Working with Infertility and Grief: A Practical Guide for Helping Professionals

Working with Infertility and Grief: A Practical Guide for Helping Professionals explores issues of grief, including disenfranchised grief and chronic sorrow, related to infertility and reproductive loss. Out of the small handful of books related to this topic, this is the first of its kind geared toward equipping helping professionals who assist those grieving unrecognized losses. Written through the lens of the literary framework of The Hero’s Journey, this comprehensive practitioner guide directly targets mental health professionals working with clients, supervisees, or students who have experienced infertility, miscarriage, or death of an infant. This book is also for those who experienced it themselves. Readers will learn more about the crisis of infertility and reproductive loss, gain insight into the experience of those suffering, and acquire practical tools and strategies for helping and healing. This text is broad enough to be integrated into a course for a graduate program and specific enough to serve as a shelf reference for those in practice.

Whitney L. Jarnagin, PhD, is the dean of behavioral and social sciences and professor of psychology at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee.

Denis’ A. Thomas, PhD, is an author, podcaster, adjunct professor, conference presenter, homeschool teacher, and freelance writer.

Megan C. Herscher, PhD, is the coordinator and associate professor of clinical mental health counseling at Carson-Newman University. She provides post-graduate supervision through her firm Herscher Consultation.