Hypnofertility in Hertfordshire
Emotional support for your fertility journey
Trying to conceive can be an emotional journey in itself.
And when fertility treatment becomes part of that journey, there can be even more to carry. Appointments, investigations, injections, procedures, waiting, uncertainty, hope and sometimes disappointment.
You may find yourself thinking about fertility and cycles almost constantly.
Perhaps you're struggling with anxiety before treatment, finding the waiting particularly difficult, worrying about whether your body will cooperate, or feeling exhausted by having to stay hopeful when you're actually finding things incredibly hard. Or maybe you have simply been told that there is no medical explanation, after testing and what you’re experiencing is ‘unexplained’.
You don't have to pretend that you're okay.
Hypnofertility offers a space to support the emotional side of your fertility journey, combining therapeutic counselling with hypnotherapy.
What is hypnofertility?
Hypnofertility is not about trying to "think yourself pregnant".
And I cannot promise that hypnotherapy will help you conceive or influence the medical outcome of fertility treatment.
Instead, my focus is on supporting you as a whole person while you navigate what can be an incredibly demanding experience.
My training in hypnotherapy and hypnofertility, alongside my counselling background, allows me to work with both the emotional and psychological aspects of your journey.
This might mean helping you to:
Manage anxiety, overwhelm and stress levels
Find ways to relax when your mind won't switch off
Prepare emotionally for fertility treatment
Cope with uncertainty and waiting
Manage fears around procedures or treatment
Feel more grounded and in control
Explore difficult emotions around fertility
Process previous pregnancy or fertility loss
Cope with disappointment
Develop self-compassion
Find ways to look after yourself during treatment
There is no expectation that you need to be positive all the time.
Sometimes what you need most is somewhere safe to acknowledge how difficult it actually feels.
When fertility becomes emotionally exhausting
Fertility difficulties can affect far more than your plans to have a baby.
They can affect your confidence, relationships, body image, identity, finances, work and your sense of what the future might look like.
You may find yourself avoiding conversations because you don't know what to say.
You may feel angry when someone announces a pregnancy.
You may feel guilty for feeling that way.
You may feel disconnected from your own body.
You may be frightened to hope.
Or you may simply be tired.
All of these feelings deserve somewhere to be heard.
Hypnofertility after pregnancy or baby loss
For some people, fertility treatment follows a previous miscarriage, pregnancy loss or the death of a baby.
That can make trying again incredibly complicated emotionally.
You might desperately want to become pregnant again while simultaneously feeling frightened of what pregnancy could bring.
You might find it difficult to trust your body.
You might feel that allowing yourself to become excited is somehow dangerous.
Or you might feel guilty for wanting another baby while still grieving the baby you lost.
There is no contradiction in holding these feelings together.
You can grieve the baby you lost and still hope for another pregnancy.
If previous loss is part of your story, we can make space for that within the work rather than expecting you to put it to one side.
My 90-minute Hypnofertility session
I offer a 90-minute Hypnofertility session, combining counselling and hypnotherapy.
The longer session allows us to spend time understanding what's happening for you emotionally before moving into therapeutic hypnosis and relaxation.
The session will be tailored to where you are in your journey.
For example, you may want support
Before treatment
Preparing emotionally and finding ways to manage anxiety.
During IVF or fertility treatment
Managing appointments, procedures, uncertainty and the emotional ups and downs.
During the two-week wait
Finding ways to cope with the waiting and the thoughts that can become overwhelming.
Following disappointment
Making space for the emotions that come with a cycle not working or receiving difficult news.
After previous loss
Exploring fears and emotions around trying again.
Or simply because medically your infertility is ‘unexplained’ and you’re not sure what comes next.
There is no set script for what you should be feeling.
You don't have to stay positive
There can be enormous pressure during fertility treatment to "think positively".
But fertility treatment isn't always positive.
It can be frightening.
It can be exhausting.
It can be disappointing.
It can be lonely.
You can be hopeful one day and completely overwhelmed the next.
You can want this desperately and still need a break from thinking about it.
My role isn't to tell you to think positively.
It's to give you somewhere you can be honest about how you actually feel and allow you to explore that.
A little space to breathe
Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is simply pause.
During hypnosis, I can guide you into a deeply relaxed and focused state, giving you an opportunity to step away from the constant thinking for a while.
We can work with relaxation, visualisation and therapeutic suggestions that are relevant to your individual circumstances.
You remain aware and in control throughout.
The aim isn't to make you forget what is happening.
It's to help you find moments of calm within it.
What does the research say?
There is growing research into psychological and mind/body approaches for people experiencing infertility and undergoing fertility treatment.
A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis of 10 randomised controlled trials found that mind/body programmes were associated with improvements in anxiety, depression and quality of life, and also reported an association with pregnancy rates. However, the studies were quite heterogeneous, meaning the results need to be interpreted carefully.
Another systematic review found preliminary evidence that mind/body interventions may reduce anxiety and depression in people experiencing infertility, with some evidence suggesting a possible improvement in pregnancy rates. The authors also called for further, better-designed research.
Research looking more broadly at psychosocial interventions during assisted reproductive treatment has also found associations with pregnancy outcomes, including in some analyses of mind/body interventions.
But this is an important distinction:
These studies investigate mind/body or psychosocial interventions as a group. They do not prove that hypnotherapy itself causes pregnancy or increases IVF success.
That is why I don't make promises about fertility outcomes.
Instead, I believe there is real value in supporting your emotional wellbeing, anxiety, stress and ability to cope while you are going through fertility treatment.
Hypnofertility should be seen as complementary support alongside appropriate medical fertility care, rather than as an alternative to it.
My experience
My journey into hypnofertility began through my work as a hypnotherapist and Hypnobirthing practitioner.
I have been working therapeutically since 2008 and subsequently trained as a psychotherapeutic counsellor, recognising how often fertility concerns involve much more than the physical process of trying to conceive.
My wider therapeutic training allows me to support the emotional side of fertility alongside the hypnotherapy itself.
I also have training in baby loss and understand that fertility journeys can sometimes be closely connected with grief and previous loss.
Is Hypnofertility right for you?
You don't need to know exactly what you need before you get in touch.
Perhaps you're about to start IVF.
Perhaps you're already part way through treatment.
Perhaps you're trying naturally after previous fertility difficulties or pregnancy loss.
Or perhaps you simply feel that you need somewhere to put down some of the emotional weight you're carrying.
We can talk about what's happening for you and whether a Hypnofertility session feels appropriate.
You don't have to navigate the emotional side of fertility treatment alone.