ImmerseNYC Fall 2016 Fertility Journey Salon Series
Led by a trained psychotherapist, these sessions will be opportunities to share experiences of fertility struggles, build community, and learn rituals for healing and self-reflection. In addition, as a community, we will explore how mikveh (a traditional Jewish ritual immersion in living water) and other rituals and texts can buoy us along the way. Please join us as we start a conversation as a group of people who identify as women who share diverse but similar experiences in struggling to build their families.
Click here to register for the Fall, 2016 series.
Shannon Dressler, LCSW is a trained group and individual psychotherapist. Following her own experience with fertility treatments and post partum anxiety challenges after giving birth to her daughter, Shannon is expanding into private practice focusing on providing support in these areas. Through her work, Shannon develops a therapeutic and supportive environment allowing women to feel less alone and begin a journey toward healing and acceptance. In this role, Shannon brings together people who are interested in convening conversations about supporting women who experience this journey of infertility and recognizing the healing power through Jewish rituals and Mikvah practice. Shannon has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Chicago and undergraduate degree in Psychology and Gender Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. She also has extensive experience (over 15 years) in working with children/adolescents with language-based learning disabilities. Shannon lives in Park Slope with her husband, Joseph and her daughter Elyse.
Mia Simring is a recently ordained Conservative rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She focused on pastoral care and counseling and practiced chaplaincy at NYU Langone and Mount Sinai Hospitals. She is excited about the intersection between pastoral care, active listening and ritual experiences. Mia has organized a joint 17th of Tammuz Break Fast with the Malcolm Shabazz Masjid and has traveled to Senegal and Capitol Hill with American Jewish World Service. She is committed to deepening and broadening her communities. Her first immersion took place on a Jaffa beach, as part of a creative ritual for mourning. She lives with her husband Jimmy and children Nava and Aminadav in her hometown New York City.
Other Resources:
Still Standing Magazine: Living, Breathing, and Embracing the Impossible: In the face of loss and infertility, our mission is to show the world that we are still standing. Holding fast to resilience and hope. Our mission is to help you embrace life for everything that it is after experiencing the loss of a child or infertility.
NCJW Pregnancy Loss Support Program (PLSP) For Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Death: For more than three decades, the Pregnancy Loss Support Program has offered free counseling and support for parents who have experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn death, as well as to women who are pregnant following a loss. (Run by the National Council of Jewish Women New York Section)
Red Stone: Washington, DC based organization with fertility support resources.
Hasidah: Increasing awareness and providing support for infertility in the Jewish community.
The Stillbirth Narratives: Few families are prepared when a baby dies prior to delivery. Here, in this New York Times feature, parents who have navigated this difficult experiences share their insights.
Nechama Comfort: Nechama Comfort is a Jewish non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping all families who have experienced infant or pregnancy loss…at any time in their lives.
A TIME offers advocacy, education, guidance, research and support through our many programs to Jewish men, women, and couples struggling with reproductive health and infertility.
