Sharing Fertility Awareness Informally
Utilizing Fertility Awareness In Your Health Care Practice
Becoming a Professional Fertility Awareness Educator
Sharing Fertility Awareness Informally
When people learn Fertility Awareness, they often become very enthusiastic about it and want to share their knowledge with others. Your experience as someone who uses a Fertility Awareness-Based Method (FABM), but has not been trained to teach it, definitely has value! Here are some ways you can share your experiences with others in a responsible manner, to counter misconceptions about what FABMs are, and direct people to resources for further learning.
There are many ways you can share the beauty of Fertility Awareness responsibly with your friends and family. Here are some suggestions:
- Give books about Fertility Awareness as gifts. Ask your local bookstore and/or library to carry such books.
- Use social media. Share the postings of Fertility Awareness Educators (FAEs). Share aspects of your personal experience to “normalize” Fertility Awareness.
- Help the children in your life grow up with accurate, empowering, and positive information about their bodies.
- Help a child embrace and celebrate menarche (the first period) and learn the importance of having healthy menstrual cycles.
- Tell your health care professionals, especially your birthing and labor specialists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, naturopaths, and nutritionists, that you are practicing a FABM. If you find them discouraging and/or have misconceptions about it, bring them articles and direct them to resources for learning more (such as AFAP!).
- If an FAE lives in your area, invite that person to give a talk or workshop at your school, community center, food co-op, family planning clinic, women’s center, etc. Virtual classes are another great option!
- Gift a Fertility Awareness workshop to someone you care about. Contact an FAE and ask about gift certificates.
- Learn about the efficacy of direct observational, symptothermal methods versus predicted algorithm-based methods such as period tracking apps/devices and the Rhythm Method.
- Join AFAP as a supporting member. Through your active membership, you can connect with leaders in the field and contribute to the future of Fertility Awareness.
You will notice these suggestions do not include actually teaching others to practice FABMs. There is a misconception that because FABMs can be easy to practice, they are also easy to teach. Effective practice of an FABM, especially for contraception, depends upon high quality, standardized instruction, provided by professionals who have been taught and accredited by a certifying body of their peers. Certified Fertility Awareness Educators (FAEs) typically spend about two (2) years training with experienced instructors. Their training enables them to provide the depth and breadth of services necessary to meet the needs of a diverse population in a client-centered, holistic manner. Professional standards benefit not only the people we serve, but also increase the legitimacy and acceptance of FABMs. We encourage those who are interested in actually teaching Fertility Awareness to visit the other pages in this section, which can be accessed here.
Utilizing Fertility Awareness In Your Health Care Practice
If you are a healthcare professional who works in reproductive health and/or recognizes the menstrual cycle as a fifth vital sign, there are a number of ways to integrate Fertility Awareness into your practice:
- Form a relationship with a certified Fertility Awareness Educator (FAE), who can come to your practice periodically or work with your patients virtually.
- Some FAEs can also offer in-service FAM programs tailored for your staff.
- You can also refer your patients to our website, where they can find a listing of certified instructors.
- If you would like to become a FAM instructor, we encourage you to investigate a comprehensive teacher training program. Some offer training for health care professionals.
Join AFAP as a supporting member. Membership provides opportunities for continuing education, discussion of the latest FAM literature, collegial support, and networking.
Becoming a Professional Fertility Awareness Educator
If you appreciate the value of Fertility Awareness and want to teach others how to use it, we urge you to undertake professional training. It is a serious responsibility to instruct others effectively and successfully to use a FABM. Formal training and certification prepares you to become a professional FAE.
FAE accredited training:
- Conveys competency with the practical application of the scientific foundation of FABMs.
- Provides supervised, clinical experience.
- Confers in-depth understanding of a range of reproductive stages and particular challenges associated with each stage.
- Emphasizes client-centered care that recognizes principles of reproductive justice.
- Situates FABMs within the context of full-spectrum sexual and reproductive health care.
- Regards menstrual cycles as “The fifth vital sign” of health, and enables FAEs to interpret the menstrual cycle chart (that assays biomarkers of fertility) as it relates to health.
- Facilitates collegial support from veterans in the field with decades of experience and the wisdom of thousands of analyzed charts.
There are a variety of training programs available and we encourage you to investigate your options. AFAP recognizes three of these programs at this time that meet our core competencies standards. They can be found on the page entitled “How to Become Certified by AFAP.”