Welcoming Solimar Santiago-Warner, DSW, LCSW, PMH-C to Seleni’s Clinical Advisory Board
The Seleni Institute is proud to welcome Dr. Solimar Santiago-Warner, DSW, LCSW, PMH-C as the newest member of our Clinical Advisory Board. A licensed clinical social worker, certified perinatal mental health provider, EMDR therapist, educator, and author, Dr. Santiago-Warner has dedicated her career to supporting women and birthing people through some of life’s most complex and vulnerable reproductive transitions—including fertility challenges, pregnancy and infant loss, birth trauma, postpartum adjustment, and identity shifts in motherhood.
Through her private practice, Solmaterna Psychotherapy & Consulting, and her work in perinatal palliative care and NICU settings, Dr. Santiago-Warner exemplifies the trauma-informed, lifespan-focused approach that sits at the core of Seleni’s mission.
Can you share a bit about your professional journey and what ultimately led you to specialize in perinatal mental health, reproductive loss, and palliative care?
My professional journey has been shaped by hospital-based social work and deep listening to families during some of their most vulnerable moments. Over more than a decade working in pediatric, perinatal, and palliative care settings, I witnessed how pregnancy, birth, illness, and loss sit at the intersection of identity, culture, medicine, and meaning, and how unsupported many families felt when outcomes diverged from expected narratives.
A foundational influence on my work was my training with the Zelda Foster Studies in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (PELC) at NYU Silver School of Social Work, which, although primarily focused on adult care at the time, provided a critical framework for understanding grief, serious illness, communication, and interdisciplinary care. I applied those concepts first in pediatric settings and later in perinatal palliative care, where they became central to how I approach psychosocial support for families facing life-limiting diagnoses and reproductive loss. These experiences led me to pursue advanced training in perinatal mental health, trauma-informed care, and EMDR.
I deepened this work through doctoral training at NYU Silver School of Social Work, where I focused on integrating clinical social work, leadership, and implementation in perinatal palliative care services, with particular attention to the role of social workers in underserved communities. My goal is to bring this area of care to the forefront, amplify diverse voices, and teach how high-quality perinatal palliative care can be delivered with compassion and integrity across varied community settings and levels of infrastructure.
Your work sits at the intersection of trauma, grief, and the reproductive life cycle. What do you see as the most overlooked emotional needs of women and birthing people during these transitions?
One of the most overlooked emotional needs during reproductive transitions is the recognition of grief that is invisible or socially unsanctioned, including grief related to infertility, miscarriage, traumatic births, pregnancy complications, or the loss of an imagined parenting experience. Too often, women and birthing people are expected to move on quickly without space to process what their bodies and nervous systems have endured.
Another unmet need includes care that acknowledges how trauma and grief live in the body, not just in thoughts, as reproductive experiences are profoundly embodied.
Finally, emotional support frequently fails to center cultural context and systemic inequities, particularly for marginalized communities, where historical trauma and medical mistrust shape these experiences. When care integrates grief, embodiment, and context, it allows for healing that is meaningful rather than merely survivable.
How has your clinical work in fertility challenges, pregnancy and infant loss, and postpartum care shaped your understanding of identity shifts in motherhood?
My clinical work has taught me that identity shifts in motherhood are not singular events, but ongoing, non-linear processes shaped by hope, rupture, and redefinition.
Fertility challenges, pregnancy and infant loss, and postpartum experiences often disrupt deeply held beliefs about womanhood, capability, and the body, leading people to grieve not only a baby or pregnancy, but versions of themselves and imagined futures.
Postpartum care further reveals how identity continues to evolve as individuals integrate physical recovery, emotional vulnerability, and changing relationships, often while carrying unresolved grief or trauma. Healing, in this sense, is not about returning to who someone was before, but about learning to hold complexity with compassion and integration.
You bring deep expertise in perinatal palliative care and NICU settings. Why is trauma-informed care so essential in these spaces, and where do you think systems still fall short?
Trauma-informed care is essential in perinatal palliative care and NICU settings because families are often navigating shock, uncertainty, and loss within highly medicalized and time-pressured environments that can overwhelm the nervous system and shape long-term meaning-making. Trauma-informed approaches prioritize clear and compassionate communication, consent, choice, cultural context, and agency, even in moments of crisis, while recognizing that many families enter care with prior trauma or medical mistrust. Systems often fall short due to under-resourcing, limited training, and the treatment of emotional care as secondary rather than essential, compounded by systemic inequities and implicit bias. Without embedding trauma-informed principles at the systems level, families continue to experience preventable harm with lasting emotional consequences.
“Healing is not about erasing memory or meaning, but about reducing suffering and restoring self-trust within the broader context of identity, culture, and lived experience.”
As an EMDR therapist, how do you approach healing trauma in individuals navigating reproductive loss or birth-related trauma?
I approach reproductive loss and birth-related trauma as both acute events and ongoing embodied experiences, beginning with safety, stabilization, and resourcing before any trauma processing occurs. I help clients understand how trauma shows up in their bodies and nervous systems, building tools that restore grounding, agency, and choice.
During EMDR processing, I attend closely to how reproductive trauma is stored through sensory, fragmented, and body-based memories tied to medical procedures or powerlessness, while honoring the coexistence of grief, love, and attachment. Healing is not about erasing memory or meaning, but about reducing suffering and restoring self-trust within the broader context of identity, culture, and lived experience.
Based on your experience in national and international presentations and research, where do you see the field of perinatal mental health heading—and what feels urgent right now?
The field of perinatal mental health is expanding in hopeful ways, with growing recognition that it must encompass fertility challenges, reproductive loss, birth trauma, NICU experiences, chronic illness, and perinatal palliative care, alongside greater interdisciplinary integration. What feels most urgent is ensuring this growth is grounded in equity, depth, and sustainability, with trauma-informed and culturally responsive care embedded into training, policy, and systems, particularly for BIPOC women and birthing people who face disproportionate risks.
There is also a critical need to center grief as an ongoing and legitimate aspect of reproductive mental health. Supporting providers themselves is equally essential, as without attention to vicarious trauma and sustainability, the workforce cannot be sustained. The future of the field lies in justice-informed, embodied models of care that are translated into real practice.
Seleni’s mission focuses on transforming mental healthcare across the reproductive life span. What aspects of Seleni’s work most resonate with your own values and clinical philosophy?
What resonates most deeply with me about the Seleni Institute’s mission is its holistic commitment to transforming care across the full reproductive life span, recognizing emotional health as equally vital as physical health. This mirrors my clinical philosophy that reproductive experiences are deeply relational, embodied, and meaning making, not solely medical events. I am especially aligned with Seleni’s dual focus on direct care and professional training, equipping clinicians with trauma-informed, evidence-based tools to close gaps in care. Their work to destigmatize reproductive and maternal mental health, elevate grief, and reduce disparities through culturally responsive approaches reflects the kind of systemic change I am deeply committed to advancing.
“Seleni has since become my go-to resource for clinicians seeking specialization in maternal mental health, and their work continues to shape how I understand best practices in this field.”
Which Seleni training has resonated most with you and why?
Seleni’s Perinatal Loss and Grief training has resonated most deeply with me, particularly as I was building the psychosocial support component of a perinatal palliative care program. The training provided a strong foundation of research, language, and clinical guidance that helped refine my approach to supporting parents facing pregnancy and infant loss, as well as birthing people across the hospital system experiencing loss in many forms.
What stood out was its ability to translate complex emotional realities into practical, compassionate care that honored grief, attachment, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Seleni has since become my go-to resource for clinicians seeking specialization in maternal mental health, and their work continues to shape how I understand best practices in this field.
As a new member of Seleni’s Clinical Advisory Board, what perspectives or expertise are you most excited to bring to the organization?
As a new member of Seleni’s Clinical Advisory Board, I am excited to bring an integrated perspective rooted in perinatal mental health, reproductive loss, and palliative care through a trauma-informed, embodied, and justice-oriented lens. I am particularly committed to elevating the experiences of birthing people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, whose emotional and medical needs are often overlooked or fragmented across systems, and who frequently navigate layered trauma and stigma. I also look forward to contributing my experience in clinician education, program development, and research to support Seleni’s mission, helping advance inclusive, sustainable models of care that honor grief, identity, and lived context while supporting clinicians in this demanding work.
Dr. Santiago-Warner’s clinical depth, academic leadership, and commitment to advancing compassionate, trauma-informed care make her a powerful addition to Seleni’s Clinical Advisory Board. We are grateful for the perspective she brings and look forward to the impact of her collaboration as we continue working to transform mental healthcare across the reproductive life span.
Dr. Solimar Santiago-Warner, DSW, LCSW, PMH-C
A defining influence on her work: Dr. Santiago-Warner’s path into perinatal mental health was shaped by over a decade of hospital-based social work, supporting families through illness, uncertainty, and loss—often when outcomes diverged from expectations and emotional care was limited.
Her approach to care: She understands grief as embodied, ongoing, and deeply contextual, recognizing that reproductive trauma and loss live in the nervous system, identity, and sense of meaning, not just memory. Her work prioritizes trauma-informed, culturally responsive care that centers agency and integration over “moving on.”
What sets her voice apart: Dr. Santiago-Warner’s clinical and research work frames identity shifts in motherhood as non-linear processes shaped by rupture, grief, and redefinition, rather than singular milestones tied to pregnancy or birth outcomes.
On which Seleni training resonated most: “Perinatal Loss and Grief resonated most deeply with me, particularly as I was building the psychosocial support component of a perinatal palliative care program. The training provided a strong foundation of research, language, and clinical guidance that helped refine my approach to supporting parents facing pregnancy and infant loss, as well as birthing people across the hospital system experiencing loss in many forms.”
