For global listings of Jody's recommended childless therapists click here
- Gateway Women website www.gateway-women.com
Jody Day’s Gateway Women website full of articles and resources for childless-not-by-choice women. UK/Ireland based, global audience.
- Childless Collective Online Community (formerly Gateway Women Community)
www.gateway-women.com/community
To apply for membership of the ‘best online community for childless-not-by-choice women’ (that’s a review, not me!) go to www.gateway-women.com and click on ‘Online Community’. All applications are ID-checked for member security and privacy. Free trial and then a sliding scale of membership fees depending on your financial circumstances (including unwaged).
- Gateway Women Gallery of Childless & Childfree Role Models on Pinterest bit.ly/gw-role-models
Portraits and mini-biographies of childless and childfree women role models. 500+ women from different cultures and times, with more being added as I hear about them. Take a look and feel free to email me with your nominations to add.
UK Resources
- AWWOC.org (Ageing Well Without Children) http://www.awwoc.org
Jody was a founding member of this UK charity supporting the 20-25% of adults in the UK who will be ageing without children, and the millions who already are.
- BICA (British Infertility Counselling Association) http://bica.net
The BICA website has a list of registered infertility counsellors in the UK. It is an organisation that is very aware of the support that men, women and couples need to move on with their lives after childlessness. It has been very supportive of the work of Gateway Women and Jody has both written for their journal and has spoken at their annual conference.
- The Daisy Network (UK) https://www.daisynetwork.org/
A UK charity that supports women who have experienced premature menopause or ‘premature ovarian failure’ as it’s often referred to.
- More to Life (UK) https://fertilitynetworkuk.org/more-to-life-community-group/
A UK charity that provides supports women and couples moving on after infertility treatment.
- Saying Goodbye (UK) http://www.sayinggoodbye.org/
Saying Goodbye organise non-denominational services of remembrance in Cathedrals across the UK. The services are for people who have lost a child at any age or stage of pregnancy, at birth or in infancy, whether it was recently or many years ago.
European Resources
- Femme Sans Enfant Meetup (Paris, France) www.meetup.com/Paris-femmesansenfant-com/
Organised by Catherine-Emmanuelle Delisle, the Founder of the Canadian site https://femmesansenfant.com this is a regular Paris based meetup. I met the organiser of the Meetup at a UK event in 2016 and she was lovely, so do go along! (Both French and English-speaking women welcome).
- Books about miscarriage, grief and childlessness in French
http://www.manoncyr.ca/suggestions-de-lectures.html
- Spain (Barcelona): La Vida Sin Hijos (Life without Children) is a website and support group in Barcelona, Spain, created by Gloria Labay, a childless midwife. https://lavidasinhijos.com/
US Resources
- Savvy Auntie (US) http://savvyauntie.com/defaulthome.aspx
Melanie Notkin’s US site for women without children who are aunts, godmothers or in some way ‘childful’. Also has a busy online community. Melanie Notkin also writes movingly for Huffington Post on being a single, childless woman in her mid-40s.
Canadian Resources
- Femme Sans Enfant (French Canada) http://www.femmesansenfant.com
Blogs, articles and video interviews with childless and childfree women (and men) across the Francophone world. Started by Catherine-Emmanuelle Delisle who is childless due to early menopause (age 14), it won in the 2014 ‘Activism and Social Justice’ category in Canada’s ‘Schmutzie’ Weblog Awards. Also a Meetup group.
- Femme Sans Enfant Meetup Group (Montreal, Canada) http://www.meetup.com/femme-sans-enfant
A French-speaking Meetup group organised and run by Catherine-Emmanuelle Delisle of ‘Femme Sans Enfant’
Australian Resources
- Childless Support www.ChildlessSupport.com
Do you feel like you’ve lost your purpose, or come to a fork in the road? Or want to get your health back to a state of balance? Anne Barratt’s journey through Childlessness has led her to become a professional multi-disciplinary health and mindset practitioner to help others so they don’t have to suffer in silence and get the help needed from someone who truly understands what they’re going through from personal experience. Anne offers individual sessions in person (Blue Mountains, Sydney) or via Zoom.
- Judy Graham – Counsellor & Psychotherapist. Australia (Gold Coast) https://www.womenhood.com.au
Judy is a Counsellor and founder of WomenHood, where she provides support specifically for women who are childless not by choice. She draws on her own experience of childlessness, along with training in grief, trauma, and somatic psychotherapy, to offer understanding and compassionate care wherever you’re at in your experience of childlessness. She is highly attuned to the impact that social, cultural and personal experiences can have on self-concept and healing the heartbreak and exclusion that can come with childlessness. Judy works with women online in Australia & New Zealand, and offers in-person sessions on the Gold Coast. You’re welcome to contact Judy here for a free, no-obligation chat about working together. Judy is also a licensed Gateway Women Reignite workshop facilitator for Australia & NZ and you can find out more about her workshops for Gateway Women here.
- Sarah Roberts – The Empty Cradle – www.theemptycradle.com
The Empty Cradle is a healing and support service for women transitioning to permanent involuntary childlessness. It offers support for you to grieve the loss of motherhood and thrive as older, childless women. As Sarah Roberts is a childless woman herself, she has a deep compassion for the challenges and heartbreak this can entail, and honours every woman’s story as precious and unique. The Empty Cradle offers online counselling, groups, courses, programs, resources and the power of a loving community. These tender, practical and evidence-based services are designed to support you to heal your heart, find connection, explore meaning and purpose, and navigate the identity reconstruction and existential life transition from potential mother to thriving as a childless (or childfree) not-by-choice woman. If you’d like to connect further, you can find Sarah at the Empty Cradle and subscribe to her newsletter. You can reach out by email or the contact form on her website for a complimentary, exploratory chat. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIN and you can find her public work here.
Please email Jody with corrections/suggestions at jody@gateway-women.com
