Counselling plays a very important role when it comes to infertility. Talking to a fertility expert can be very beneficial in many ways, from helping you sort through your options to helping you cope with infertility. Coping with infertility is hard and needing help is 100 percent normal to fight the emotional struggle of infertility.
According to fertility experts, Fertility counselling should be considered in these situations:
- Indecisiveness: A counsellor who is trained in working with couples with fertility challenges can help sort through various options. The counsellor can help couples make a truly informed choice and help you consider what your treatment options may involve, including the financial and emotional stresses of those choices. Most gynaecologists strongly suggest patients see a counsellor before or during treatment because many people are not prepared for the additional stress that is often experienced during procedures.
- Infertility is hurting your relationship: Relationships are often put under tremendous stress when going through fertility treatments. A proper counselling session can reduce stress and bring couples closer during this period. Infertility is hard, but it’s even harder if you don’t have the support of your partner. Sometimes, your partner is the only one who really knows what you’re going through and counselling can help you better understand and support each other.
- Infertility taking over your life: Infertility issue isn’t easy for anyone, and when it starts affecting many areas of your daily life, then it is important to seek professional help. A session with a counsellor is important to learn coping skills and strategies to alleviate some of the depression or anxiety
- Want more support: Needing extra support when battling fertility issues is not a bad thing. Counselling can be a good choice for fertility challenged couples, once they feel the need for more support or just need someone to talk to or give advice on how to cope.
- Considering gamete donations, surrogacy or adoption: One of the most important time to talk with a therapist familiar with infertility issues is when a couple is considering using third party reproduction to create their family especially when considering the use of sperm & egg donors, surrogates or adopting offsprings. The emotional impact of making choices like these can be intense, something that some couples may underestimate.
You don’t have to go through this infertility journey without help. Counsellors out there are trained to help you. If you could use extra support, reach out for it.