--- title: "Birth Trauma Therapy in Virginia | Harlan Therapy" description: "A birth can be medically straightforward and still be traumatic. Birth trauma therapy with Leah Harlan, LPC, in person in Prince George and online in Virginia." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#leah-harlan", "name": "Leah Harlan", "honorificSuffix": "MA, LPC", "jobTitle": "Licensed Professional Counselor", "telephone": "804-395-5362", "worksFor": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Harlan Therapy LLC", "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#harlan-therapy" }, "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "6610 Commons Drive, Suite C", "addressLocality": "Prince George", "addressRegion": "VA", "postalCode": "23875", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "State", "name": "Virginia" } }, { "@type": [ "MedicalBusiness", "ProfessionalService" ], "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#harlan-therapy", "url": "https://leahharlan.com/", "name": "Harlan Therapy", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://leahharlan.com/logo-harlan-therapy.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 }, "image": "https://leahharlan.com/og-harlan-therapy.png", "telephone": "804-395-5362", "priceRange": "$300 - $2,500", "founder": { "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#leah-harlan" }, "knowsAbout": [ "Birth trauma", "Traumatic birth recovery", "Perinatal and postpartum anxiety", "Pregnancy after loss", "Brainspotting", "Internal Family Systems", "Somatic therapy" ], "availableService": { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Birth trauma therapy" }, "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "6610 Commons Drive, Suite C", "addressLocality": "Prince George", "addressRegion": "VA", "postalCode": "23875", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "State", "name": "Virginia" } }, { "@type": "Service", "serviceType": "Psychotherapy for birth trauma and the perinatal window", "provider": { "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#harlan-therapy" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "State", "name": "Virginia" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Service", "name": "Birth trauma therapy", "serviceType": "Birth trauma therapy", "url": "https://leahharlan.com/specialties/birth-trauma", "provider": { "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#harlan-therapy" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "State", "name": "Virginia" } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "MedicalWebPage", "name": "Birth Trauma Therapy in Virginia | Harlan Therapy", "description": "A birth can be medically straightforward and still be traumatic. Birth trauma therapy with Leah Harlan, LPC, in person in Prince George and online in Virginia.", "url": "https://leahharlan.com/specialties/birth-trauma", "inLanguage": "en-US", "about": { "@type": "MedicalCondition", "name": "Birth Trauma" }, "audience": { "@type": "Patient", "geographicArea": { "@type": "State", "name": "Virginia" } }, "provider": { "@id": "https://leahharlan.com/#harlan-therapy" } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://leahharlan.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Specialties", "item": "https://leahharlan.com/specialties" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Birth Trauma", "item": "https://leahharlan.com/specialties/birth-trauma" } ] } ] --- Accepting new patients in-person or virtually across Virginia. [Harlan Therapy](/) - [Birth Trauma](/specialties/birth-trauma) - [Who I Help](/who-i-help) - [Services](/services) - [Individual Therapy](/services/individual-therapy) - [Therapy Intensives](/services/therapy-intensives) - [Rates](/rates-and-insurance) - [Facts](/faq) - [Blog](/blog) - [Resources](/resources) - [About](/about) [Request a consultation ](/contact#intake)Menu ![Morning light across cream linen bedding in a quiet room, birth trauma therapy in Virginia](/assets/spec-linen-1920-bpnCEVk9.webp) Specialty # Birth Trauma Nobody harmed you. Everyone was kind. The outcome was good. And something in you still hasn't settled. Trauma isn't decided by how bad it looked from the outside. It's decided by what happened inside you, in a moment when your body couldn't act and couldn't get away. This is the part that keeps women quiet. The chart says the birth went well. The staff were attentive. The baby is here and healthy. So there's no obvious place to put the fact that you brace at the door of the hospital, or go still when someone asks how the birth went, or find your heart racing in the shower for no reason you can name. You aren't being dramatic and you aren't ungrateful, momma. Your nervous system recorded something your story has no room for. A birth can go medically well and still leave a mark. ## What Often Carries Forward - 01 Replaying moments of the birth, or losing whole stretches of it - 02 Flinching at medical settings, monitors, gowns, or the smell of a hospital corridor - 03 Feeling detached from the birth as if it happened to someone else - 04 Dread or avoidance around a future pregnancy - 05 Anger that has nowhere to go, at a person, a policy, or your own body - 06 A sense of having been managed rather than met - 07 Difficulty settling into sleep even when the baby sleeps You don't need a diagnosis, a dramatic story, or anyone else's agreement that it was bad enough. If it's still with you, that's enough reason to bring it here. ## How I Work with It We don't start by making you narrate the birth from beginning to end. Retelling it in detail, before your body has any footing, is often how women get retraumatized in a therapy room. We start with the present. Where the birth still lives in your body now, what sets it off, and what you do to hold it down. Then we work in small pieces, at a pace your system can absorb. - 01 Brainspotting, because a fixed point in the visual field lets your brain process what words keep circling around - 02 Internal Family Systems, so the part of you that has stayed on alert since that day is understood rather than argued with - 03 Somatic work, so the freeze, the bracing, and the held breath have somewhere to finish Some women do this in weekly sessions. Others prefer an intensive, which gives the material one long, protected stretch of time instead of many short ones. You won't be rushed here. You won't be judged. ## If You're Pregnant Again Preparing for a birth after a difficult one is its own work. We look at what specifically was unbearable last time, what you want to be different, and how you want to be spoken to when you can't advocate for yourself. That's planning, not reliving. Related [ ### Traumatic Birth Recovery Read more ](/specialties/traumatic-birth-recovery) [ ### Therapy Intensives Read more ](/services/therapy-intensives) [ ### Brainspotting Read more ](/approach/brainspotting) [ ### Perinatal Anxiety Read more ](/specialties/perinatal-anxiety) [ ### Pregnancy After Loss Read more ](/specialties/pregnancy-after-loss) ## Start with a Conversation A free consultation is a short call. You can say as much or as little about the birth as you want to, and you decide afterward whether to go further. ## Tell Me What Is Going On A few lines is enough. Please keep clinical details out of the form, and we will talk properly when I reach you. First name Last name Email Phone What brings you here right now Preferred contact method text email phone Session preference Telehealth In person I agree to receive text messages from Harlan Therapy about my inquiry and appointments. Consent is not a condition of receiving services. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. See the [Privacy Policy](/privacy-policy) and [Terms](/sms-terms). Harlan Therapy sends only messages related to your inquiry and your appointments. We never send marketing or promotional texts. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Send my inquiry Harlan Therapy 6610 Commons Drive, Suite C Prince George, Virginia 23875 [804-395-5362](tel:8043955362) [Request a consultation ](/contact#intake)![Proud member of the ABB Collective, A Brighter Birth](/__l5e/assets-v1/a0c7ddc9-14e0-4b02-a93f-76b9dec6cdaa/abb-collective-badge.webp) Specialties - [Birth Trauma](/specialties/birth-trauma) - [The Motherhood Wound](/specialties/the-motherhood-wound) - [Traumatic Birth Recovery](/specialties/traumatic-birth-recovery) - [Perinatal Anxiety](/specialties/perinatal-anxiety) - [Postpartum Anxiety](/specialties/postpartum-anxiety) - [Postpartum Depression](/specialties/postpartum-depression) - [Pregnancy After Loss](/specialties/pregnancy-after-loss) - [See All Specialties](/specialties) Who I Help - [Who I Help](/who-i-help) - [Professional Mothers](/who-i-help/professional-mothers) - [First Generation Professionals](/who-i-help/first-generation-professionals) - [Therapists and Helping Professionals](/who-i-help/therapists-and-helping-professionals) Approach - [How I Work](/approach) - [Brainspotting](/approach/brainspotting) - [Internal Family Systems](/approach/internal-family-systems) - [Somatic Therapy](/approach/somatic-therapy) Service Areas - [Service Areas](/service-areas) - [Northern Virginia](/service-areas/northern-virginia) - [Richmond](/service-areas/richmond) - [Virginia Beach](/service-areas/virginia-beach) - [Charlottesville](/service-areas/charlottesville) - [Telehealth Across Virginia](/telehealth-in-virginia) - [Prince George Office](/therapy-in-prince-george) - [The Tri-Cities](/therapy-in-the-tri-cities) Practice - [Rates and Insurance](/rates-and-insurance) - [Private Pay in Virginia](/rates-and-insurance/private-pay-therapy-in-virginia) - [Fees and Facts](/faq) - [Contact](/contact) - [For Providers](/refer) - [Blog](/blog) - [Resources](/resources) - [Privacy Policy](/privacy-policy) - [SMS Terms](/sms-terms) - [Good Faith Estimate](/good-faith-estimate) Services - [All Services](/services) - [Individual Therapy](/services/individual-therapy) - [Therapy Intensives](/services/therapy-intensives) - [Child and Adolescent Therapy](/services/child-and-adolescent-therapy) - [Family Therapy](/services/family-therapy) - [About Leah](/about) * * * Serving Prince George, the Tri-Cities, and by telehealth [across Virginia](/service-areas). - [Privacy Policy](/privacy-policy) - [Terms](/terms) - [SMS Terms](/sms-terms) - [Disclaimers](/disclaimers) - [Good Faith Estimate](/good-faith-estimate) - [Cookie Policy](/cookie-policy) Harlan Therapy LLC Leah Harlan, MA, LPC · Licensed Professional Counselor #0701013658 (Virginia) If you are in crisis, call or text 988. In person in the Tri-Cities area and by telehealth throughout Virginia. This website is informational and is not therapy, and it is not a place to share clinical details. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911. Therapy outcomes vary from person to person and no particular result is promised or guaranteed. © 2026 Harlan Therapy. All rights reserved.