The Counselling Journey

One in six couples will have difficulty achieving a pregnancy. But despite this growing number of people, difficulties faced when trying to conceive can leave people feeling extremely isolated, particularly as a society we have difficulty in dealing with these sad experiences.

Few situations in life are as challenging, demanding and stressful as infertility and its treatment. Infertility is a medical condition that affects every part of a person’s or couple's life. Patients often express a sense of loss of control over their lives when positive treatment outcomes do not occur. Medical intervention, multiple tests and office visits can compound the anxiety for some patients. It may challenge the way in which you feel about yourself, your relationship with others, your work, and your outlook on life. Your personality, life experiences, and coping style all play a part in how you feel and react. In addition to the support of family, friends, and medical providers, you may benefit from the assistance of our professional counselling services.

At Monash IVF we recognise that you may be experiencing intense feelings and an unusual amount of stress before, during or after treatment. We are committed to providing you with a comprehensive approach to help you cope as effectively as possible by offering individuals and couples counselling. Our goal is to help patients explore and normalise their feelings, identify coping strategies, strengths and support networks and to feel better about themselves during their fertility treatment. Some other areas of discussion explored throughout counselling include:

• Providing independent and confidential support;
• Emotional experience of infertility;
• Constant preoccupation with treatment;
• Pregnancy loss;
• Couple relationships and IVF;
• Social isolation;
• Exploring and coping with very real and powerful grief;
• Coping with other people's pregnancies and births and discussing reactions of families, friends and work colleagues;
• Pregnancy and parenting after fertility and IVF treatment;
• Self help for managing emotions;
• Discussing your options when making decisions about changing or stopping treatments and
• Available resources.

For some patients, counselling is mandatory. This is the case for those donating or receiving donated eggs, sperm or embryos during fertility treatment and those living in Victoria.

For many other patients, counselling is a service, which we highly recommend you use. It can greatly help you to understand the range of emotions you and your partner may typically experience.

Remember we’re here to provide you with what you need at whatever stage of the journey you happen to be on. So please take advantage of this and make use of this service at any time during your treatment journey. Talk to one of the staff members at your treating clinic site about setting up an appointment and all the best with your treatment.

Want to know more about the counselling services at Monash IVF? Contact us here.