Ep. 27 | Working with Childless and Childfree Clients

I am delighted to be joined by Jody Day and Robin Hadley to discuss the topic of working with childless and child-free clients. Jody is the founder of Gateway Women, the global support and advocacy network for childless women. She is a psychotherapist, has Ted Talks on the topic and has written a book called ‘Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children’. Robin Hadley is an associate lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University and a founder member of the campaign group Ageing Without Children. He has conducted a range of research about childless men and has written a book called ‘How to be a Man? Male Childlessness – A Life Course Interrupted’.

In this episode, we discuss what pronatalism is and the impact of these pro-birth and reproduction attitudes and policies on those who can’t or don’t want to have children. We explore the many ways people in these situations might need the support of therapy e.g. to work through disenfranchised grief, as well as dealing with feelings of isolation and stigma. We also explore how therapists themselves need to be aware of internalised pronatalism and how this might impact their work. Please see the following links for more information on this topic:

https://gateway-women.com/

https://www.robinhadley.co.uk/

The Are Kids For Me Podcast link - https://open.spotify.com/show/0pisu2SafDohhsqxnh6MhZ?si=cfa1fe3e146c4dcf