Gold Program

Before you attend our RE-MAP workshop, you will be asked to participate in two separate 1:1 online  meetings. These important sessions are designed to help you clarify your goals for the program so we can  tailor it to meet your specific needs.

During the Assessment, we learn about your fertility story and your fertility health – including your diet and exercise regime. We get to understand your mood and cognitions related to infertility, while we also assess how infertility has affected you socially and impacted your interpersonal relationships.

During the second meeting, Results &  Fertility Action Plan, we share the results of the assessment in the form of a concise bio-psycho-social report. Based on our findings, we will work collaboratively to set treatment goals for the workshop and create a plan for moving forward.

By using our proprietary RE-MAP methodology, our workshops allow you to experience a 360 degree treatment pathway. We call it an ‘arc of treatment’ that begins with gaining understanding, moves into learning, and culminates with implementing real change.

Understand

We start with an assessment of the landscape of your life – your biological, psychological, and social fertility health. This means we can customize treatment to your unique needs, and track progress towards your goals.

We follow this with the writing up of your ‘Reproductive Story’. Simply put, you will explore the narrative you tell yourself about your fertility journey, and how this might be impacting your life. We’ll address important questions such as “How did you imagine it would be?”, “Where did it go wrong?” and “How has infertility impacted my life?”

This process is designed to help you gain insight into the emotions and thoughts that are the foundations of your pain. Research shows that your physical health and emotional well-being can benefit from the therapeutic effects of expressive writing.

Learn

You will begin to learn the psychological tools you need to ‘reframe’ your critical thoughts – reframing negative thoughts with compassionate messages.

You will grow your knowledge of healthy lifestyle habits – such as exercise and nutrition – as well as alternative treatments that can help optimize fertility

You will start to work with tools that are supported by science to rewire your neural circuitry – and learn mind-body skills to tolerate uncomfortable emotions.

All practices used are backed by empirical evidence of the positive role they can play in changing the automatic physiological response to stress and unpleasant emotions. In this way, you begin to improve overall health and emotional well-being.

Change

The last stage of the arc is about implementing Change – achieved by building a customized plan based on the lifestyle habits and mind body practices you have learned so far. Importantly, your plan will have built-in reinforcers such as accountability, monitoring, and scheduling. These criteria are scientifically proven to help effect and maintain change – enabling you to make real, long-term positive changes in your daily life.

A one-on-one online meeting will take place in the 2 week period following the workshop.

The purpose of this meeting is to help you assimilate the insights you gained about yourself during the assessment and workshop phases, and to set clear objectives for going forward on your fertility journey.

Following the workshop, you will have started to incorporate new exercise, nutrition, communication and self-care regiments into your life. But of course, you are sure to meet with obstacles and roadblocks along the way, which challenge your success. We look at how you can integrate your lifestyle changes into your daily life – especially by acknowledging obstacles and developing reinforcers to support your new healthy habits. Finally, should you desire continued work with a mental health professional, we can offer referrals or discuss options about continuing work with staff at the Sage Center.

1) Strengthening your Marriage/Relationship

Creating a family is often at the core of many couples’ dreams and plans for the future, and when this dream is blocked even the strongest of couples can be left feeling helpless and devastated. With each partner having to learn to manage their own grief and frustration – while at the same time supporting their distressed partner – relationships can be put under immense stress. What’s more, you and your partner might have different styles of coping. Perhaps your partner buries his or her feelings and emotionally ‘pulls away’ leaving you feeling angry and alone. Resentment, conflict and disconnection can follow all too easily.

In this module we help you recognize the specific strategies you and your partner use to cope with the struggle of infertility and introduce you to ways in which you can respect your differences. We’ll guide you on how to communicate openly and honestly, while treating each other with compassion.

2) Managing Relationships with Extended Family, Friends, and the World

When you’re dealing with infertility, conversations with family members and friends can feel like walking through a field of land mines. You’re on guard, waiting for an uncomfortable or hurtful question, or piece of advice, and often it is the unanticipated situation or random remark from a stranger that can knock you off your feet. Here we explore strategies for managing these relationships and situations.

3) Surviving the Holidays, Pregnancy Announcements and Baby Showers

Seeing your siblings, cousins and friends celebrate with their children at holiday time often emphasizes what you don’t have. Equally, pregnancy announcements and baby showers are difficult reminders that your dream of creating a family has not gone the way you imagined. With this in mind, we offer strategies for protecting you and your partner during holidays, family gatherings and special occasions. You will learn how to survive everyday stressful events – from a baby shower to a neighborhood BBQ.

Exploring Adoption, Donor Egg and Sperm, and Surrogacy

Up until now, you have perhaps only thought about conceiving the traditional way or using assisted reproductive technologies like IUI or IVF. But of course there are many ways to build a family – and in these two modules we consider additional pathways to the family of your dreams.

• We discuss family building through donor egg, donor sperm, donor embryo, surrogacy, and gestational carriers.
• We explore domestic and international adoption.