“INFERTILITY is hard to understand unless you’ve gone through it yourself,” says Verity.
Wokingham based Verity Paz is on a mission to help people trying for a baby, not just locally, but across the nation.
Having experienced several miscarriages herself before eventually going on to have two children, Verity is passionate about wanting to help others who are trying, and not managing, to conceive.
“There was no support when I was going through this,” she says.
“Infertility is a bit of a taboo subject, and because of that can really impact people’s relationships.
“They may not feel able to meet up with a best friend with children, or they may avoid going to a baby shower.”
Verity says her Verity Paz Clinic, in Wokingham, is a place where people can come to cry, to be heard, and to explore different ways to try to improve their chances of conceiving.
“Getting medical help for infertility is a real post-code lottery,” she says.
“In Berkshire people can access just one round of IVF treatment – if they are under 35, and their partner doesn’t already have a child, while in Surrey they can be offered three rounds of IVF.”
Information about how to treat infertility can be difficult to find, she says.
“GPs refer people to a consultant, who may find no medical reason to explain their inability to conceive.
“If a problem is discovered, couples may be offered IVF, but only once they’ve had three miscarriages.
“And if they have a BMI of over 30, the NHS won’t offer a woman fertility treatment in any case – so what do people do then?”
Verity says her clinic offers clients a holistic approach to fertility.
“We want to balance the whole person,” she says.
“So if they arrive wanting to get pregnant, and they also have migraines, we will look at both of these.”
Clients at her Easthampstead Road clinic are offered a range of treatments, including reflexology, which Verity says stimulates nerve endings in the feet and can help to balance the body.
She also offers advice on diet, stress management, and practical life-style changes.
“Making a baby takes two,” she says, “so we work with men as well as women.
“Infertility in men is the problem in 40% of cases where couples are trying and failing to have a baby.
“Even when a man’s sperm count is good, there may be a quality issue, but because the count is normal men tend to be left out of the equation.”
She says that there are lots of things that can help to improve people’s chances of getting pregnant.
“At the clinic we help people focus on making really good cells – eggs and sperms.
“We can support them with reflexology, fertility reflexology, fertility coaching face-to-face and online, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, maternity reflexology and fertility massage.”
Practical life-style changes can help too.
“For example, sitting for three hours on a heated car seat can negatively affect men’s sperm count,” she says.
“We had someone recently with a sperm count of seven million, which isn’t high enough to get pregnant.
“After our coaching sessions, six weeks later they had a sperm count of 25 million, and eight weeks later the couple were pregnant.”
Verity explains that mental blocks and stress can also affect someone’s ability to conceive.
“A woman may have experienced a traumatic birth, worry about being a good enough parent, or have anxiety about putting on weight,” she says.
“Hypnotherapy can help them feel less fearful.”
Verity says she has already helped around 1,000 couples to conceive.
To reach more people, she has developed a newsletter that people can sign up to.
“There’s a huge need for information,” she says, “so I’m on a mission to help people understand what’s available, and to give them some control over their fertility.”
Verity’s online sessions are accessible to people all around the country, and she would like to increase fertility rates across the nation.
She hopes, by widening her reach, to help more couples conceive not only in Wokingham, but around the UK.
To encourage people to sign up to her newsletter, she is offering them a free short video when they join, called: ‘The One Thing that every couple needs to know when trying for a baby.’
This can be found on her website, as a pop-up link that appears when people first arrive at the site.
For information, for the free video, or to join the Verity Paz newsletter, visit: veritypaz.com
