Meet Clare, perinatal psychotherapist
Hello! My name is Clare Donofrio and I am a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist practicing in Maryland, and have been working in perinatal support for more than a decade.
While pregnancy and parenting can be full of joy and delight, it often includes monumental losses. The child-bearing year is the most vulnerable time for mental health in a person’s lifetime, and often things can begin to feel unstable or more challenging. The perinatal journey is often made even more challenging by barriers to family building (infertility, loss, queer marginalization), medical traumas (birth trauma, loss trauma, pregnancy complications), or coinciding life stressors and relationship challenges. My goal as a perinatal therapist is to provide a space in which my clients feel wholly seen, heard, and supported as they find stability, gain new insights, and feel more confident and connected.
I subscribe to the theoretical framework of reproductive justice, believing that all people have the right to have children, to not have children, and to parent children in healthy, safe, and supportive communities. I use a trauma-informed, decolonial lens, and love to work with all genders and family structures. I have experience working with queer parents, donor-conception, and poly families.
A bit more about my background:
In 2014 I began practicing as a full spectrum doula, with special training and experience supporting clients through abortion, termination for medical reasons (TFMR), and pregnancy loss. I also learned more about hormonal and pelvic health, and the intersections of these experiences with mental and emotional wellness.
After working as a doula and co-founding the Baltimore Doula Project in 2017, I went on to receive my Master’s of Social Work and Master’s of Public Health from the University of Maryland Baltimore. Throughout my graduate studies, I focused on clinical interventions for women, children, and families, and completed a capstone project related to reproductive health and mental health education for women and girls involved in the criminal legal system.
For four years I practiced clinical social work with parents and young children in West Baltimore City, providing support around depression, anxiety, grief, loss, and childhood trauma. I developed a skill set for helping parents break intergenerational patterns and work to feel more connected to themselves in order to better connect with their children. I also saw firsthand the protective impact that a supportive community and social support network can have on perinatal mental health.
After becoming a parent myself in 2022, I started my private practice, and began to see clients for telehealth therapy. I continue to feel honored to get to support clients throughout their experiences with infertility, abortion, loss, birth, postpartum, and parenting.
If you’re interested in therapy or full spectrum doula support, or want to learn more about what kind of support may be available to you, send me an email at claredonofriolcswc@gmail.com. Please don’t let financial concerns be a barrier to contacting me— my mission is to make care accessible for you.
