Perinatal Psychologist | Birth Trauma Specialist | Stillbirth Mother
Organizational Psychologist
Dr. Katherine Hyde Hensley
Psychologist. Maternal Mental Health Specialist. Stillbirth Mom.
If you've found your way to this page, you're probably carrying something heavy. Something that most people in your life don't fully understand — and maybe something you haven't been able to fully say out loud yet.
I want you to know: you are in the right place.
I work with women navigating infertility, pregnancy loss, birth trauma, reproductive grief, hormonal transitions, and the complicated aftermath of becoming — or trying to become — a mother. This is not general therapy. This is specialized, deeply personal work. And I bring both professional expertise and lived experience to every single session.
Why I Do This Work
In 2005, I became a stillbirth mom.
My daughter Helen was born still at 38 weeks. She was wanted. She was loved. And losing her changed everything — who I was, how I moved through the world, and what I knew to be true about grief, identity, and the breathtaking complexity of motherhood.
I know what it is to hold your baby and say goodbye at the same time. I know the particular silence of a hospital room that was supposed to sound different. I know the isolation of carrying a grief the world doesn't know how to hold — the awkward condolences, the people who don't know what to say, the sense that you are supposed to be 'getting back to normal' when normal no longer exists.
I also know that grief, when met with the right support, does not have to be carried alone. And that healing — real healing, not just surviving — is possible.
Helen is why I do this work. She is the reason I chose to specialize in reproductive mental health, pregnancy loss, and the emotional terrain of motherhood at its most complex. Every woman I sit with carries that awareness with me into the room.
You don't have to explain yourself here. I already understand more than you think.
A Note to You
You may have arrived here after years of trying, following a loss that turned your life upside down, or after a birth that didn't go as expected—resulting in a postpartum experience that has felt more like survival than motherhood. Perhaps you are currently navigating perimenopause and mourning a version of yourself that feels lost.
Whatever has brought you here, I’m glad you are. This work is among the most meaningful I do, and if you're ready to take a small step forward, I would be honored to be part of that journey.
You are not broken. You are grieving, healing, or experiencing both, and you deserve genuine support.
katherine hyde hensley
Schedule Your Free 15-Minute Consultation → katherinehydehensley.com
How I Work
My approach is warm, direct, and grounded in evidence. I don't offer toxic positivity or empty reassurance. I offer a space where you can be honest — about your fears, your anger, your grief, your ambivalence — and where that honesty will be met with both compassion and skill.
Therapeutically, I draw on:
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Narrative Therapy — to help you understand and reauthor the story you're telling about yourself and your experience
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — to identify and shift the thought patterns that are keeping you stuck in anxiety, shame, or rumination
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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) — to build practical emotional regulation tools that work in real life, during the two-week wait, in the middle of a grief wave, or on the hard days that arrive without warning
I also hold certification as a birth, postpartum, and palliative doula — which means I understand your experience not just clinically, but from the inside. The language of reproductive medicine, the emotional weight of a diagnosis, the specific grief of a loss no one else witnessed — I know this terrain.
What I Specialize In
Perinatal & Reproductive Mental Health
I support women navigating infertility, IVF and fertility treatments, recurrent pregnancy loss, miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, and the emotional complexity of pregnancy after loss. Whether you are in the thick of treatment or trying to find your footing after loss, I offer trauma-informed, specialized care that meets you exactly where you are.
Birth Trauma
Birth trauma is real, and it is more common than most people talk about. If you are replaying what happened, feeling disconnected from your body or your baby, or carrying fear into the possibility of a future pregnancy — this is treatable. You deserve more than 'at least you're both okay.'
Hormonal Transitions & Midlife
Perimenopause and menopause are not just physical experiences — they are profound identity transitions. I help women navigate mood changes, anxiety, grief, and the deep questions that surface when one chapter of life is closing and another is beginning.
Grief & Trauma
Loss, trauma, and major life transitions can reshape everything you thought you knew about yourself. I offer both evidence-based tools and a genuinely safe space to process what has happened — and to begin finding your way to what comes next.
Training & Credentials
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Doctorate in Psychology (PsyD) with interdisciplinary specialization in Reproductive Social Justice
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NC Matters 2025 Maternal Mental Health Fellow
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Certified Birth, Postpartum & Palliative Doula (DONA)
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Postpartum Support International — Board Member & Ambassador
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Ambassador to Healthy Birthday and March of Dimes
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Researcher in trauma-informed bereavement care and access to perinatal services in maternity deserts
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Telehealth services available statewide across North Carolina
Schedule Your Free 15-Minute Consultation → katherinehydehensley.com