Welcome back to the Fertility Podcast, after our summer break we return with Fertility Coach Sarah Banks to talk about support (or sadly the lack of) in IVF clinics. Both Sarah and I hear frequently, from the people we support, that there is just not enough emotional support in clinics. Sarah is working hard to raise awareness of this with fertility clinics, and has recently completed a survey with her support communities to assess the degree of emotional support provided in clinics.

This is what we discussed:

• Sarah explains the results of her survey. From a total of 200 responses so far, respondents rated the level of support as 4.9 out of 10. 
• 8.4% reported having zero support in their clinic and 60% felt that their clinic did not have a culture of support. Many respondents felt that the degree of support had lessened since the Pandemic, with patients feeling more like a number than an individual.
• We talked about how there is an expectation of support and that it is now greater than it has ever been. Sarah explained why this might be the case.
• Sarah talked about how clinics have received her data and that she is finding that they are more open to understanding what patients need but we still have a long way to go.
• Sarah offered suggestions for the types of support that clinics should be offering. Counseling in clinics is often limited to one session, and counseling is not for everyone. Sarah discusses the benefit of a support group to find commonality and to feel validated, reading materials, signposting to reputable social media accounts, Apps etc
• Sarah highlights that there needs to be a culture change among staff and the importance of receiving training to better understand the emotional needs of patients. Understandably, staff in clinics are very busy but they need to be empathetic to patients so that they feel fully supported.
• Sarah shares her fertility journey of 6 years and two cycles of IVF to conceive her son. This led her to retrain to be a fertility coach, and set up support groups locally and internationally. 
• Sarah later developed the IVF Positivity Planner which is a fabulous resource to support you on your fertility journey. The planner is a coaching book combined with a 12 week journal to help you focus on the things you can control, from self care to action plans and goal setting to help you move forward. We totally recommend it!
• Finally Sarah’s advice if you feel you're not getting support from you clinic is to speak to them and tell them how you're feeling. Clinics do want to support you, so feed this back to them and get your voice heard. You can also look for professional support via BICA (British Infertility Counseling Association) or you may prefer a fertility coach to support you.
• We would love to hear your experiences of the support you received at your clinic. Check out Sarah’s survey via the link in her instagram bio (see below)

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