Counselling service and patient support

What is counselling?

Undergoing fertility investigations and treatment can be a difficult and stressful experience.

As well as acting as a form of personal emotional support, counselling can contribute to the reduction of symptoms related to stress, anxiety and low mood/depression.

What is the fertility counsellor’s role?

We offer a counselling service before, during and after fertility treatment.

You can explore and discuss any difficulties, distress or uncertainty that you may be experiencing in a confidential setting.

The implications of fertility treatment or gamete and embryo donation/storage on your health and well-being can also be explored.

Who requires counselling?

We provide a professional and confidential counselling service as part of your treatment to all those attending the department of reproductive medicine for fertility investigations, treatment, donation or storage procedures.

Following a provision of information session delivered by our clinical team, all patients on these protocols will therefore have at least one counselling session to discuss the implications prior to signing consent forms. This is to ensure that all psychological impacts of progressing are explored and that you are fully informed before proceeding.

Why have counselling?

Having a child is a major life event for any individual and couple. When this is proving difficult to achieve and requires medical intervention, it can feel like a major life crisis.

The emotional ups and downs, and other pressures and uncertainties that come with needing help to have a baby, are well recognised within the field of reproductive medicine.

Counsellor availability and access to the service

You may attend with your partner or individually. Each session usually lasts for one hour and arranged to be weekly, fortnightly or even monthly appointments, depending on your needs. There is no set number of sessions. Timings and frequency of the counselling session will be agreed with the counsellor. We aim to be as flexible as possible by providing face-to-face, telephone or video appointments.

Confidentiality

What you talk about during your counselling session is private and confidential between you and the counsellor.

There are however, situations when the counsellor cannot hold information you share as private and confidential. These situations are:

You are at risk of harm to yourself or from others
Others are mentioned as being at risk from themselves, you or others
A safeguarding issue related to any child
Terrorism or extremist plots/action that put the public at risk
Anything deemed illegal by law

The counsellor has a duty of care to contact the appropriate authorities if any of the above surface during your session(s).

The counsellor may discuss your case information in the confidential setting of their clinical supervision.

The counsellor keeps digitally secure brief notes on your session(s). You and the courts/police have a legal right to access these notes. If these notes were requested, we would seek your permission to release them.