A new direction for fertility in Ireland

I am so excited about today’s post for several reasons. Firstly, I haven’t blogged in quite some time and I wanted to wait until I had something positive to write about before I did again. Secondly, I am excited to introduce you to two professionals who I sincerely believe will make a difference to fertility in Ireland.

Aisling Killoran of Accomplish Change Clinic is a certified Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist specialising in helping mums and dads conceive.  She follows the unique HypnoFertility™ programme which is a multi-faceted hypnotherapy programme used to help and support and facilitate natural conception and the medical process for women undergoing IVF, IUI, ICSI, and other medical procedures. This is a powerful, precise programme that supports the entire fertility process and is tailored for each individual for optimal health and wellbeing.

While Aisling can’t promise you will get pregnant, I can personally testify that what she can do is help you to achieve the best state of mind/body connection conducive to pregnancy.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Aisling to anyone who is looking for a holistic approach to fertility.

And speaking of holistic approaches, Aisling has written a post this week on her blog about ReproMed Consultancy Services, a Fertility Clinic in Sandyford, Dublin that is worth blogging about. This service is run by Mr Declan Keane, Consultant Embryologist, with 18 years clinical experience and who is licensed/accredited by the Irish Medicines Board, UK Health Professions Council and European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology as a Senior Clinical Scientist.

Aisling met with Declan, earlier this week and on her blog she writes that she found him to be “a genuine sincere man full of integrity and passion in helping couples to conceive.” I confess to knowing a little about the man myself, as three years ago, he helped me produce a patient information booklet on breast cancer and fertility and he was wonderfully helpful then. Anyway, I got my own chance to speak with Declan yesterday and I share Aisling’s views. I too am impressed with his patient-centred approach and believe he is going to make a real difference to couples looking to conceive in Ireland.

If you are interested in learning more, check out Aisling’s blog, which incidentally is updated regularly with some great posts on trying to conceive.

Hypno Fertility

Today I had my first session with Aisling Killoran, a psychotherapist who works with clinical hypnosis, among other techniques, to bring about healing and positive change.  I have worked with Aisling  in the past and found her techniques extremely effective. This time I wanted to work with her on shifting the grief and depression I am feeling over the miscarriages last year. I really believe this is preventing me moving forward in so many ways.

Aisling believes that thinking you are  “infertile” keeps you stuck and it amplifies itself through us physicialy, mentally and emotionally. I believe that is true of my mental and physical state right now.   I feel tired all the time, weepy, nauseous and depressed.

Aisling made me relaxed and comfortable before taking me on a hypnotic journey to my “fertility garden”.  I felt calm, peaceful and relaxed in my “garden” and Aisling planted seeds of hope and positivity in my mind before taking me back to the present. At one stage I was frantically gathering up dead leaves, which represented all the emotions that no longer served me and when Aisling pointed out that there was a rake nearby to help me gather them up, I looked around surprised. Typical me…I didn’t think to look for anything to make my life easier – I always have to do things the hard way! 

Now this may all sound very “out there” to some of you and I fully understand that – this isn’t for everyone; but I find that talk therapy just doesn’t work for me. I can talk and talk and talk about my grief (and believe me I do!) but personally that doesn’t help me move forward or resolve it. I need something more. I am not saying that this a guaranteed way to conceive again, but what I am saying is it is my best chance to achieve the optimum state of mind and body to help bring it about. I believe it will decrease the stress and strain of trying and it has already given me back some of that sense of control which I had lost over the past year.

Aisling  follows the HypnoFertility programme developed by Lynsi Eastburn to help women conceive and she is part of a group of health practitioners combining their knowledge of medical and holistic therapies. The team includes a nutritionist, acupuncturist, reflexologist and a family planning nurse and their approach is all about bringing the mind and body into balance to make sure you have the best possible chance of conceiving your baby.

If you feel drawn to this approach, you can check out Aisling’s  Accomplish Change website for more details.