Counselling SIG
The experience of infertility is often highly stressful, and involves more than just medical issues. Infertility Counsellors respond to the complex social, psychological and ethical dimensions of Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR). They provide a range of services including individual, marital and group counselling, emotional support, assistance with decision-making, and referral to community resources. Many counsellors are knowledgeable about alternative options such as Donor Conception, Surrogacy or Adoption. They may also be actively involved in research and policy development. Most AHR clinics in Canada require that implications counselling be provided to patients, donors and gestational carriers involved in fertility treatment.
The Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG) has been established to foster collaboration and exchange between Canadian counsellors working in this field, and to promote a high standard of professional counselling. CSIG also aims to facilitate education and professional development opportunities amongst members. CSIG is a member group of the International Infertility Counselling Organisation (IICO), a global network of infertility counselling associations.
The annual business meeting of CSIG is held each fall in conjunction with the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society conference. Counselling professionals are strongly encouraged to attend the annual meeting to network with colleagues in the field, participate in workshops and presentations, and keep abreast of new developments in Assisted Human Reproduction.
Membership of CSIG is open to all members of CFAS. The executive committee of the CSIG is comprised of members with academic credentials and clinical training in a counselling discipline such as Psychology, Social Work, Psychotherapy, Marital Therapy or Counselling.
Amrit Malhotra, BA, MSW, RSW, Acc FM (OAFM)
Chair
Amrit is presently the Chair of the Counselling Special Interest Group at CFAS. She holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Toronto providing social work services since 1993. She is also registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Specializing in fertility counselling and third-party reproduction in addition to Family Mediation, Collaborative Divorce and Organizational Trauma. Amrit provides counselling services as a Registered Social Worker in the province of Ontario as well as Nova Scotia. Amrit has completed three certificates in fertility counselling from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and is a member of the Mental Health Professional Group. She is also an Accredited Family Mediator through the Ontario Association for Family Mediation. Amrit is a Board member of Collaborative Practice Hamilton Halton and former Board member of Collaborative Divorce Toronto. In her private practice, Invicta Counselling, Amrit provides implications counselling for individuals and couples considering donor conception, working with intended parents, known donors and gestational carriers/surrogates. Fertility treatments may require support throughout, and Amrit offers support to cope with the journey, including grief/loss and adjustment to illness counselling.
Blair Wexler-Singer, BSc, RSW, MSW
Vice-Chair
Blair Wexler-Singer, MSW, RSW is a registered social worker in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, practicing with a focus in the field of reproductive counselling. She has over 15 years of experience in the child welfare sector and has extensive familiarity working with individuals who have endured trauma, grief and loss, addiction, mental health and attachment challenges. She is passionate about providing positive foundations and wrap-around support for individuals, couples and groups hoping to grow their families through collaborative and assisted fertility. Blair is able to provide sensitive education and thoughtful guidance to help clarify roles, expectations and potential outcomes during pre-conception, pregnancy and postpartum stages.
She was most recently the Foster Care Coordinator at Jewish Family & Child Service (JF&CS), where she provided mentorship and family support to both foster and adopt families. Blair is highly skilled at developing and implementing psycho-educational training workshops and is well versed in conducting mandatory assessments for prospective foster, kinship, and adopting families. More recently, her experience also includes conducting the required counselling and assessments for 3rd Party Donor and Surrogate arrangements. Blair earned her Master of Social Work degree at Columbia University and completed her bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation at Dalhousie University. Her therapy approach is strength based, mindful and solution focused. She is a current member of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, Alberta College of Social Workers and the British Columbia College of Social Workers. She is a member in good standing of the Ontario Association of Social Workers, the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), and the Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG) of the CFAS and Fertility Matters. On a personal note, Blair comes to fertility counselling after her own first-hand experience with surrogacy, having been a Gestational Carrier for close friends. Already indirectly familiar with the pain of infertility and loss through her roles in foster and adoption work, this journey provided her with new insights into the world of assisted fertility, IVF and Collaborative Family Planning. Her surrogacy experience had a profound impact on her, leading to a mentorship with Dara, extensive professional development in the area of Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR), and ultimately, a full-time career shift into reproductive/fertility counselling.
Beyond her education and wealth of experience, Blair is warm-hearted, flexible, open-minded, and strongly believes in an inclusive and anti-discriminatory approach to care. She lives in Toronto, Ontario with her family and dog, is very proud to have been a gestational surrogate and now, a Family Building Practitioner with Informed Fertility.
Elisa Gores, RSW, MSW
Treasurer/Secretary
Elisa is a Registered Social Worker with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Anthropology from Barnard College and her Master’s in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago. Elisa’s graduate degree included 1100 hours of clinical internships focused on mental health counselling. During her graduate degree and post-graduation, Elisa has sought out specialized training in couple and relationship therapy, including Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and the Gottman Method. She also has training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Narrative Therapy. She is a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW), Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), the International Association of Social Work with Groups (IASWG), and volunteers at Stella’s Place, a mental health centre for young adults in Toronto.
In her free time, Elisa is a musician who learns and performs traditional world harmony singing, old-time music, and Appalachian clogging. She is a quilter, a birder, a vacuumer of dog hair, and is working on planting a pollinator-friendly garden in her yard
Dara Roth Edney, BA, BSW, MSW, RSW
Past Chair
A social worker since 2000, Dara Roth Edney is the founder of Informed Fertility, a group practice specializing in family building by supporting people through infertility and loss, those accessing assisted reproduction due to sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship status, or undergoing treatment to freeze egg or sperm for social, medical or identity reasons. Dara provides counselling assessments for Intended Parents, donors and surrogates, and when treatment ends, supports clients through pregnancy, parenthood, or moving forward without children. She provides grief and relationship counselling, pragmatic and educational guidance, help developing coping strategies, anxiety reduction techniques and boundary building skills. She also supports donor conceived adults, offers conflict resolution services, and facilitates support groups. Dara is a regularly invited speaker and consultant, involved in industry research, ethics committee work, and is an instructor at Wilfred Laurier University, having developed their 1st course on fertility counselling.
Dara holds a master’s degree in social work (MSW), is a Registered Social Worker (RSW), and a member of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), holding the position of Past Chair of the Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG), after serving as Chair and Vice-Chair. She is also a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Mental Health Professionals Group (ASRM/MHPG), and a Board Member of Donor Conception Canada, a volunteer organization supporting donor conception.
Personally, after many years of infertility, loss and IVF, Dara became a parent through surrogacy and now has two daughters, each carried by a different (and wonderful) gestational carrier.