Deciding to start fertility treatment can be an extremely emotional time. This can impact your own mental health as well as relationships with a partner, family members and friends. Often it can feel like nobody understands what you are going through and you can feel alone in your feelings and experiences.
At our Assisted Conception Unit, we believe your emotional support for fertility patients is priority.
Counselling is an integral part of all our fertility treatments and we encourage you to see our counselling and coaching teams. There are many ways to access support, before, during and after treatment.
Fertility counselling
Counselling can provide a space and opportunity to explore feelings, coping strategies, options and relationship issues. Counsellors can help to identify emotions and feelings around fertility that can be hard to put into words, so you feel supported and able to decide the right fertility treatment for you.
Confidential counselling sessions are provided by our specialist team with a wealth of experience and expertise. As a trained professional, your counsellor understands what is involved in your treatment and offers you the time to talk over your options or concerns. It is available for everyone who is accessing services at our Assisted Conception Unit, and sessions can be arranged for individuals or couples.
Counselling is available for emotional support, psychosexual counselling or other issues relating to fertility treatment such as patients using donor sperm or eggs, surrogacy, surgical sperm retrieval or fertility preservation.
Our fertility counselling team
Caroline Darcy is our senior counsellor with over 25 years’ experience of supporting fertility patients. She is an accredited interpersonal psychotherapist and counselling for depression (CFD) therapist. She also has a post graduate qualification in psychological counselling.
Katie Bottle is our fertility counsellor and a psychosexual therapist. She has a degree in counselling and psychotherapy, as well as postgraduate qualifications in psychosexual therapy. Katie also has experience working with vulnerable families, she offers psychosexual therapy to patients who are experiencing sexual difficulties that may impact on their fertility treatment.
Tracey Chester is the lead for the patient emotional pathway and has worked for the NHS since 1985.
She has extensive experience, including a Masters in counselling and psychotherapy, as a registered mental health nurse and an accredited member of the British Infertility Counselling Association (BICA). Tracey has a specialist interest in fertility preservation for oncology patients.
Locations
Fertility counselling is available in the following locations:
Related resources
Find out more about related fertility services:
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