Infertility Counseling
in Houston, TX and Online
Are You Struggling With the Stress, Uncertainty and Pain of Fertility Issues?
An infertility therapist can help you cope with the stress of infertility and explore your family planning options.
Struggles with Infertility Can Be Isolating
You may be feeling stuck, isolated and unsure how to manage conflicting thoughts and emotions.
You might be so focused on the next step—the next appointment or procedure—that you have little time to address the distressing feelings below the surface.
Alternately, you might feel consumed by sadness, regret, resentment, anger and fear, and you don’t know how to regain balance and sustain faith in your dream of parenthood.
If you are grieving a miscarriage, a stillbirth or a failed round of treatment, you may wonder if you can keep going through this loss. Or, perhaps you have not yet found the space you need to grieve.
Perhaps you are single, and feel that friends and family don’t understand how much you long to be a parent.
Or, maybe you are in a partnership, and ongoing struggles to conceive have created distance and tension in your relationship. You might both feel unsure how to support one another, especially if only one of you is going through ongoing infertility treatment, medical examinations and procedures.
You may not know how much to tell friends and family members, especially if you feel overwhelmed by unsolicited advice and insensitive commentary about your body and relationship.
There Are Many Different Ways to Build a Family
Experiencing infertility is psychologically distressing in many different ways.
Many of us grow up believing that, once we’re ready, we’ll be able to have a healthy child. As we dream about our futures, few of us expect or imagine confronting fertility challenges or pregnancy loss.
If you are experiencing infertility, you likely feel utterly alone, especially if your friends and loved ones seem to be having children with ease. However lonely, frustrated or broken you feel, you are not alone.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 percent of women have difficulty conceiving or carrying a child to term. And, in 35 percent of infertile couples, a male partner contributed to infertility. All types of couples experience infertility and it’s no one’s fault.
Regardless of your particular situation—whether you are weighing your options, years into fertility treatments or beginning the adoption process—your feelings are valid.
Individual & Couples Counseling for Coping with Pregnancy Loss
Couples experiencing infertility may also experience a miscarriage or pregnancy loss. It can be devastating to lose a pregnancy and the hopes and dreams you had for that child and your family.
A miscarriage or pregnancy loss is incredibly painful and partners may grieve in different ways. It’s normal to experience a roller coaster of emotions as you are grieving as well as numbness or denial. Some people reach out more for connection and support while others may focus on problem solving or taking action. There is no right way to grieve.
Couples and families that experience a pregnancy loss often need time to heal before pursuing family building or getting pregnant again. Some may decide to step away from family building. Other couples may find themselves at different stages of healing or readiness, which can create conflict in the relationship.
It’s natural to be at different stages in the grief process. Emotions are raw after experiencing a loss, which can leave couples more vulnerable to stress and disagreements. Couples counseling can help you cope together and find ways to support and understand one another as you grieve and move forward together as a family.
An Infertility Therapist Can Provide You With Guidance, Support, Hope and Direction
Whether you come to sessions alone or with your partner, your infertility therapist can teach you effective tools and strategies for coping with stress and anxiety, depression, communication issues and more.
You can shift out of negative beliefs and discover new ways of thinking about the challenges you’re facing.
Therapy offers you a safe space to process and openly express your experience without dodging painful misconceptions and judgments. By working with a therapist who truly understands infertility and a wide range of related family planning issues, you can find solace and acceptance.
You can create room for healing.
Grief and loss can change your thinking patterns before you even realize it. Suffering can make you fearful of more suffering, triggering looping thoughts about everything that can go wrong. Focusing on the worst-case scenario can make it difficult to see other options in front of you.
With increased awareness and self-compassion, you can see your future more clearly.
Infertility & Adoption Counseling FAQ's
Are you seeking a way to gain clarity about family building, your next steps or to claim a sense of agency over your future? An objective, experienced counselor can help you better understand what you want and need, as well as explore family planning options that feel right for you.
You can voice worries and confusion without fear of judgment and work through fears you have about taking an “alternate” route to parenthood. Each alternate parenting route comes with it’s own unique set of worries and concerns.
There are the emotional and financial costs of infertility treatments, deciding on closed or open adoption, understanding the genetic, biological and psychological implications of using an egg or sperm donor or donated embryo, or choosing not to have children. Each decision is complex and unique to your family’s needs. A therapist can’t tell you what to do, but can help you evaluate your priorities and move forward in making the best decision for your family.
And, because fertility treatments, surrogacy, egg and sperm donors, embryo donation, adoption and more can be emotionally draining and time consuming, your therapist can offer you valuable self-care strategies. You can find ways to nurture yourself, foster fulfilling relationships, focus on career pursuits and otherwise build your life, even while you pursue parenthood.
Although it might seem unbearably painful, grieving infertility is essential. And, talking about infertility makes it more manageable. When we hold things in, they grow and grow, taking over every aspect of our lives.
Talking about difficult emotions is like releasing a pressure valve and letting all of the built up pain, regret and fear lift away. Once you let your feelings out, you can find relief. Talking with an infertility therapist is a safe experience, because they understand what you are going through.
It’s true that your therapist can’t “fix” everything. Infertility is a reality, and we would never undermine the physical, medical and logistical challenges you’re experiencing. Instead, we want to assure you that you don’t have to face those challenges alone. You are valuable and worthwhile, and you deserve support.
We can help you cope, feel better and trust that you have an ally on your side. And, we can offer clarity and pathways to tangible solutions. The psychological impact of infertility can be profound. You deserve to have a partner to help you cope.
We understand how overwhelming it can be to manage your schedule, especially when you are visiting multiple health providers, researching options and managing day-to-day life. But, we also know that your mental health is just as important as your physical health.
Whether you are trying to conceive or preparing for adoption, you are likely facing a great deal of uncertainty. In therapy, you can create a supportive, reliable therapeutic relationship with someone who understands your history, needs and hopes.
You don’t have to come into therapy every week or every month. Your therapist can simply serve as a touchstone, there to support you when things get hard. Counseling shouldn’t feel like another thing you “need to do.” This is about you, your self-care and what you need to feel like a whole person. You are worth that time.
If it’s more convenient for you, you can also opt for online therapy sessions from the comfort of your home or office with any of our infertility counselors.
Infertility Counseling Can Help You Heal & Make Decisions
If you are carrying shame or guilt, blaming yourself or your partner, avoiding your emotions or finding that your emotions interrupt your ability to move through the day, it may be time to seek help.
An infertility therapist can help you grieve, cope with infertility issues, regain a sense of possibility and feel equipped to make the right decisions for yourself and your family.
Even though your future may look different than you imagined, you don’t have to give up on happiness. There’s no right or wrong way to build a family. With guidance and support, you can feel empowered to create and nurture yours.
Get Help From a Specialist in Infertility Counseling
Alexandra Marshall
Alexandra’s focus is on helping you develop self-confidence, cope with feelings of anxiety, emotional eating, loneliness and isolation, and mana…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTDiana Cabrera-Stewart
Diana’s specialty areas include working with mothers at any stage in their journey, as well as working with clients for whom race, culture, ethn…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTKelsey Engdorf
Kelsey enjoys working with teens, young adults, and couples to help them build the lives they want and make meaningful changes.
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTMarcie Dinkin
Marcie works with parents, young adults, and teens, together or individually, to assess what the major issues and roadblocks are, address any hu…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTRebecca Perez
I’m passionate about helping people overcome life’s challenges. Whether you are struggling with a personal crisis brought on by trauma, relatio…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTSamantha Birnbaum
Sam specializes in working with moms, parents, teens and adults struggling with parenting/postpartum, eating disorders, body image, and addictio…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTVanessa Guidry
Vanessa works with children, teens, young adults and families. She helps with behavioral concerns, emotional stress such as anxiety, anger and d…
BOOK AN APPOINTMENTWhat Clients Are Saying
Welcoming & Great Listener
Sessions are going very well with my therapist. I like her ability to create a comfortable and open environment. She is a great conversation starter, and it’s easy to express ourselves about anything. She is very welcoming and a great listener.