Empathy Launches Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support in Collaboration With Dr. Jessica Zucker
Today, we are expanding Empathy’s Loss Support product to include dedicated care for pregnancy and infant loss—one of the most common yet under-supported challenges parents face. As part of this program, we are proud to welcome Dr. Jessica Zucker, a renowned clinical psychologist and reproductive mental health advocate, as Empathy’s Pregnancy Loss Expert. Her guidance has been essential in shaping this new program, helping us ensure that individuals and families feel supported emotionally, practically, and compassionately.
Below, Dr. Zucker shares why she’s chosen to partner with Empathy in expanding access to this critical care:
Our culture rarely speaks openly about pregnancy loss: not in families, not in workplaces, not among close friends. As a psychologist with nearly two decades of experience specializing in reproductive and maternal mental health, and as someone who has endured a second trimester miscarriage firsthand, I know how isolating grief can be. Without scaffolded support, the effects ripple outward, affecting the individual, as well as families, workplaces, and the broader community.
Through my clinical work, research, and advocacy, I’ve seen how naming what is so often left unspoken — the complexities of pregnancy and infant loss — helps us dismantle cultural and personal stigma. I’ve also witnessed personally and professionally that grief doesn't follow a linear timeline. Over the years, I’ve been honored to carry this meaningful work from the intimacy of the therapy room to the broader reach of my writing and media, and now, through my partnership with Empathy, to a wider audience.
Building a culture of care at scale
Empathy’s unique blend of technology and human care helps lower financial and cultural barriers, meeting more people exactly where they are. That is why I am privileged to bring my expertise to Empathy, collaborating with them to create their new Pregnancy Loss Support experience. I deeply value the team’s commitment to serving diverse families and life stories by offering both compassionate and concrete support, from workplace leave guidance to psychological resources that help people name and navigate this specific loss. These forms of care offer a holistic approach that help individuals and families feel understood and less alone as they navigate pregnancy loss.
Pregnancy loss is one of the most common experiences employees face. Miscarriage alone affects approximately 1 in 4 pregnancies, and when considering stillbirth, infant loss, and other forms of reproductive loss, the number of families impacted grows even larger. Support for these ubiquitous experiences is not optional: when workplaces fail to respond, people leave jobs, cultures weaken, and silence, stigma, and shame persist. But when employers acknowledge grief and provide evidence-based resources, they build trust and resilience across the entire organization.
As in all of my work, my hope is to continue to destigmatize pregnancy loss and enable current and future generations of people to navigate this difficult experience with self-compassion and invaluable tools. By weaving these conversations into the fabric of our workplaces and communities, we foster environments that are more understanding, resilient, and connected.
I am grateful to Empathy for building a space where this kind of robust support exists, and for inviting me to help shape it. Our goal is to ultimately lift the weight of societal silence and help people feel less alone in the aftermath of pregnancy loss.
Warmly,
Jessica Zucker, Ph.D.
Dr. Jessica Zucker is Empathy’s Pregnancy Loss Expert. Dr. Zucker is a clinical psychologist and author of the award-winning books Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women’s Lives and I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, a Movement. She is the creator of the viral #IHadaMiscarriage campaign. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Vogue, and Harvard Business Review, among others. Dr. Zucker’s been featured on NPR, CNN, The Today Show, and Good Morning America and earned advanced degrees from New York University and Harvard University.