3 Ways to Support Couples with Infertility in our Communities

I was honored to guest post on the Being in Community blog by Phoebe Farag Mikhail. I’m tardy posting a notice here because I left last week for a retreat and have been behind ever since!

Since Phoebe’s blog focuses on community and community building, I wrote about something many people have asked since I started going public with infertility: how we can help support others dealing with this grief.

Here is one take-away point here:

Most of all, those of us with infertility need to know that our communities are not afraid or ashamed to just stand with us in our grief, to love us as we are, rather than rushing to “fix” our pain by problem solving, blaming, judging, or “talking at” our pain. The first step to doing this, on an interpersonal level, is simply by compassionate listening and acknowledging that there are no words for this grief. A hug, a squeeze of the hand, a calm and loving demeanor rather than intrusive questions or comments—this is our most basic need from our communities in this sorrow.

– Nicole Roccas

Read the full post and make sure to follow Phoebe’s blog here.

P.S. Thanks to all of you who have been commenting on this blog for a chance to enter a giveaway of Under the Laurel Tree! Given how behind I’ve become, I hope to post the giveaway results tomorrow or over the weekend. Thanks for your patience!