In Argentina, there are psychologists with different theoretical frameworks, some have a background in psychoanalysis, some in  behaviorism, cognitivism and other psychological currents. In general, patients are referred for psychological consultation by specialists. There are psychologists who work in medical centers and others who work in private practice. The Argentine Center of Psychology and Reproduction (CAPSIR) is a team that assist people who want to be parents and have children. These include heterosexual couples, women without partners, two women, two men, and it includes options such as surrogacy and adoption. We publish children’s books to explain the procreative diversity outreach on these issues to the community and we present papers at national and international conferences. Silvia Jadur is  also the coordinator of Psychology Chapter in the Argentina Society for Reproductive Medicine.

The Australian and New Zealand Infertility Counsellors Association (ANZICA) was formed in Canberra in 1989 by a group of 10 infertility counsellors, social workers and psychologists attending the Fertility Society of Australia annual meeting. Since 2005 it became a subgroup of the Fertility Society of Australia. ANZICA membership has expanded to include almost 100 members from all States and Territories of Australia and across New Zealand and is the largest professional association for infertility counsellors. ANZICA fulfils an important role in representing the views of infertility counselors both to the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC), The Fertility Society of Australia and the New Zealand Infertility Society. It is vital that counsellors have a voice in the field of Reproductive Technology both as advocates for the clients and for the potential unborn child. ANZICA membership is open to counsellors with recognized tertiary qualifications in psychology or social work. Students of these fields and other counsellors with related university specialized training are also welcome to join as associate members. ANZICA hosts a closed Facebook group, has a newsletter, and runs counselling workshops twice a year for its members.   AZICA Policy Statements

• ANZICA Policy and Procedure Manual
• ANZICA Terms of Reference
• ANZICA Donor Linking Guidelines
• ANZICA Surrogacy Guidelines
• ANZICA Position Paper on Donor Embryos
• ANZICA Position Paper on Egg Sharing
• ANZICA Guidelines for Professional Practice

You can find links to all of these Statements here

There is no organization in Austria. Please contact Eveline Paula Leitl for information on infertility counseling in Austria  

The Bulgarian Association of Reproductive Psychology is the first professional organisation of infertility counsellors in the country. Our ultimate goal is to improve the well-being of people using Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). The foundations of this organisation are built of three key areas of focus:

• counselling,
• implementation of patient-centered care in medical treatment, and
• research.

In order to carry out these tasks we work closely with the patients’ organisations, reproductive medical centres and academics to assist in the facilitation and promotion of readily available psychological counselling, psychosocial interventions and care, and psycho-education in infertility. The psychosocial services are provided by the Association’s network of counsellors in big towns and cities across the country. Proceeding from the need of specialist training in the field, the Reproductive Psychology course was founded in two master programs at Sofia University in 2014 by Dr. Vanya Savova. Since then the Bulgarian Association of Reproductive Psychology supports the development of specialists, enhances their professional qualification and forms the local criteria for evaluation of those skilled in the field of infertility counselling, which leads to our aim to develop a European-wide recognized accreditation system. Currently the website (with English version) is under construction.

The Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG) was inaugurated at the joint Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS) and American Society of Reproduction Medicine (ASRM) Annual Meeting in 2005. The mission of CSIG is to:

• Promote opportunities for communication and networking among Canadian counsellors;
• Provide professional development through education and training;
• Support counsellors’ involvement in research activities;
• Encourage multi-disciplinary collaboration and exchange;
• Develop standards of practice for counselling within the scope and context of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act of Canada;
• Encourage counsellors working in the field to become members of CFAS.
• The Counselling Practice Guidelines Committee was established in January 2008 to fulfill the mandate of developing standards of practice for Canadian counsellors. Committee members included Susan Bermingham MPs, Judith Daniluk PhD, Christopher Newton PhD, Janet Takefman PhD, and Samantha Yee MSW. Contributions by Sherry Dale MSW, Jean Haase MSW from Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, and Valerie Wilkie RN of the Nursing Special Interest Group are acknowledged.

At present in Canada, there is no complete agreement among those in the field of Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) concerning the minimum qualifications necessary to provide appropriate AHR counselling services. The Assisted Human Reproduction Counselling Guidelines are judged to reflect best practice and were developed to ensure optimum care for individuals considering AHR interventions. These guidelines are relevant for all professionals who provide AHR counselling, although different levels of training and experience might be necessary for different counselling interventions (e.g. third party reproduction or the administration of psychological tests).

Background

In Chile, the number of reproductive medicine centers has grown steadily over the last 25 years. One of the first and largest is a public program providing ART to couples of low and middle income who would otherwise have virtually no possibility to become biological parents. This clinical/academic program is supported by the Ministry of Health and is conducted at the University of Chile (IDIMI). This center pioneered locally and in Latin America the implementation of psychological assistance as an integral part of reproductive treatments. At present, most of the ART centers include a psychologist as part of their clinical teams.

Current Status of Infertility Counseling
The Special Interest Group in Psychology was established in March 2014 within the Chilean Society of Reproductive Medicine. Members are: four psychologists in private ART centers, one in the above-mentioned university-based ART center, and one representative of the national patients organization. We are currently in the process of exchanging clinical expertise and developing a guide of clinical orientations in infertility counselling.

Purposes of the Special Interest Group

• To increase the interaction with chilean physicians practicing reproductive medicine
• To promote better knowledge and understanding of the psychological/ social needs of patients undergoing infertility treatments
• To outline standards of practice (clinical and ethical) for current and future mental health professionals addressing ART
• To encourage research and systematic evidence-gathering on the psychosocial aspects of infertility in our national reality

Infertility Counseling in Hong Kong

Unlikely other countries (e.g. Canada, Australia, UK) where counseling for people undergoing ARTs are mandatory by legislation, infertility counseling services in Hong Kong are mostly provided on needs basis. Since 2001, the Department of Social Work and Social Administration and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of The University of Hong Kong introduced psychosocial support services to support infertile couples who will undergo or have undergone assisted reproduction technologies.

Psychosocial Services includes:

1. Psychological assessment for individuals (both donors and recipients) involved in gametes and embryo donation;
2. Counselling and psychotherapy;
3. Integrative Body-mind-spirit Intervention Program for women undergoing their IVF cycles, aiming to alleviate their anxiety arose from treatment and enhance their well-being. This psychosocial intervention model has been proven effective in enhancing patients’ physical and psychological adjustment to infertility and related treatments

Certificate Course in Infertility Counseling

Since 2009, as commissioned by the Hong Kong Society for Reproductive Medicine, our team has been organizing the Certificate Course in Infertility Counseling in Hong Kong on annual basis, which aim to equip doctors, nurses, embryologists, social workers, psychologists, and allied health professionals specialized in reproductive medicine with the knowledge in medical, psychosocial, legal and ethical perspectives as well as their implications towards infertility and assisted reproduction technologies.

You can contact Dr. Hana Konecna for any information on infertility counseling in the Czech Republic. She is a psychologist and has been working as an infertility counselor for many years. Currently, there is no organization in the Czech Republic.

You can find more information on the ESHRE SIG here.

Psychotherapyservice Tunnetila is a private clinic working in cooperation with infertility clinics in Helsinki, Finland. We offer psychotherapy services and consultation. Our areas of expertise include infertility, pregnancy, childbirth and parenting issues. We also offer training and supervision for social and health care professionals. Our website and information is www.tunnetila.net

The German Society for Fertility Counselling  – BKiD – was founded in 2000 and has currently approx. 130 certified infertility counsellors plus additional members. It has issued accreditation and counseling guidelines, many of which have also been published in English. Although most information online is in German, there is an English section of the website here. Together with IICO, it has organized a post-graduate workshop  2000 (just prior to the IIFS conference in Munich) and again in 2014 (prior to the ESHRE conference in Munich). It has also published a counseling manual for professionals and in 2014, a guidance book for individuals and couples experiencing infertility was published in 2014.

In 2017, the BKiD Fortbildungsinstitut was founded. It provides training for psychosocial as well as any other professions involved in infertility care.

Nana Yaw Osei offers infertility counseling in Ghana.

Puja Raja is a psychological counsellor who has been working with the infertility clinic “Care IVF” for 8 years. She is a member of the British Infertility Counselling Association.

IFCA endeavors to provide the following:

• Providing easy access to a patient-centered pathway and psychosocial care
• Organise information meetings
• Maintaining personal contact before, during and after treatment cycles
• Facilitate couple coping by engaging both partners in consultation
• Inform about normal emotional reactions within couples
• Address possible differences in experience between couples
• Provide information about coping with treatment and work
• Expressing positive and negative feelings
• Address social support
• Facilitate social support by information about support organisations /societies/ peer contacts
• Follow up to discuss other family building options and emotional status
• Recognising the need for grief work if treatment fails
• Oncofertility
• Cryopreservation / stored gametes follow-up

The Fertility Counseling Group of IFA was founded in February 2013. The group includes mental health professionals who work in public fertility clinics or in private practice and/or engage in research in the field of reproduction, currently 40 members in total.

We have initiated and held several activities:

• Organizing and running The Psychosocial Session at IFA’s Annual Conference.
• Holding an annual conference of the group.
• Holding peer-group for IVF mental health professionals.
• Running peer-group for Healthcare Services mental health professionals, working with patients at their initial stages of their infertility treatments.
• Offering a training program – Fertility Counseling Program for mental health professionals at The School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University. The first session (120 hours) was held in 2015-2016.
• Taking part in the Ministry of Health Committee dealing with medical and psychosocial services given to IVF patients.

The Japan Association of Psychological Counseling for Reproductive Medicine (JAPCRM) The 11th Annual meeting (Feb 23, 2014)

• was attended by approx. 300 people (30 psychologists and 200 nurses, the rest are other medical professionals).
• we conducted a Pre-congress 4-hour workshop (Feb 22): attending 20 certified reproductive counselors.
• we offer a training course for certified reproductive counselor (6 months/ 70 hours training)
• recently, 5 clinical psychologists have completed the course and certified our license. (Total 46 certified reproductive counselors exist.)
• our new project: setting a working group for oncofertility for constructing mental health care system for cancer patients/survivors to preserve fertility.
• Ongoing agenda: Publishing our journal regarding reproductive psychology.

Furthermore, in Japan, clinical psychology  is changing as there is currently a bill before parliament regarding the national licensing of psychologist.

The SASREG Psychology and Counselling Special Interest Group was formed on the 31 October 2015.

The main task of the group is to set up goals involved of field of ART. This SIG group is part of SASREG –Southern African Society of Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecological Endoscopy (www.fertilitysa.org.za).

Currently, there is no organization. You can contact stina.jarvholm@vgregion.se for information on infertility counseling in Sweden

FertiForum, Switzerland FertiForum is a Commission of the Swiss Society for Reproductive Medicine (SGRM), and is active since 2006. The goals and purposes resemble those of IICO. Please visit our website by selecting FertiForum on : www.sgrm.org

• Swiss legislation clearly states that counselling should be offered before, during and after assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments.
• The members of FertiForum (approximately 30) work in the domain of psychosocial counselling for infertility. About one third are medical doctors, one third are psychologists and one third are counsellors or social workers.
• FertiForum organizes two meetings per year. The programs generally include the presentation of clinical topics and recent research, followed by a discussion on clinical situations.
• Infertility counselling in Switzerland is carried out in very different ways and settings. Some units and centres have counsellors in their team, some have the gynaecologists provide the counselling, and some collaborate with independent external psychologists or counsellors. The reimbursement of counselling by the medical insurances varies in function of the counsellor’s profession and the patients’ coverage.
• Counsellors should have basic training in counselling, medicine or psychology and can then acquire specific skills by training with counsellors integrated in ART units and by following FertiForum and/or international training sessions.
• Continuous clinical supervision is highly recommended.
• A representative of FertiForum participates in the annual ESHRE IICO meeting.

Ebru Alcolak Suatoglu is happy to be contacted by anybody interested in psychosocial issues of infertility in Turkey.

•  Counselling for women as well as men going through infertility and treatments
•  Integrative Mind- body interventions for women going through IVF cycle to help them cope better with anxiety and promote well-being.
•  Providing couples counselling to support couples as they go through treatment.
•  Provide support to women or couples having gone through a miscarriage / still-birth or loss.

British Infertility Counselling Association BICA was founded in 1988 for infertility counsellors with a membership drawn from a variety of professions including counsellors, psychologists, nurse & social workers. It was established to represent the interests, views and needs of members actively involved counselling people with fertility issues and of professionals in related research. BICA seeks to address the many practical, social, psychological and ethical issues around the treatment of assisted conception BICA roles and aims

• BICA is the only professional association for infertility counsellors and counselling in the UK

• Seeks to promote the highest standards of counselling for those considering or undergoing fertility investigations and treatment.
• Offers a variety of training and education services to its members
• Is committed to the total well-being of people with fertility problems before, during and after treatment and of those who choose not to undergo any kind of medical intervention
• Is administered by an elected Executive Committee and supporting regional groups, it is financed almost entirely through annual membership subscriptions.

Training BICA is committed to improving the educational opportunities and training of Infertility Counsellors and seeks continually to raise the standard of support offered to people with fertility issues. Our committed training team run courses throughout the year and an annual foundation course for those new to the fertility field. BICA also runs an annual study day and AGM focusing on current issues. Please see the BICA website for more details, www.bica.net The Association is a registered Charity with its own constitution and guidelines for practice. Our members must adhere to the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy or another professional Code of Ethics. Tracey Chester Chair BICA  

The Mental Health Professional Group (MHPG) is a multidisciplinary group that formed in 1985 with the full support of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Its mission is to promote scientific understanding of the psychological, social, and emotional perspectives of infertility patients. We strive to be a source of patient and professional resources for mental health professionals interested in infertility counseling, including Third Party Reproduction and other issues related to reproductive mental health. The MHPG provides educational activities that offer continuing education credits at the annual ASRM conference as well as regional seminars. In addition, we also offer an online Mental Health Professional Certificate Course on Infertility Counseling through the ASRM eLearn platform to help educate mental health professionals and others about the psychological issues associated with infertility, infertility treatment, and other reproductive related concerns. The MHPG offers a professional mentoring program that is highly active and receives high ratings for usefulness by both mentors and mentees alike. The MHPG also engages members and encourages intelligent discourse, sharing of resources, and networking though an active email list-serve as well as a monthly teleconference meeting through our Connections Teleconference Group. Written and web-based resources for patients and professionals as well as a listing of educational seminars and recommendations for training are listed on our webpage. Additionally, the MHPG publishes a biannual newsletter and will have an active Facebook page in Fall 2016.

Mental health professionals are playing an increasingly important role in reproductive medicine due to technological advances and recognition of the complex psychosocial issues faced by infertility patients. As a result, there is a growing need for the skills and services of trained infertility counselors to assist patients and staff. The MHPG has provided recommended guidelines to help determine the qualifications and training for mental health professionals working in reproductive medicine. These guidelines can be located here.

MHPG members may be located in hospital-based fertility clinics, in universities, and in private practices. To locate an MHPG member please visit this site.