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I’m so stressed about falling pregnant.
Will it ever happen?

I can educate you about optimising fertility and help you set achievable goals.

I'm so lonely and feel like a failure.

You’re not alone. Coaching can provide holistic support and restore self-esteem. Join our support group.

What can I do to enhance my fertility?
Am I consuming the right foods and supplements?

I can help you make the necessary changes to lifestyle, diet and exercise habits.

We’re having IVF soon, and I’m so scared and stressed.

I can help you prepare for treatment and support you emotionally.

How do I “just relax and let it happen?"
The 2-week wait is a nightmare. How do I get through it?

I can teach you how to reduce stress and feel more relaxed.

Fertility treatment is so expensive. Can we afford it?
Where do we draw the line?

I can help you set healthy goals and boundaries, and support you in decision-making.

Will I even be a good mother?

I can help you feel confident and ready for parenthood.

Hi, I am Amanda Dunsby, a qualified Integral Coach® and Fertile Body Method practitioner based in Cape Town.

After working for many years in the human resources field, I discovered my real passion, coaching, and completed the Professional Coaching Course through the Centre for Coaching (UCT Graduate School of Business) in 2011.

After I got married in my late thirties, it came as a huge shock when, far from the honeymoon baby we had hoped for, the diagnosis (after more than a year of hugely stressful investigations) was “infertility”. Fortunately my treatments at a local fertility clinic were eventually successful, resulting in my pregnancy with our fraternal twins who were born at the end of 2013. I can attest to the stress, disappointment and challenges created by infertility, and know just how hard it is. My children are living proof though that fertility treatment can and does work, and that one must never abandon hope!

I worked with a Fertile Body Method (FBM) therapist while I prepared for and underwent fertility treatment. I found it incredibly supportive, nurturing and helpful, and the coaching helped me to set realistic goals and feel more relaxed, confident and optimistic. I also downloaded the FBM IVF Companion CD and used it regularly. I felt like I was able to ‘get my head right’ and as a believer in the mind-body connection, strongly feel I gave science a helping hand.

I feel drawn to work with those facing similar challenges, so I completed the FBM training in April 2016 to supplement my integral coaching® skills. I am delighted to now be able to offer specialised fertility coaching to people who are trying or struggling to conceive and grow their families.

Book a free 15 minute initial consultation

Integral Coaching® focuses on building competence integrally across the cognitive, emotional and somatic dimensions of a human being, rather than focusing purely on trying to fix the presenting problem or issue.

Rather than focusing on only one aspect, we take a holistic approach to personal development by looking at the whole person – their thoughts, emotions, relationships, physical body, spirituality and environment – so that true insights and lasting growth can develop. Coaching helps you to build your confidence and competence to face your life situation. One of the key ways coaching does this is through enabling you to notice how your ‘way of being’ may in fact enhance or hinder what you want to accomplish.

The Fertile Body Method is a mind-body approach to fertility problems based on a holistic health model. Traditional medicine approaches fertility issues mechanistically and as a purely physical issue. Fertility coaching and the field of mind-body medicine, however, recognise the powerful effect that our mind has on our body, and vice versa.

Problems with conception and pregnancy can occur when our basic physical and emotional needs are not being met, and the mind and/or body have temporarily lost their natural state of balance.

As a fertility coach, I combine my integral coaching skills with my knowledge of the Fertile Body Method and my own experience of infertility to understand where my clients are experiencing imbalances, establish healthy goals and devise a coaching programme custom-designed for them.

Fertility coaching is not counselling or therapy. It is focused on your current reality and how you can best prepare yourself to achieve your desires and goals, rather than concentrating on what has gone wrong and why. Above all, it is a safe, confidential space in which the focus is on you, the whole person.

The struggle to fall pregnant, fertility-related challenges and medical infertility treatment can all affect you, both physically and emotionally, in ways you never thought possible. Coaching can help you navigate the challenges of fertility issues and how you feel, think and act in response to them. It’s also a way of ensuring that you are doing what you can to potentially maximise your fertility. It equips you with tools to manage the emotional rollercoaster and any stress that you may well be experiencing.

As a fertility coach, I can help you to:

set clear, realistic and achievable goals
restore balance to your mental, emotional and physical state
develop your inner resources and increase feelings of wellbeing
address any unresolved issues that may affect your fertility
develop the insights necessary to see new possibilities
work with you to develop practices and observations to build your competence to resolve your challenges yourself
enhance your fertility through visualisation, guided imagery and mental rehearsal
prepare for pregnancy, birth or parenthood, and for specific medical treatments such as IVF.

Throughout the coaching process I shall support you with empathy and provide a safe space in which to fully explore your hopes, fears and dreams.

Book a free 15 minute initial consultation

How to achieve an optimal fertile state
A natural approach to fertility and getting pregnant
Dealing effectively with the stress of infertility
Preparing for fertility treatments such as AI and IVF (and surviving the ‘two week wait’!)
Considering using donor eggs or sperm
Healing from miscarriage and terminations
Alternative paths to parenthood such as surrogacy and adoption.

Please contact me or click on the box below to arrange a free, no obligation initial meeting or call. We’ll talk about your needs and I can answer any questions you may have. Together, we’ll develop a customised coaching programme to fit your timelines, needs and budget.

I work with clients individually at my home office in Newlands, Cape Town or virtually on Zoom.

Group support is proven to make you feel better. Download the “Join Panda” mental health app on your phone and join our monthly infertility support group meeting at 11am on the last Saturday of the month. During these meetings you can (anonymously if you wish):

Simply listen, or share your experience
Find out more about infertility and treatment options
Feel empowered and gain perspective
Learn helpful skills, regain control and meet people in a similar situation.

Book a free 15 minute initial consultation

``I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Amanda since 2010 as a coach and colleague. Amanda's quiet and unassuming approach are her greatest strengths and are not to be under estimated. She has a unique ability to put people at ease, to listen with focused attention and deep compassion and to diligently work with a client on a structured and yet emergent coaching program which is certain to deliver insight, new action and positive results. If you're working with Amanda, you're in a safe and competent pair of hands.``

Julia Kerr, MD of Lumminos Coaching

``I just love being coached by Amanda. She has a calming, grounding effect for me, and an amazingly deep and simple listening style. She is able to hear the essence of what’s happening for me and what I need, through all my clutter and noise, a rare gift. Her tools that she has coached me in are beautiful, and I especially loved the guided visualisation for my own imagined fertility and reproductive space. I leave sessions feeling full, relaxed and hopeful. I have a quiet joy inside me each time I remember the visual that emerged for me. Who could have thought this was possible over skype too – we are not even in the same city! I highly recommend Amanda as a fertility and life coach to anyone wishing gentle, professional and helpful support in their journey towards having their own family.``

Melanie* - Johannesburg based client

``Amanda takes real time and care to understand her clients' 'whole' - and from there crafts a unique, multifaceted and results oriented approach to helping achieve goals. Working with Amanda has helped me identify my strengths, become more cogniscent of my thoughts and more aware of my behaviour and the choices I make, in order to craft a happy and balanced life. What has completely set Amanda apart for me is that she's combined theory and discussions with real exercises and challenges - equipping me with a practical set of tools I can apply outside of scheduled sessions.
I can honestly say she's helped change my life - working with her has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.``

Kirsty* - life coaching client

* Names have been changed to protect client confidentiality