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)

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

Follow @YourFertilityNurse on Instagram

Follow Sarah Banks | Fertility Coach (@ivfpositivityplanner) on Instagram

Find IVF Positivity Planner – Sarah Banks Coaching 

BICA - https://www.bica.net/

Fertility Coaching with Kate and Sarah

Episode Sponsor @ovomcare on instagram www.ovomcare.com

This week we have a friend of the podcast returning to chat. Shaun a.k.a @knackered_knackers was previously on the podcast talking about his fertility journey using donor sperm. You can check out his previous episode Sperm Banter on the Fertility Podcast website. Now he is back with updates and more! Tune in to listen to what he is doing now and how his experiences have changed his life.

Here is what we discussed:

• Shaun updates us on his fertility journey using donor sperm
• His experience with male factor fertility, how he felt when receiving news about his fertility
• His decision to start a new career path to help others and how that is working out for him.
• How he has started to share his story to help others on a similar journey to him and try to gain more awareness around male fertility.
• Why Shaun is training to be a coach and why he felt there was a need for a dedicated fertility coach for men.
• Shaun’s tips on what to do to stay focused when receiving news from the doctor and how to cope with that news.
• The support he got from those around him, and how that helped him to then better himself and his clients
• What it is like having donor conceived children
• His process with his clients, how he gets them to open up, and why it is so important to talk.

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

Follow @YourFertilityNurse on Instagram

Follow @knackered_knackers on Instagram

Find Shaun’s previous episode here Sperm Banter • The Fertility Podcast

This episode of the Fertility Podcast, Zoe is joining me as we talk about the importance of feeling empowered on your fertility journey and being able to advocate for yourself. Zoe talks about her infertility and how it led her to using donor eggs and the obstacles that she and her partner faced in order to create their family.

What we discussed:

• Her diagnosis of childhood cancer and how this impacted her fertility for the future
• How Zoe dealt with her infertility and how it she had to have a difficult conversation with her husband, early on in their relationship
• The options they had to consider when trying for a baby
• Talking about Zoe’s journey with donor conception and her decision to choose an anonymous donor
• Being told by her clinic in Spain that her first donor cycle would definitely be successful and then the shock of a negative pregnancy test
• How Zoe was able to positively advocate for herself
• How it is important to go out and do your own research and be prepared to have an honest conversation with your consultants
• Learn to cherry pick what you need and to take control and ownership of your fertility journey

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

Follow @YourFertilityNurse on Instagram

Mitochondrial Donation Treatment - https://www.hfea.gov.uk/treatments/embryo-testing-and-treatments-for-disease/mitochondrial-donation-treatment/

The Fertility Podcast is honoured to be joined by Martha, founder of Martha Brook Stationary. Tune in to listen to Martha as she talks about the origins of Martha Brook Stationary and her own fertility journey involving 7 rounds of IVF and a battle with endometriosis.

What we discuss:

• The origins of Martha Brook London 
• Martha on her diagnosis of Endometriosis 
• Martha’s reaction to being told she would not be able to have children 
• How Martha juggled the challenges faced with running a business and navigating IVF treatment 
• Martha’s honesty with her work team and how her own experiences have enhanced her ability to support the emotional wellbeing of her employees
• The creation of the Martha Brook IVF journal and how it can support your fertility journey

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

Follow @YourFertilityNurse on Instagram

Follow Martha Brook (@marthabrookldn) | Instagram on Instagram

The Martha Brook IVF Journal

Go to The Martha Brook Story | Martha Brook for more! 

Well, we made it through our first series of The F Word at Work and we can't thank you enough for listening. We'd love to hear your throughts so if you're listening to this in Apple or Spotify, please do take the time to follow this podcast and also leave us a review. We'll be back in June with Series 2, talking about the new surrogacy reform bill, as well as sharing more wise words from our members about the work they're doing and thought leadership on Mental Health at Work, make sure you've subscribed. This episode is the perfect finale to our series, a conversation with one of our trainers Katy Schnitzler, founder of Mist about her research and training around pregnancy loss and childlessness.

**Trigger warning as we talk about pregnancy loss in this episode **

This is another taboo topic within the workplace, that needs to be better understood and supported and we know you will learn a lot from what she shares.

What was discussed:

• Research into pregnancy loss
• How Katy set up a consultancy to share her research 
• How employers need training alongside policy
• How shocking some of the insensitive reactions were from line managers
• The comments that people say in general about pregnancy loss
• People are unsure of how to react to pregnancy loss - due to the taboo 
• Communication training is well received - helping people what to say
• Not assumption forming - that everyone experiences pregnancy in the same way
• If there isn’t a policy it implies you can’t speak about pregnancy loss 
• How PTSD affects someone who has experiences pregnancy loss, panic attacks 
• 1 in 6 people women show symptoms of PTSD as a result of pregnancy loss 
• How men feel overlooked - therefore the training covers the impact on partners as they are ignored 
• The language used for those around those who don’t have children
• How someone was told they didn’t get the job as the person who did had ‘more supervision’ as they’re a parent
• How working from home requests have been designed as people don’t have children 

We refer to an episode of The Fertility Podcast, which is an interview with Dr Jessica Farren about her research which you can listen to here podcast link 

We also talk about Jody Day and I've shared another episode from The Fertility Podcast here which is Jody talking about why we need to talk about childless women differently. Have a listen.

You can book a call to speak with us here. 

Find out more about our services and sign up for our newsletter here. 

Follow us on Insta and find out what our community has to say. 

Join us on LinkedIn. 

Find us on Twitter. 

Warning: Explicit content

Welcome to the Mindfulness episode! Joining me today is Amy Polly who is a Mindfullness Teacher and we will be talking about how mindfulness can help with fertility. Amy will give some tips on how you can have a go at mindfulness in your daily life. 

What we discussed:

• What drew Amy to mindfulness and how it has helped her in everyday life
• How mindfulness can help through the stress of fertility
• The research and science behind mindfulness 
• Talking about taking notice of what is around you, what you are doing - Mindfulness everyday
• Breathing meditation 

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

Follow @YourFertilityNurse on Instagram

Follow @ThisisAmyPolly on Instagram

Find Amy Polly on LinkedIn 

Welcome to another episode of The F Word at Work. This is our penultimate series and we'd love to hear more of your feedback, so please do leave a review in the app you are listening to - it's possible in Apple & Spotify. Now, as we head towards the end of the series, we're once again sharing an example of Best Practice from one of our members News UK and we're delighted to be joined by Hannah Spencer Head of Finance Transformation. Hannah joined our launch event which we helf for the organisation in July 2022 and has been doing incredible work within a working group to support HR in it's policy development and also to offer that essential peers support which you will hear her explain more about. Hannah also recently joined us to speak on a panel discussing fertility issues at work, with This Can Happen

*Trigger warning* we talk about pregnancy loss and trauma in this episode.

What we discussed: 

• Hannah's ongoing fertility treatment journey. 
• The struggle of going through treatment whilst in the workplace. 
• Balancing work while going through treatment. 
• When Hannah first spoke out about her fertility treatment 
• The impact her treatment had on Hannah's career choices
• How Hannah's boss and teammates supported and encouraged her to accept opportunities that came her way. 
• What pushed Hannah to share her story in the panel last July 2022 
• Why people on the journey and going through treatment wouldn't want to talk openly about it 
• Hannah's colleagues spoke about their personal journeys on the panel as well. 
• The feedback after the panel and what  was been happening since 
• How they're building fertility and infertility support groups at NewsUK 
• How having peer support groups is key to becoming fertility-friendly 
• The proactive side of what NewsUK has been doing with their support groups 
• Ensuring managers know where to go and that there's a consistent approach to how people are looked after, despite everybody's experiences being different. 
• Signposting managers to the right resources - creating a manager support pathway
• How resources are important to managers to identify and learn what the team needs if they are going through fertility/infertility treatment. 
• Hannah's advice to anyone planning to start imposing the well-being agenda in the workplace 
• Hannah's take on having boundaries whilst being a fertility advocate 

Have a listen to our conversation with This Can Happen founder Zoe Sinclair here  

You can book a call to speak with us here. 

Find out more about our services and sign up for our newsletter here. 

Follow us on Insta and find out what our community has to say. 

Join us on LinkedIn. 

Find us on Twitter. 

Trigger Warning: mentions of domestic abuse and infant loss

In this episode, I am joined by Social worker Rachel who became a young mum and experienced many hurdles through her fertility journey. Rachel talks about her son being diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease and the journey they went on, the aftermath and starting trying to conceive. 

What we discussed:

• Her life and how if changed after her mum remarried
• Her son’s diagnosis and the process which her and her husband went through
• The issues raised after her son’s death and the support she received
• How her experiences led her to her career and what she does to support others who may be in a similar situation as her
• Rachel talks about her remarriage and how another hurdle was thrown at her
• Rachel and her new husband desire to start a family and the problems raised through this
• The process of trying to get pregnant and all the treatments that Rachel had to go through 
• How we should focus more on Women's health from an early age

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

Follow @YourFertilityNurse on Instagram

Follow @DancinginBabydust on Instagram

Follow @Fatpositivefertility on Instagram

Find out more about Hannah Pearn at Acupuncture Fertility London - Hannah Pearn Acupuncture

Welcome to The F Word at Work - we share highligts of another epic week the night before we are attending the Northern Power Women awards ( fingers crossed by the time you hear this we've won!) We also mention the This Can Happen conference we're speaking at this week.

So we've got a few remaining episodes to share in this series, so we're going to be focusing on best practices from our clients. We're having more and more conversations with companies keen to offer training to their people leaders and ensure those going through fertility issues are better supported, which is so exciting for us as a start-up. Today we're delighted to share this conversation with Jo Riddell of Selfridges, Head of ER, Policy and Wellbeing.

Did you know that Selfridges is actually the first company that Fertility Matters at Work signed? Jo explains how she first heard about us and the amazing feedback Selfridges is getting as a result of the work they are doing.

We're delighted to share that Selfridges are now a fertility friendly accredited ™️ employer ( updated 12/3/2024 )

 What we discussed: 

• What led the drive for Selfridges to become fertility-friendly
• How Selfridges launched it's fertility friendly activity with a launch panel with a senior lead, talking about her expereince of pregnancy loss.
• The feedback they have been receiving since working with Fertility Matters at Work
• The impact of this education and how it is created an more supportive environment for colleagues.
• Selfridges plans for further awareness raising events.
• How representation is important
• How Selfridges have used surveys to gain employee feedback
• How employees and team members tend to share their feedback privately. 
• Selfridges relaunched its internal support network called, Family Matters to encourage people to share their stories. 
• Use of the Yama app to help them communicate and support each other despite the diversity and size of their organization. 
• How they ensure people feel comfortable and safe and that they are not judged regardless of what they are going through. 
• How Selfridges evaluated its policies to meet the different needs of its team members. 
• How using their social media to highlight this work has benefited their attraction and retention
• Selfridges aim to become fertility accredited this year. 
• How Selfridges wants to continue the conversation and to keep on looking for what’s next they can offer and how they’d be able to give support to their teams. 
• Have a look @fertilit_arty on insta

 WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FERTILITY ISSUES FOR YOUR ORGANISATION? 

 We have a few remaining places for our workshop on March 28th here. 

 You can also book a call to speak with us here. 

Find out more about our services and sign up to our newsletter here. 

 Follow us on Insta and find out what our community has to say. 

 Join us on LinkedIn 

 Find us on Twitter 

Tune in to listen to me talking about stress and how it affects your fertility journey. Take an opportunity to put the kettle on and relax while listening to this episode as I bust some myths about stress.

What I discuss:

• The research and science behind stress 
• The ‘flight or fight’ response
• Short and long time effects on the body
• Professor Jacky Boivin - Cardiff University and her research on the impact of stress on fertility 
• How our bodies can adapt to conditions that may not be suitable, for example war stricken countries have some of the highest birth rates
• How stress impacts all aspects of life
• Finding support

Socials:

Follow @TheFertilityPodcast on Instagram

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Find out more about Jacky Boivin Professor Jacky Boivin - People - Cardiff University