PERINATAL & REPRODUCTIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY IN NJ & NY

Therapy for the Reproductive Journey: Fertility, Loss, Pregnancy & Postpartum

Deeply specialized support for individuals and partners navigating the complex emotional terrain of building and sustaining a family.

The path to building a family rarely moves in a straight line. Whether you are navigating the exhausting logistics of fertility treatment, grieving a reproductive loss, or managing the profound identity shifts of pregnancy and postpartum, this transition can quietly strain your body, your relationships, and your sense of who you are. Even when everything looks entirely stable from the outside, it is common to feel deeply anxious, disconnected, or overwhelmed by the sheer scale of what has changed.

I provide therapy for individuals and couples in the reproductive and early parenting years, including those pursuing IVF and other fertility treatments, and those coping with pregnancy loss, birth trauma, postpartum anxiety and depression, relationship changes, or the transition into parenthood.

As a licensed clinical psychologist with advanced training from Columbia and Emory, I provide specialized perinatal care for clients across New Jersey and New York. While my practice leverages the convenience of telehealth to accommodate the demanding rhythms of fertility treatment, perinatal care, and early parenthood, I work closely with individuals and partners to arrange hybrid or in-person care as needed.

Request a consultation

  • The path toward pregnancy often brings a profound emotional and physical toll, particularly when navigating the demanding schedules of fertility treatments like IUI or IVF cycles. Our therapy focuses on helping you manage the acute anxiety of the two-week wait, the physical side effects of medication, and the exhausting logistics of balancing clinic appointments with your career. Together, we work to navigate the chronic uncertainty and the "stalled" feeling that can take over your life and your relationships during this process.

  • We offer a dedicated space to process the heavy, complex grief of miscarriage, stillbirth, chemical pregnancy, or TFMR (termination for medical reasons). This specialized support is especially vital when the world around you may not understand the true depth of your experience, or when you feel isolated in your grief and unsure of how to move forward.

  • High-stakes decision-making and anxiety can easily overshadow a pregnancy, particularly if you are navigating a high-risk pregnancy, medical complications, frequent scans, or overwhelming uncertainty about your baby’s health. We work together to find grounding, manage the stress of constant monitoring, and protect your mental well-being before birth.

  • I provide comprehensive therapy for postpartum anxiety (PPA), postpartum depression (PPD), intrusive thoughts, rage, and numbness. Our sessions focus deeply on processing the profound postpartum identity shifts, intrusive fears, and relationship strains that naturally emerge as you transition into early parenthood.

  • Many parents need a safe space to process birth experiences that felt frightening, medically complicated, rushed, or dismissed. Whether you navigated an unexpected emergency intervention or felt unheard by your care team, birth trauma therapy helps safely reduce the emotional charge the memory still carries so you can feel present in your life again.

  • The transition into parenthood can place an immense strain on even the strongest partnerships as you learn to navigate the complexities of co-parenting. Our work focuses on addressing postpartum relationship strain, a lopsided division of labor, resentment, and sexual intimacy shifts. Whether you attend individually or together, we work to resolve ongoing conflict and bridge the disconnection so you can feel like a cohesive team again.

What I Help With

My approach is active, warm, and grounded in clinical expertise. We do not just recount what happened that week. We slow things down and look at what is happening underneath: the fear beneath irritability, the grief beneath numbness, the resentment beneath over-functioning, or the shame that can make it hard to ask for help.

Therapy may include support with coping skills, communication, emotion regulation, grief processing, trauma recovery, and reconnecting with your sense of self during a period that can feel both meaningful and destabilizing.

How Therapy Can Help

I am Dr. Ali Pickover, a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in reproductive and perinatal mental health across New York and New Jersey. I completed my clinical internship training at the Emory School of Medicine, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. I received specialized training in acute hospital settings, trauma-focused care, and crisis intervention.

With a strong foundation in clinical research, I have authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters examining stress, trauma, and resilience. I also bring unique industry expertise to my work, having previously led the clinical development of behavioral health programming at Maven Clinic, the global leader in digital reproductive healthcare. Today, I combine this rigorous academic background with dedicated, private-pay care to help individuals and partners navigate the profound transitions of parenthood.

About Me

Individual and couples sessions are primarily conducted via secure telehealth for clients located throughout New Jersey and New York, with hybrid or in-person care options arranged as needed.

I operate as a private-pay practice and provide detailed superbills for out-of-network reimbursement to help clients maximize their insurance benefits.

Logistics

Start where you are.

Reaching out does not mean you have to explain everything perfectly. Whether you are in the middle of fertility treatment, grieving a loss, recovering from a difficult birth, or trying to find yourself again in early parenthood, we can start with what feels hardest now.

Request a consultation

FAQs

  • I provide secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth tailored to the demanding schedules of fertility treatments, pregnancy, and early parenthood. Because I am fully licensed in both New York and New Jersey, our work remains seamless and uninterrupted even if your commute, lifestyle, or residency shifts between the two states. I also work closely with individuals and partners to arrange hybrid or in-person care as clinically indicated.

  • Postpartum mood shifts frequently manifest as relentless worry, irritability, dread, or a quiet numbness that makes you feel entirely disconnected from yourself. Rather than just offering surface-level coping skills, we look at how this transition is impacting your physical nervous system, your identity, and your relationships, working directly to lower the volume on intrusive thoughts so you can feel grounded again.

  • Yes. Birth trauma is often left behind by a medical crisis, unexpected interventions, or moments during delivery where you felt invisible and powerless. These experiences can leave your nervous system stuck in a state of hypervigilance. Therapy provides a structured, safe environment to process the event, reduce the physiological panic it still triggers, and help you feel settled in your body and your story.

  • Yes. Navigating a miscarriage, failed fertility cycle, or a heartbreaking Termination for Medical Reasons (TFMR) carries a profound, silent grief that modern culture rarely knows how to hold. My practice provides a non-judgmental, specialized space to safely untangle the isolation, anger, and relational strain that follow these reproductive crises.

  • Yes. The shift into early parenthood frequently introduces unspoken resentment, exhaustion, and a sudden disconnection in intimacy. Pulling from an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) lens, I help partners step out of defensive communication cycles, understand what each person is carrying beneath the surface, and rebuild a secure emotional alliance as a team.