Noelle Moore | Supporting Pelvic Health Clients Through Infant Loss and Grief
Show Notes:
What happens when a patient walks into your pelvic health clinic carrying not only physical symptoms, but profound grief and trauma from pregnancy or infant loss?
In this powerful conversation, Lynn Schulte, PT, talks with Noelle Moore, founder of the Finley Project, about what providers need to understand when caring for families after loss – and how our presence, language, and hands-on care can make a lasting difference.
Key Discoveries from this Episode:
- Why grief and trauma can show up in the physical body.
- The power of giving a client permission.
- How to communicate when you don’t know what to say.
- Why compassionate detachment matters for providers.
- Why grief isn’t linear – or finished after one session.
- The importance of listening to the whole body.
- Why ongoing support matters.
Clinical Takeaway
For pelvic health practitioners, this episode is a reminder that our treatment room can become an important part of a patient’s healing experience after loss. The goal isn’t to fix grief. It’s to create enough safety, compassion, and permission for the patient to have their experience while receiving the physical care they need.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can grief and trauma show up in the body?
Grief and trauma aren’t experienced only as emotions – they can also have physical effects. Patients may notice changes in tension, sensitivity, or sensation in the C-section scar, pelvic tissues, or other areas of the body. For pelvic health providers, this is a reminder to listen to the whole body rather than assuming the pelvis is the only place trauma is expressed.
What can providers say or do when a patient is grieving?
You don’t need the perfect words. Slowing down, acknowledging what happened, and simply being present can be deeply supportive. Small statements that give a patient permission to cry, rest, pause, or stop treatment can help her feel safe, seen, and heard. Compassionate detachment is also important: providers can hold space for grief without taking it into their own bodies or trying to carry it for the patient.
Does grief have a timeline, and what kind of support is needed?
Grief isn’t linear, and it doesn’t necessarily end after one session – or even after many years. It can resurface unexpectedly, which is why ongoing support matters. Families may need a combination of physical, emotional, practical, and community support rather than simply a referral to counseling and a quick return to “normal.”
About the speaker
Noelle Moore is the heart and strategic vision behind The Finley Project, a national nonprofit providing holistic support to mothers following the loss of an infant.
After the devastating loss of her newborn daughter, Finley, Noelle recognized the lack of practical support available to mothers navigating life after loss. She founded The Finley Project to bridge that gap, creating a holistic 7-step program that supports mothers from hospital discharge through long-term healing.
Based in Winter Park, Florida, Noelle serves mothers nationwide with compassionate, practical strategies for navigating trauma, grief, and healing.
The Finley Project Programs: https://www.thefinleyproject.org/programs-all
Ways to Get Involved: https://www.thefinleyproject.org/donate
More Than I’m Sorry Book and Care Guide: https://www.amazon.com/More-than-Sorry-Step-Step/dp/1939237920
Connect With Lynn
Have a comment or question about today’s episode? Message Lynn on Instagram or Facebook, or Email Lynn.
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Love Dr. Rachael! She is such a gem in the Metro Detroit area. She was my pelvic floor PT during my first pregnancy and postpartum and inspired me to pursue pelvic health certification (coming from an Ortho PT clinic). I’m now working through Holistic Treatment of the Pregnant and Postpartum Body.
Thank you so much for this presentation…I am an osteopath and also trained in SER (love love Upledger!)…the piece about ‘freeze’ related to transgenerational trauma was very informative and a reminder to look further…I have had a client who lost a baby and when I treated her she felt she needed to give birth to this child…and then went back several lives and saw that she had also lost a baby many lives prior! This relieved her of some stress…so every piece of the puzzle counts…keep the nuggets coming, so appreciative! Best, Judith
Great interview, Lynn and Susanne, for pushing us beyond “hands on, hands in”, confirming our need as therapists, for wide, grounded personal presence for our clients to feel safe and then willing to bring forth those physical/emotional/transgenerational, traumas/beliefs that lead to more complete healing and return to function. Appreciate the shout out, and listened delightfully to two of my favorite teachers and mentors. All of this was gold!