Childless Not by Choice: Navigating Grief, Identity and Living Loss with Sandra

In this episode, I welcome back Sandra to the Healing After Infant Loss YouTube channel. Sandra shares her journey as someone who is childless not by choice, exploring the emotional complexities, misconceptions, and ongoing grief that come with living loss.

🔗 Read the Blog Post: https://healingafterinfantloss.com/un...

We discuss:

• What it means to be childless not by choice

• The difference between being childless not by choice and childfree

• How grief shows up unexpectedly

• The importance of community & finding others who understand

• How friends, family, and society can better support those who are CNBC

✨ Connect with Sandra:

Website: https://www.childless.life

Instagram:   / childless.life  

Email: sandra@childless.life

Sandra is the founder of www.childless.life, an ICF Coach with a Master's in the Psychology of Coaching and a Postgraduate in Grief Therapy. She is the 2024/5 World Childless Week People Champion. and has been supporting the childless community since 2020. Permanently childless not by choice, Sandra has experienced the deep, layered grief of this journey—facing challenges in finding a partner, freezing her eggs, enduring miscarriages, and unsuccessful IVF. Discovering World Childless Week was a turning point, leading her to host support calls and create healing spaces for others navigating childlessness.

She supports permanently childless women via individual grief therapy sessions, leading Healing Horseshoe grief circles, and running the Embracing Us community. Sandra also created the Pregnancy Loss Mini-Series for Permanently Childless Women Not by Choice, offering a dedicated space to honor pregnancy loss within CNBC experiences. She offers safe, non-judgmental support from her own lived (and in-progress) experience.

✨ Healing Horseshoes, Grief Groups for Permanently CNBC Women https://www.childless.life/healinghor...

✨ Embracing Us, Support/Coaching Groups for Permanently CNBC Women https://www.childless.life/embracingus

✨ Public Webinars hosted by Sandra: https://www.childless.life/media-reso...

✨ Blog Posts: https://www.childless.life/blog

✨ Public World Childless Week Webinars Hosted by Sandra:

• We are worthy of your support: 6 childless women speaking around what support was useful for us:    • We Are Worthy of Your Support  
• Emotional Seasons of being Childless: 5 Childless women speaking about their grief journeys from the depths of their pain through to finding meaning as a CNBC woman.    • Emotional Seasons of Chidlessness  

✨ General Resources for Permanently CNBC People:

• World Childless Week: https://worldchildlessweek.net/
• Gateway Women & Living the Life Unexpected Book: https://gateway-women.com/book/
• Full Stop Podcast for CNBC: https://www.thefullstoppod.com/listen

✨ Other Resources:

• Gail Miller was a guest on The Full Stop podcast and gave tips how to advocate for yourself medically https://www.thefullstoppod.com/listen...
• Jodi Day has a session of free webinars about aging without children, and in many of them expresses the need for local communities across multiple generations https://gateway-women.com/gateway-eld...
• Dr Jay speaks with a US focus on how to prepare for retirement, aging, investments when we don’t have children https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast...
• Sandra and 5 other CNBC women speak about their support preference around topics like baby showers and pregnancy announcements    • We Are Worthy of Your Support  

Links:

💛 Visit our website: https://healingafterinfantloss.com

🧡 Read stories & submit your own: https://healingafterinfantloss.com/stories

🩷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healingafterinfantloss

💜 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@healingafterinfantloss 

💙 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeT6A_CoQ_9Sdmtzea8I9yQ

💰 Donate to our fundraising here: https://healingafterinfantloss.com/fundraising

📧 Email me: rosie@healingafterinfantloss.com 

Join our community and let’s walk this path together. 

Disclaimer: Some of the links may be affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Healing After Infant Loss and helping to keep this platform going!

With love and compassion,

Rosie x