Monday 9 July 2012

Exciting times ahead!

I am delighted to have been selected on to the new HFEA National Strategy Group for Donation.  I believe there is still much work to be done in raising awareness of the realities of donor conception, for both the donors and the families they help to create and look forward to exciting times ahead.

My fertility career began in 2004 with Infertility Network UK, in my first week attending the HFEA conference to hear the announcement of the decision to remove anonymity for donors the following year. 
I now work as a counsellor across two busy London clinics: the London Women’s Clinic and the Bridge Centre and also at the London Sperm Bank. But my clients aren’t all current patients and donors, often I see people coming back to access specialist support many years after they became a donor, whether altruistically or through an egg share programme.

They may be seeking support in telling their children that they previously enabled others to become parents themselves, or are now looking to tell their children that they are donor conceived. Sadly many donors are unaware of this support and also of the ability to contact the HFEA at any time to re-register as an identifiable donor if you donated prior to April 1st 2005.

Donors are also able to contact the HFEA to update or indeed create a pen sketch and/or good will message if you did not provide one previously. 

Anyone can find out more about becoming a sperm donor by contacting the London Sperm Bank or becoming and altruistic egg donor or an egg donor through egg sharing by contacting the London Women’s Clinic or Bridge Centre.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Booking counselling....

Thank you for your enquiries regards booking counselling, I do not have a private practice. I work at the London Women's Clinic, London Sperm Bank and Bridge Fertility Centre please contact the clinic or sperm bank directly to book an appointment.

If you wish to get in touch for signposting to resources I can be contacted directly:

London Women's Clinic & London Sperm Bank:
tracey.sainsbury@londonwomensclinic.com

The Bridge Centre:
t.sainsbury@thebridgecentre.co.uk

You can also find specialist fertility counsellors with private practices through the British Infertility Counselling Association: http://www.bica.net/counsellorbypostcode

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Monday 30 January 2012

Review – The Two Week Wait by Sarah Rayner


I’m not usually a reader of fertility related fiction, but Sarah Rayner isn’t a usual author!


Sarah previously wrote the copy for the eggsharing.com website after a great deal of research in to the practical and emotional aspects of treatment.  At the same time her novels were starting to identify her as a superb author who is able to demonstrate great empathy for her characters.

Having gained familiarity for the hugely complex and often conflicting emotions that surround assisted conception, especially egg sharing, Sarah went on to use that in her latest novel, the title highlighting the often most difficult time during treatment  - the two week wait.

Several of the characters in 'The Two Week Wait' were first introduced in Sarah’s previous novel, ‘One Moment, One Morning’, which has now sold over 200,000 copies and has just been published in the US.  But you do not need to have read it before falling in to her latest book. I say ‘falling in to’ as opposed to reading as it’s one of those books that embraces you and takes you on a journey.

If your perceived successful outcome for IVF was a take home baby, then this book possibly doesn’t have a wholly happy ending. If your happy ending is one where trying to conceive is part of a journey to acceptance, to acknowledgement that the need to nurture isn’t always baby shaped, that we can’t always identify what we really want and what’s important to us until we really know it - then this book is a definite one to read.

Life has difficulties for most people and when you embark on assisted conception as a pathway to parenthood the internal conflicting emotions you feel can make everyday life feel exhausting; a good book is often a source of relaxation, this is one book you can pick up and read at a pace that suits you.  I have to confess I couldn’t put it down and don’t remember sleeping much until I’d finished.

A great read not just for people going through treatment, but their friends and family too.  It gives a real sense of how people make big life changing decisions, how difficult it can be sharing news, how some people can be incredibly naive or hurtful when they aren’t sure what to say or how to say it.

But it is also a great read as a novel with a really emotive storyline for anyone who wants to be taken on life changing journey, with characters brought to life who share themselves so generously with the reader.
Enjoy!

You can purchase The Two Week Wait now on Amazon through Infertility Books and support  Infertility Network UK here: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/infnetuk-21/detail/0330544098