Birth Trauma Therapy
Birth Trauma in Black Women: More Than a “Difficult Birth”
Birth trauma isn’t only about what happened physically during labor — it’s also about how you were treated, what you felt, and what you carry afterward.
For many Black women, birth trauma can mean leaving the hospital with a healthy baby but feeling unheard, violated, or changed forever. It can lead to beliefs like:
“I’m broken.”
“I failed my baby.”
“I can’t trust doctors.”
“It’s not safe to have another child.”
Whether your trauma stems from a life-threatening emergency, medical neglect, racial bias, or loss, it can leave deep emotional scars. You might be able to tell the story in pieces, or not at all. You may feel numb, anxious, hypervigilant, or disconnected from your body.
What Birth Trauma Can Look Like for Black Women
Birth trauma is not only about what happened during labor, but also about how you were treated, heard, and cared for. For Black women, these experiences are shaped by racism, medical neglect, and cultural pressures to be strong. The impact can stay with you in your body, emotions, relationships, and mind, even long after giving birth.
Why Black Women Experience Higher Rates of Birth Trauma
Black women are more likely to encounter medical racism, dismissal of symptoms, and life-threatening complications during childbirth. The CDC reports that Black women are 3–4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women — and those who survive often carry the psychological toll.
Here’s what those experiences can look like in real life:
Being ignored or not believed when reporting pain or symptoms: You tell the nurse your epidural isn’t working and are told you’re “overreacting.” You say you feel short of breath and are dismissed until it becomes an emergency.
Unnecessary medical interventions without informed consent: A procedure is performed without explaining the risks, benefits, or alternatives — and you only learn later it could have been avoided.
Witnessing emergencies or distressing events during birth: Seeing your baby rushed to the NICU without understanding why, watching staff panic without anyone explaining the situation, or witnessing another patient’s medical crisis.
Experiencing perinatal loss or NICU stays: Losing your baby during or shortly after birth, or spending weeks in the NICU, separated from your child and living in constant fear.
Barriers tto Getting Help After Birth Trauma
Many Black women delay seeking therapy for birth trauma because:
We’re told to focus on the baby and “move on.”
Medical providers minimize emotional symptoms.
Therapists unfamiliar with racial bias in healthcare may unintentionally cause harm.
Talking about trauma can feel like reopening a wound you’ve worked hard to keep closed.
Is Birth Trauma Treatable? Yes.
You can heal — not by erasing what happened, but by reducing its power over your body, mind, and future. We use evidence-based approaches tailored to your lived reality in California and Georgia (in-person in Long Beach, Concord, and Atlanta, or online statewide).
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
How it helps: Addresses painful beliefs formed after trauma (“I failed my baby,” “I’m broken”) and replaces them with more accurate, compassionate perspectives.
What it looks like: Structured sessions exploring thoughts and meaning; practical tools for daily life.
How it helps: Releases trauma stored in the body — calms the nervous system and restores a sense of safety.
What it looks like: Gentle body awareness exercises, grounding techniques, and paced exposure.
How it helps: Reprocesses traumatic birth memories so they trigger less distress in the present.
What it looks like: Guided bilateral stimulation while recalling the experience; no need to share every detail.
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
The Role of Faith in Therapy
For many Black women, faith is not just belief — it’s our anchor, our history, and our way of making sense of life’s challenges. We recognize that your spirituality, church family, and cultural practices may be central to your identity, and therapy should support, not compete with, those values.
Faith integration in therapy can look like:
Opening or closing sessions with prayer.
Exploring scripture alongside therapeutic insights.
Using meditation, music, or storytelling rooted in your heritage.
Navigating how to set boundaries within faith communities while staying connected.
We also understand that some Black women carry pain from church hurt, exclusion, or spiritual abuse. Therapy can be a safe space to unpack those wounds, rebuild trust in your spiritual self, and explore new forms of connection that nurture rather than harm.
Online & In-Person Postpartum Depression & Anxiety Therapy — Accessible and Confidential
Whether you’re in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Concord, Atlanta, or anywhere in California or Georgia, you can choose between secure telehealth sessions and in-person appointments. Both options offer a safe, judgment-free space to heal with a Black woman therapist who sees you.
Meet Our Black Women Therapists
Birth Trauma Therapy FAQs
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Yes — we accept multiple insurance plans in California and Georgia. These include: United Healthcare (Optum), Oxford (Optum), United Healthcare Medicare Advantage, Anthem Blue Cross California, Anthem EAP (Bank of America), Blue Shield of California, Carelon Behavioral Health, Magellan, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Quest Behavioral Health, Aetna, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Independence Blue Cross Pennsylvania, and Cigna. We also offer therapy vouchers for eligible Black women currently pregnant or within one year postpartum.
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Yes — even long after the birth, therapy can help you process what happened and regain a sense of safety and control.
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Yes — if you wish, your therapist can incorporate prayer, scripture, or spiritual traditions into your sessions.
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We provide therapy online throughout California and Georgia.