it happened.
Sixteen weeks into my second pregnancy, while home alone, I had a miscarriage. Suddenly, and without warning, I saw myself and the overwhelming sense of loss I was feeling in my patients. Learning how to navigate that loss while simultaneously caring for my patients required a level of self-evaluation I was, admittedly, ill-prepared to endure. But as I transitioned back to work post-miscarriage, and learned how to hold space for both my patients and myself to grieve, I realized I was also inadvertently becoming a better mental health care provider.
I found myself able to relate to my patients in a way I never imagined, creating room for mourning to enter my work in a different, far more personal way. I’d always cared deeply about my patients, but I never envisioned I’d one day become them.