialist coach, Catherine offers personalised support to individuals and couples navigating pregnancy loss and pregnancy after loss, and delivers workplace training on how organizations can support employees through pregnancy loss. Connect with Catherine & the Vilomah Foundation LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-vilomah-foundation/ Instagram @thevilomahfoundation TikTok @the.vilomah.found Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/1DQWzbthY4/?mibextid=wwXIfr Website www.thevilomahfoundation.org.uk Email hello@thevilomahfoundation.org.uk   A Note on This Episode This episode discusses pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and trauma in detail. Please take care while listening, and know that support is available if this brings anything up for you. If this episode was valuable to you, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it helps more people find these conversations. Connect with Sharna  Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership  If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected. My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here. You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification. Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care. I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode. Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it. Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care. Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast

  7. Jul 6

    EP139: The silo effect: Why your doctors aren't seeing the whole picture - Guest Dr Marc Sklar

    The preconception conversation that nobody is having — what pregnancy loss actually does to the body before the next pregnancy, and why standard care is missing the layer that matters most. Join my FREE live training Preconception Readiness After Loss, Wednesday 8th July, 9:30am AEST. Register HERE   Dr. Marc Sklar — natural fertility specialist, Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Harvard Medical School Mind/Body Medical Institute-trained, Fellow of the American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine, creator of Fertility TV, co-founder of Rejuve Fertility, and founder of Reproductive Wellness Clinics in San Diego. In this episode: Sharna sits down with Dr. Marc Sklar for a conversation about what's actually missing from most fertility care — a whole-body, whole-person view. They dig into why so many couples are told their journey is "unexplained," and why that label often just means no one looked past their own specialty. Topics covered: Why digestive health shows up in an estimated 70–75% of the fertility cases Dr. Sklar sees The "silo problem" in modern medicine — why your gynecologist, endocrinologist, and therapist rarely talk to each other, and what gets missed in the gaps Sharna's own journey through an inflammatory bowel misdiagnosis, a missed miscarriage, and finding an integrative doctor who finally treated her as one connected system Why fear-based medicine keeps couples stuck on the "IVF hamster wheel" The age "light switch" myth — reframing fertility decline as a dimmer switch, not a deadline Nervous system regulation and why the body won't prioritize reproduction in survival mode Trusting intuition and body-based decision-making over purely logical, fear-driven choices Why creating space — not pushing harder — is often the actual path forward after loss A key moment: Dr. Sklar's take on the "birthday deadline" belief many patients carry, and why treating fertility as a light switch instead of a dimmer does real harm. Connect with Dr. Mark Sklar: YOUTUBE - http://bit.ly/thefertilityexpert FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/thefertilityexpert INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/the_fertility_expert/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@the_fertility_expert WEBSITE https://marcsklar.com/    Connect with Sharna  Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership  If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected. My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here. You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification. Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care. I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode. Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it. Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care. Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast

  8. Jun 28

    EP138: When your body fears what your heart wants: Tokophobia, Reproductive Anxiety Disorder — with Alexia Leachman

    The preconception conversation that nobody is having — what pregnancy loss actually does to the body before the next pregnancy, and why standard care is missing the layer that matters most. Join my FREE live training Preconception Readiness After Loss, Wednesday 8th July, 9:30am AEST. Register HERE   Now for todays episode: Some women know they want to be a mother. And yet something inside them, something wordless, something physical, makes every step toward that feel impossible. Not because they don't want it. Because their nervous system has decided it isn't safe. That experience finally has a name. In this episode, I'm joined by Alexia Leachman, founder of Fearless Birthing, creator of the Head Trash Clearance Method, and the originator of Reproductive Anxiety Disorder (RAD). After her own pregnancy loss and a journey to understand a fear she couldn't explain, Alexia has spent over a decade helping women and professionals understand what happens when the body fears what the heart wants most. This conversation goes deep, and it might give you language you've been searching for your whole life.   We cover: What tokophobia actually is — and why so many women live with it without ever knowing it has a name The moment Alexia calls "the casse" — when a pregnancy test broke something open inside her that she couldn't explain How pregnancy loss intersects with tokophobia, including women who terminate wanted pregnancies because their nervous system cannot tolerate being pregnant Why the root of reproductive fear is often pre-verbal — rooted in your own birth, your mother's nervous system, and intergenerational trauma Reproductive Anxiety Disorder: why Alexia believes tokophobia is far bigger than one window of a woman's life, and how it shows up from puberty through perimenopause How unresolved reproductive fear affects fertility — and why the body won't allow conception when it doesn't feel safe to birth The Head Trash Clearance Method: why Alexia built it, how it works with the energy system to clear fear from the body, and why she believes in getting rid of anxiety rather than managing it What it looks like when two daughters are born into very different nervous system environments — and how Alexia sees that playing out now Why professionals — therapists, midwives, doulas, GPs — need to know this framework, and what screening for RAD could change for women everywhere     Connect with Alexia www.head-trash.com   www.fearless-birthing.com  https://www.facebook.com/alexia.leachman  https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexialeachman/ Podcasts: Fear Free Childbirth Head Trash & Healing Show Tik-Tokophobia   Resources mentioned: Alexia's main hub: headtrash.com Fearless Birthing: fearlessbirthing.com Personal site & private work: alexialeachman.com RAD white paper (free download): fearlessbirthing.com/whitepaper Free 1-hour professional training on tokophobia and RAD available via Fearless Birthing Books: Betrayed by Your Biology, Fearless Birthing, Clear Anxiety for Good   If this episode resonated with you: If you're a woman who has felt confused, broken, or ashamed by your relationship with pregnancy, fertility, or birth — this episode was made for you. You are not broken. Your body has been trying to protect you. And there is a path through. If you're a practitioner who works with women in their reproductive years — this is the framework your training didn't give you. Understanding tokophobia and RAD could change everything about how you show up for your clients. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts if this conversation gave you something — it helps more women find their way here.   Connect with Sharna  Find me here: @reproductivelossleadership  If today's conversation resonated with you, I'd love to stay connected. My mission is to help change the landscape of pregnancy loss care through education, advocacy, research, and evidence-informed, trauma-informed support. Whether you're navigating your own loss, supporting someone you love, or you're a healthcare professional wanting to improve the care you provide, there's a place for you here. You can follow my work, explore educational resources, listen to more podcast episodes, or learn about the Pregnancy loss recovery method & Integrated Pregnancy Loss Care framework Or the Pregnancy Loss & Trauma-Informed Specialist Certification. Together, we're creating a future where every pregnancy loss is acknowledged, every family is supported, and every practitioner feels confident to provide compassionate, person-centred care. I'd love to hear what resonated with you from today's episode. Share your thoughts, leave a review, or connect with me on social media—your voice helps shape this conversation and reach more families who need it. Thank you for being part of this community. Together, we're changing the future of pregnancy loss care. Follow the podcast page: @pregnancyloss_podcast

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What I wish I knew beyond Pregnancy Loss: The Intersection of Fertility, Trauma & Purpose This podcast is a space for deep, honest conversations about fertility struggles, pregnancy loss, and the unseen layers of healing. Here, we explore the intersection of trauma, the nervous system, and emotional recovery—because healing is not just about moving forward; it’s about understanding how loss changes us and how we can reclaim our power. Whether you’re navigating life after loss, facing reproductive challenges, or seeking purpose in your own healing journey, this is where we go beyond the surface. Through expert insights, personal stories, and trauma-informed support, you’ll gain the tools to heal, grow, and step into a future that honours your past while embracing what’s next. Your story matters. Your healing matters. And there is more waiting for you beyond loss

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