25) The Role of Mental Health Providers in the Surrogacy Journey
Channel: IVF DADDIES
Date: 2024-04-08

Joey, a licensed therapist specializing in fertility, IVF, and surrogacy counseling, shares his personal journey of building a family through surrogacy and egg donation. He discusses the importance of open communication, setting expectations, and navigating the emotional complexities of the process. Joey emphasizes the need for informed decision-making, including considerations for donor selection, single vs. double embryo transfer, and the relational dynamics with surrogates. He also highlights the role of mental health providers in providing education, support, and empathy to intended parents and surrogates throughout their journey.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Personal Journey
03:21 Donor Selection and Embryo Creation
07:22 Navigating Surrogate Selection
10:43 The Role of Mental Health Providers
23:07 Supporting Surrogates and Donors
25:26 Understanding Double Embryo Transfer
29:21 Personal Experience and Emotional Challenges
35:28 Importance of Support and Empathy
Sound Bites

"It is important to have a support system. It is important for you to be able to express yourself and to have your people there because you need people to help you with this."
"There's more to think about than just the thought of we wanna be parents and I wanna have a baby and I wanna transfer two embryos."
"You nearly made me cry. That must've been so tough. I'm really sorry that you went through that."

Keywords

fertility, IVF, surrogacy, counseling, donor selection, embryo transfer, mental health, support, empathy