Meet Adina
Adina Belloli is a child and adolescent psychotherapist, motherless mother, and co-founder of The Motherless Mothers. Losing her own mother at six months shaped her personal and professional journey, inspiring her lifelong focus on supporting women navigating early motherhood without maternal support.
In 2024, alongside Louise Kirby-Jones, she founded The Motherless Mothers charity and community to ensure that women who become mothers without mothers of their own feel seen, supported, validated, and connected. From this work, she developed the Grief-Aware Care™ framework that recognises maternal loss as a key determinant of wellbeing and guides both professional practice and systemic change.
Adina’s experience spans clinical, policy, and research settings, including published research for the World Health Organization and contributions featured in a book on advances in child psychotherapy. She combines evidence-based expertise with lived experience to advocate for relational, loss-informed care that addresses the emotional and psychological challenges of motherhood.
An American mother of two living in London, Adina holds degrees in psychology, psychotherapy, international healthcare, public policy, and economics (BA, MA, MSc). She holds a professional postgraduate certification in supporting women who have experienced maternal loss. As a graduate chartered member of the British Psychological Society (GMBPsS, GBC) and an affiliate member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), Adina has dedicated her career to empowering disadvantaged children and women worldwide. Her philanthropic work has been featured on BBC, CNN, and other outlets, earning recognition and awards.
“Being seen, heard, and understood isn’t a want, it’s a fundamental need we all share as humans. Our deepest yearning is not just existence, but connection. In every corner of the globe, across cultures, languages, and backgrounds, we all share this deep-seated need for connection. It’s in the moments of feeling truly seen, heard, and understood that we find our sense of belonging in the world.”
3 Random Facts About Me
I’m a fierce defender of children’s rights. I’ve worked with disadvantaged children for over 18 years, including organisations such as the World Health Organisation, Kids Company, and Cure2Children. I will always do what is morally, ethically, and professionally right for the child, even if it means losing a job over it (which happened)!
I got into charity/volunteering when I was 14 years old. At a children's hospital in Texas, I started volunteering as a "candy stripe girl", essentially hanging out in waiting areas playing with the kids who were waiting to see the doctors. The reason I started was because of a boy I had a crush on. His dad was a doctor there. Unexpectedly, I fell in love with the job and not the boy! It was during that experience I realised the power of altruism.
My mother died when I was six months old. A drunk driver killed her in a car accident. I was diagnosed with ‘failure to thrive’ afterwards. My little body didn’t want to carry on without her. It took a few years, but eventually I got better thanks to some family members who nurtured me back to health. Throughout my life, my mother has found ways to connect with me: through dreams, through other people and through signs.
