The Emotional Side of Infertility: First Steps

An excerpt from Fertility & Beyond: Join the Conversation

By Tara Joyner, LPC

The infertility journey not only takes a toll physically, but also emotionally. And while people are generally willing and relatively quick to find medical help through the process, often times, we neglect to seek emotional support from a professional. We may feel embarrassed or ashamed for needing a professional therapist to help us navigate the infertility journey.

Sometimes we fear that talking to someone might make us feel MORE broken than we already do.

Yet, this is such a huge part of the process that it makes sense to have a more holistic approach to treatment from the beginning and not to wait until you’re overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, etc., to talk to a professional.

First Steps

The hope in writing this chapter is that it will encourage people to reach out sooner, rather than waiting until they feel like they are in a state of despair or hopelessness. Also, we want to eliminate the stereotypes and stigma associated with therapy; it is not a weakness.

The truth is you don’t have to do this on your own! You don’t get a badge of honor if you go through it alone!

There are people who have been in your shoes, or at least similar ones, and can help you through the journey. It can be scary to get started. Perhaps you’re afraid that the person sitting across from you won’t know what you’re going through, or even worse, they had kids easily and without any of the struggles you’re facing.

So, first off, you may want to identify a therapist who has gone through the process him/herself or has been touched by infertility. Not surprisingly, many people specialize in areas of infertility because of their own personal experiences.

If you are looking to connect with peers going through a similar experience, consider looking into a peer support group. This may or may not be helpful depending on the other members and the facilitator, if there is one.

About Tara Joyner, LPC 

Background:  

When Tara was an undergraduate at Texas A&M, she worked in a women’s health facility processing difficult topics with patients. Later, she moved into clinical research while in graduate school. There she discovered her passion for women’s health and the associated emotional components. This motivated her to go to into private practice.  

Tara began seeing a variety of patients in her practice. Having gone through infertility herself where she had in vitro resulting in twins, she became involved with a fertility clinic and became a fervent advocate helping people through their process.  

With her firsthand experience and training, she found that she had the necessary level of empathy and knowledge of all the acronyms and industry terms, nurturing people as they navigate the waters.  

Contact Information : http://www.TaraJoynerLPC.com

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