A South Shields mum wants to channel her own experiences struggling conceive a baby into support for others as she launches a new organisation.
Claire Graham, 38, now has William, 4. But the fertility journey she and her partner went on took years, numerous different treatments and multiple rounds of IVF. Now, she has set up Claire Graham Holistic Fertility to help support others going through the same situation - with talking support groups, therapies like reiki and massage, and meditation sessions.
Claire wants to share with others the relaxation and physical benefits that looking after herself in these ways had during a complicated period in her life. She told ChronicleLive: "We started trying for a baby ten years ago now and it just didn't happen for whatever reason. What people often don't realise is that one in seven couples struggle to conceive. It's often something that's isn't discussed, even with family.
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"After a few years we asked for help. Luckily in the North East we have good NHS provision for this when it comes to the number of rounds you get. What I found is it can be very secretive. You try to carry on your job as normal, you go off to tests and scans - and you try to carry on as normal but it's not. It can be very isolating."
She said coping with struggling to have a baby when friends, family or colleagues might blithely raise the subject of children without knowing there was an issue was tough - and it helped to be able to speak to others going through the same kind of fertility problems. She wants her new organisation to provide a space for mutual support - as well as restorative alternative therapies. The sessions will open to both partners going through fertility treatment.
Claire added: "When anyone discovers you are struggling to conceive they always offer the advice of, just relax. That is very difficult to do when it literally takes over your life, you are attending scans, taking medication and often injections, all whilst trying to keep up the pretence that everything is ok.
"I found my meditation classes allowed me the opportunity to switch off and focus on just me. As my journey went on I went deeper with my meditation and began doing a daily one, based on the treatments I was on, I found it helped my body to accept the cocktail of hormones that I was having to take as well."
After having her son in 2018, Claire said she began to open up about how difficult things had been and said she found being transparent led to others confiding in her. She said: "Infertility can often be quite secretive and it feels like everyone else is having babies so won’t understand. The impact that can have on your mental health is massive and stress as well can affect fertility.
"I want to create a community for people going through this to come together. I don't want the group to be somewhere miserable but I do want people to be able to come somewhere to talk and be supportive."
To find out more, visit the Claire Graham Holistic Fertility page on Facebook.
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