Meet Our Miami Team of Reproductive Therapists
Welcome to Natal Counseling. Our specialized private practice is devoted to reproductive, perinatal, and women’s mental health. We support women navigating the emotional and physiological realities of infertility challenges, IVF timelines, pregnancy loss, miscarriage, and postpartum transitions.
When you don’t feel like yourself anymore, we help you reconnect with yourself.
Why Choose a Reproductive Therapist for Your Family-Building Journey
You’ve been getting through the days. Functioning. Managing. Holding it all together. But inside, you know this isn’t how you want to live. You’re ready for more than survival mode. You’re ready to feel like yourself again.
Dr. Perera built Natal Counseling so that support like this could actually exist. The team led by Dr. Perera specializes exclusively in the emotional realities of family building, so you can stop explaining your experiences and start receiving support that actually fits your life. Every therapist on our team is a reproductive psychologist, which means we understand the complexities of infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy, postpartum, and early parenthood on both a psychological and physiological level.
This means you’re working with experts who:
Understand the complex interplay between your body, hormones, and nervous system during family building.
Recognize how grief, loss, and the uncertainty of infertility or high-risk pregnancy affect mood, decision-making, and daily life.
Offer targeted interventions that help you regulate your nervous system, manage stress, and rebuild trust in yourself.
When you work with us, you're not just getting a therapist who means well, you are getting a reproductive therapist expert who truly gets it from the inside out.
Our Specialized Team of Reproductive Therapists
Dr. Marisa Perera, PhD
Licensed Clinical PsychologistDr. Marisa provides a safe, understanding space for women carrying the heavy mental load of family building to release the emotional weight, gently regulate their nervous systems, and finally breathe again.
Education & Roles: PhD in Clinical Psychology from University of Miami; Women’s Mental Health Fellowship at Rush University Medical Center; former faculty at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; clinical innovation and product development support for women’s mental health tech companies
Licensure: Multi-state licensed (FL, NY, MI) and PSYPACT certified
Dr. Avelina Padin, PhD
Founder + Licensed Clinical PsychologistDr. Avelina provides a warm, collaborative space for women navigating the hidden grief of family building to safely process reproductive trauma, move through loss, and find deep emotional stability.
Education & Roles: PhD in Clinical Psychology from The Ohio State University; Women’s Mental Health Fellowship and former faculty at Rush University Medical Center; faculty at Xavier University
Licensure: Multi-state licensed (OH, WA) and PSYPACT certified
Dr. Liz Culnan, PhD
Dr. Liz provides a warm, protective space for women moving through demanding life transitions to conquer overwhelming thoughts, quiet the physical symptoms of anxiety, and break the cycle of sleep challenges and exhaustion.
Education & Roles: PhD in Clinical Psychology from Drexel University; Women’s Mental Health Fellowship and former faculty at Rush University Medical Center
Licensure: Multi-state licensed (CO) and PSYPACT certified
Licensed Clinical PsychologistThere comes a point where pushing through stops working. You try to stay positive, productive, and in control. Instead, you feel more anxious, more reactive, more exhausted, and less sure of yourself and your decisions. That’s not failure. It’s your system asking for a different kind of support.
Because what you’re going through isn’t just emotional, it’s physiological. Stress from infertility, loss, pregnancy, and postpartum lives in your nervous system. And when your nervous system is overloaded, it can feel like:
Your reactions don’t match the moment
You’re calm one minute and spiraling the next
Your mind won’t turn off, especially at night
Even small decisions start to feel heavy and high-stakes
You can understand what’s happening… and still find yourself stuck in those patterns. This is why insight alone isn’t enough. In our work together, we focus on both helping you make sense of what’s happening AND helping your system actually shift.
So this doesn’t feel like just talking about your week. It feels like relief, movement, real change. You’re not just venting. In our work together, you are learning how to:
Regulate your nervous system in real time
Make decisions without spiraling
Rebuild trust in yourself
Feel more steady in your body and mind
We address both the psychological and physiological aspects of infertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, postpartum, and early parenthood — because real, lasting change happens when both are acknowledged.
How We Can Help
Who We Support
We work with women navigating:
Infertility, IVF, or uncertain paths to pregnancy
Miscarriage and unimaginable loss
Pregnancy after loss or high-risk pregnancy
Postpartum changes that feel heavier or more complex than expected
Early parenthood and the emotional and mental load that comes with it
Hormonal or medical conditions impacting mood and identity
Many women we work with are used to feeling capable and independent. But even the strongest coping strategies can falter during these life transitions. That’s when our support makes the difference — helping you feel grounded, steady, and clear again.
Infertility, Pregnancy, and Postpartum Therapist Services in Miami, FL
Infertility Therapy in Miami, FL
Trying to build a family can be exhausting. IVF, waiting for results, and the uncertainty of fertility treatment leaves you overwhelmed, worried it will never happen, on edge, and alone. In our infertility therapy sessions in Miami, we help you cope with stress, make confident decisions, and feel more grounded every step of your fertility journey.
Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss Therapy in Miami
Grief, guilt, and uncertainty are deeply personal after miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Well-meaning friends or past therapists don’t fully get it. In our miscarriage and pregnancy loss therapy sessions in Miami, we help you process emotions, rebuild hope, and develop self-care and resilience strategies to reconnect with your body, your life, and your family-building desires.
Postpartum Therapy in Miami, FL
The transition to parenthood is overwhelming, even when everyone says “you should be happy.” In our postpartum therapy sessions in Miami, we help you process postpartum anxiety or depression or childbirth trauma while reclaiming yourself. You will gain tools to connect with yourself (and your baby and partner) and manage parenting pressure with confidence.
You don’t have to keep navigating this alone. Specialized support that gets family building is available.
Ready to work with a reproductive psychologist who gets it?
You don't have to navigate infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy anxiety, or postpartum challenges alone. Dr. Perera and the Natal Counseling team are here to support you at every stage of your family-building journey. We carefully review all consult requests and aim to respond the same day.
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Begin Your Journey with Natal Counseling
You deserve a therapist who truly gets infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, and postpartum. Reach out today to open the door to the infertility or postpartum therapy support you deserve.