All of our blog posts are written, edited, or produced by the London Women’s Clinic Content Team. This is a collaboration between our expert writers, health editors, and the leading researchers and senior doctors at our Harley Street clinic.
You might have seen This Morning last week; where Sharon Marshall discussed her successful journey after 7 rounds of IVF, which resulted in the birth of her daughter earlier this year. (Link in case you missed it here).
We were saddened to hear that Sharon felt unable to talk about how she was feeling at her clinic; the desire to ‘hold it together’ whilst in front of others is very common. It’s one of the reasons why our counsellors work across clinics, so that support can be accessed in person at a different location or by phone or Skype, enabling access to support from home.
Tracey our senior counsellor says that "Research consistently reinforces the emotional impact of infertility. This is the same whether you're having assisted conception for infertility reasons or because you are single or in a same-sex relationship. Sharon discussed a fellow patient who had 25 rounds of IVF before having her baby; sharing feeling distressed after one or more cycles can feel as if we are exposing ourselves as weak, of not being strong enough to carry on, especially when others have the strength to continue and reap the rewards.
We meet with patients who express concerns around being judged about their ability to mentally endure treatment and it's often a disproportionate fear around treatment being refused that can promote the need to keep things in, but this in turn promotes isolation and further lowers self-esteem. Preventing that fear of being judged was a key aim for the clinic many years ago when we introduced a free of charge counselling appointment being available with every initial consultation."
We recognise that not everyone wants to attend counselling so our patient support team includes Trisha and Cindy who listen and/or coach patients throughout their treatment cycle, with telephone appointments and hints and tips. Trisha also provides an additional two-week wait telephone support, whilst Cindy runs our two monthly support groups.
You may also wish to contact the Fertility Network UK who provide support for fertility patients and help to organise support groups across the UK in addition to their helplines and forum.
Comments