Melanie has over 20 years working in the field of fertility counseling, with a special interest in third party reproduction, donor embryo programs, and donor screening. She is Secretary of the Mental Health Professional group of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and has served on the MHPG Tele- Mental Health Task Force, MHPG Coding Task Force, and Gamete and Embryo Donation Guidelines Task Force. She is the past chair of the ASRM Mental Health Mentoring Committee and past member of ASRM Scientific Advisory Board. She is a consultant for Empower Donation, speaker for Fertility IQ, and member of the Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS). She has given numerous presentations and appeared on podcasts surrounding gamete donation, anonymity, and embryo donation. Melanie is a mental health counselor and donor liaison with Seattle Reproductive Medicine, and creator of Hold Hope, LLC, a fertility counseling and advocacy practice.

Listen to Melanie as she discusses with Ellen and Jenn:

• A peek into her personal journey with fertility treatments.

• How she found her way into working at a fertility center.

• How clinics and storage facilities try to plan embryo disposition from day one.

• Donating to a friend or family member and the best route in doing so.

• Guidance for patients making decisions in their fertility journey.

• Stories from the trenches.

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