Holding Space for Grief: Honoring Perinatal & Infant Loss

By Marquita Straus

October is Perinatal and Infant Loss Awareness Month, a time for us to pause as a collective and acknowledge the profound grief experienced by families whose babies have died during pregnancy, birth, or infancy. For so many families, this grief is not only silent but also unseen by the perinatal community. My work, both personally and professionally, centers on breaking that silence and ensuring families have the care, compassion, and community they deserve.

About Me and My Work

My name is Marquita Straus, and I come to this work not only as a perinatal mental health therapist but also as a bereaved parent. My personal experiences of pregnancy and infant loss have shaped my very being, and in turn, the way I show up for the families I serve. 

I have had the profound honor of serving perinatal families for over 15 years. Currently, my roles include being a Perinatal Grief & Trauma Therapist and Death Doula, but over the years I have served as full spectrum doula (birth, postpartum, and bereavement), breastfeeding peer counselor, childbirth educator, perinatal bereavement group facilitator, and I am also a trained midwife.

I also serve as the founder of Imani’s Light, a nonprofit organization dedicated to guiding and supporting BIPOC women and families through perinatal grief, loss, and birth trauma. Our mission is to create spaces where grieving out loud and healing can coexist, where families are met with care that holds them during their grief journeys. 

In addition to therapy and bereavement Doula support, Imani’s Light offers education and resources for birthworkers, providers, and community members who want to learn how to walk alongside grieving families with compassion and confidence.

Collaborative Work: Perinatal Loss Training for Birthworkers Cohort

One of the community collaborations I am most honored to be part of is the Creating a Nest of Care: Perinatal Loss Training for Birthworkers cohort, offered in partnership with Perinatal Support Washington (PS-WA). This training program was created to equip doulas and birthworkers with the skills needed to support families navigating pregnancy and infant loss. 

Too often, families experience perinatal loss in isolation, without someone by their side who understands the depth of their pain or how to advocate for their needs within complicated medical systems. The Nest of Care cohort bridges this gap by training doulas to provide presence, advocacy, and care that extends throughout bereavement. Together, we are shaping a model that not only strengthens a doula’s practice and circle of support, but also expands the network of compassionate support available to grieving families across Washington state.
Over the past six months, it has been such a privilege to witness this current cohort’s beautiful growth and community building. They have leaned into their own vulnerability, engaged deeply with the material, and supported each other through the difficult but necessary work of holding space for perinatal loss. Their courage and compassion give me so much hope for the families who will be served by their care.

What I’m Reading as a PMH Therapist

The reality of grief work is that it is never static; it calls us to remain curious, tender, and open to new perspectives. Recently, I’ve been revisiting Bearing the Unbearable by Joanne Cacciatore, a book that speaks directly to the heart of grief and offers both language and compassion for experiences that often feel indescribable.

Black Women’s Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability ( by Stephanie Y. Evans, Kanika Bell, and Nsenga Burton) remains close by. This collection of voices affirms the lived realities of the families I serve and strengthens my commitment to showing up for my community to provide  culturally care.

Lastly, in these uncertain times, I have been slowly moving through Pauline Boss’s The Myth of Closure, which challenges the idea that grief has an endpoint and examines the complicated notions of ambiguous loss.

These texts help remind me that there is no single roadmap for grief. Instead, there are countless ways families navigate loss, and our role as care providers is to meet them exactly where they are, with openness, respect, and compassion.

Journeying Forward Together

As a bereaved parent, I carry the love and memory of my own children into every space I hold for others. That personal connection to the work, fuels my passion, but also helps ground my work. Perinatal and Infant Loss Awareness Month is not only about awareness, it is about breaking the silence by honoring our baby’s lives, validating our indescribable grief, and building communities of care so no family has to walk this path alone.

For those in the perinatal field who feel called to this work, I encourage you to keep an eye out for the 2026 Nest of Care cohort application, which will open in early 2026. It is my hope that this circle of trained, compassionate doulas continues to expand, so that families navigating loss will always find someone ready to walk with them on their grief journey.