Emotional Support

The Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine team understands that the journey to parenthood can sometimes take a long and circuitous path. Through work with patients, as well as available research, we know that infertility, pregnancy loss and other reproductive concerns can take an emotional toll on individuals, couples and families.

Because infertility and its treatment can result in diverse emotional reactions, we offer personalized pretreatment psychological consultation, individual and couples counseling, psychological assessment and emotional support to you through the treatment process and beyond. These emotional support services focus on the often complex nature of stress and coping with fertility treatment and address:

• Understanding and adjusting to the feelings of grief and loss that may arise if you need to use donor eggs, sperm or a gestational carrier
• Exploring the decision to become a single parent
• Treating depression or anxiety
• Managing relationship issues with your partner, family and/or friends
• Coping with negative pregnancy test results or pregnancy loss
• Managing non-fertility related stress

An appointment with our licensed psychologists, who specialize in women's reproductive health, is scheduled for you as part of the IVF registration process, when using donor sperm, eggs, or a gestational carrier. However, there are other times when appointments could be beneficial to you. These include:

• After negative pregnancy results or a pregnancy loss
• When unsure about emotional readiness to continue or end treatment
• With questions or concerns about choosing or coping with third-party reproduction (egg donor, sperm donor, gestational carrier) or adoption
• When considering disclosing your use of assisted reproduction to your child or others
• When considering multiple pregnancy reduction or pregnancy termination
• If you have been diagnosed with cancer or are concerned about your future fertility
• If your mood begins to interfere with your daily functioning, your relationship, your work, or other aspects of your life
• If you and/or your partner notice increased difficulties in your relationship

LGBTQ families

We take pride in helping individuals and couples build their families. Our faculty and staff provide an inclusive and supportive environment to all of our patients undergoing fertility treatment. There are many paths to parenthood for same-sex couples, and we will be there to help guide you on your path to parenthood.