Currently trying to conceive or pregnant? Recently had a baby? Going through a journey to conceive or infertility?
While often one feels as if they shouldn’t need support during this time, the statistics on perinatal mental health disorders show otherwise. Even those without any prior mental health concerns can experience anxiety, depression or stress during this phase of life. If you are struggling, even if you think that you should be able to deal with it yourself, we are here to help. Our counselors are skilled and trained in this area and can help, guide, and support you.
Some areas we support are:
- Infertility
- ART/Third Party Reproduction- Counseling, Education, & Evaluations
- Pregnancy Loss
- Pregnancy After Loss
- Pregnancy Adjustment, Anxiety, or Depression
- Post Partum Adjustment, Anxiety or Depression
- Childless by Circumstance
- Single Parents By Choice
- Donor Conception- adults, children, donors, recipient parents
Infertility Counseling: While your doctor understands the medical issues involved with infertility, at The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh, our master’s level professional counselors also understand the emotional journey you’re taking and the adjustment issues you’re likely to face.
We have decades of experience helping individuals and families to understand and resolve their feelings surrounding infertility.
Whether you’re dealing with a new diagnosis, or you’re at the end of the process and asking yourself “what now?”, support and counseling can help you sort through your options and work through the related emotional issues.
We see both males and females going through infertility and also offer free support groups.
These issues can include:
- Marital conflict- we see individuals and couples
- How to communicate with family and friends
- Coping with grief
- Talking through questions as to your next step, such as
- “Should I/we proceed with IUI or IVF?”
- “Should I/we consider surrogacy?”
- “What issues do I/we have to think about if we want to use a donor egg/sperm/embryo?”
- “Is adoption an option for me/us?”
- “Can I/we see myself/ourselves without children?”
Infertility Support Group
We offer an active infertility support group that is typically held on the last Monday of each month. This group is mostly virtual, free of charge and we welcome you to attend!
Please email Jodi Horn to RSVP and receive the Zoom link.
Check out our Infertility Support Group Flyer for dates, topics, and more information.
Third Party Reproduction/ART:
The decision to use assisted or third-party reproduction can involve a lot of thought. Is IVF right for you? Do you have concerns regarding this process?
We can help you explore what assisted reproduction is and what it means to you and to your future child. We can also help you decide if this path is right for you.
If you are using third party reproduction, we can help individuals and couples think about how to communicate with their family members (including the child conceived via donor sperm), anticipate feelings that donor-conceived children might have, and determine what level of open contact they may want to have with their donor. As our counselors have many years of experience with open adoption, we bring to the table these skills in discussing and navigating open relationships with a non-biological parent.
We also can provide required counseling and documentation if your clinic is requiring a counseling session prior to initiation of third-party reproduction.
Donor Conception: If you are donor-conceived or parenting a child who is donor-conceived, there are many questions that can arise in understanding the importance of genetic parentage.
Many individuals grieve the loss of knowing their genetic parent and consider the implications of searching for them. With our strong background through years of counseling of adopted individuals, The Children’s Home’s master’s level counselors have the empathy, understanding, and extensive experience in working with individuals struggling with not knowing a piece of their genetic history, wondering if they should make contact or search, or trying to figure out how this might impact their identity. And we continue to grow that knowledge into the realm of working with those who are donor-conceived or have experienced a non-paternity event (MPE/NPE). We are happy to talk to you about your specific situation and determining how we might be able to help.
Pregnancy, Pregnancy Loss and Post Partum:
The period of time surrounding pregnancy and post-partum can be filled with ups and downs, hormonal shifts, and losses as well as gains. Best made plans for labor and delivery often do not work out as planned and it is easy to feel as if you have no control over what is next. Whether you have had an easy experience or a traumatic one, help is available to best cope with this period of life and transition. Our skilled counselors will make sure to address whatever goals you have, whether it be adjustment, grief, depression or anxiety, and help you move through this period with more support and tools.
Now Accepting Insurance including Medicaid!
Fee for Service Options Available
Financial Assistance as Needed