Main description:

Working with Infertility and Grief: A Practical Guide for Helping Professionals explores issues of grief, including disenfranchised grief and chronic sorrow, related to infertility and reproductive loss. Out of the small handful of books related to this topic, this is the first of its kind geared toward equipping helping professionals who assist those grieving unrecognized losses. Written through the lens of the literary framework of The Hero's Journey, this comprehensive practitioner guide directly targets mental health professionals working with clients, supervisees, or students who have experienced infertility, miscarriage, or death of an infant. This book is also for those who experienced it themselves. Readers will learn more about the crisis of infertility and reproductive loss, gain insight into the experience of those suffering, and acquire practical tools and strategies for helping and healing. This text is broad enough to be integrated into a course for a graduate program and specific enough to serve as a shelf reference for those in practice.

Contents:

Part One: The Biopsychosocial Crisis of Infertility 1. The Diagnosis: So You Can't Have a Baby...What's the Big Deal? 2. Biological Aspects of Infertility: My Body Betrayed Me 3. Psychological Impacts of Infertility: A Mind that Questions and a Heart that Hurts 4. Social Impacts of Infertility: One is the Loneliest Number Part Two: Who Suffers from Infertility? 5. Aging and Infertility: TICK, TICK, TICK... Is That My Biological Clock? 6. Non Age-Related Infertility: I'm Still a Spring Chicken, So Where Are My Chicks? 7. Femininity and Social Implications: Who Am I If I'm Not a Mother? 8. Male Factor Infertility: Dude, Am I Shooting Blanks? 9. Personal Choices in Growing a Nontraditional Family: Will You Stop Asking Me About Children? 10. Multicultural Considerations: Is Infertility an Equal Opportunity Condition? Part Three: Strategies and Suggestions for the Helping Professional 11. A Plan of Action for the Clinician: Finding Happily Ever After 12. Working with Individuals, Partners and Families: The Cast of Characters 13. The Clinical Supervisor's Role: Guiding the Hero's Journey 14. Counselor Educator Wisdom: The Sage