Childless Not By Choice: Why greater compassion is needed in the workplace

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode deals with discussions of in/fertility and/or baby loss.

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In this episode we're delighted to be speaking with Yvonne John, author of ‘Dreaming of a Life Unlived: Intimate Stories and Portraits of Women Without Children’ and a leading voice for women of colour’s experience around infertility and childlessness.

Yvonne was diagnosed with ‘unexplained infertility’ in October 2014 and was engulfed by grief after facing the reality that she would never be a mum.

She talks about how this affects her and so many others, including feeling it was her fault having had two terminations in her 20s and how she came to realise this was not the case.

Yvonne also talks about the unique experiences that women of colour have with infertility and how this is not frequently discussed.

The conversation also covers how workplaces do not generally recognise bias towards those who do not have children and how common occurrences at work can be emotionally triggering for childless women and men.

Guest Bio:

As a public speaker Yvonne has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes, including ‘Woman's Hour’ on BBC Radio 4, to talk about her experience of recovering from the devastating grief of involuntary childlessness.

Yvonne is a graduate of Gateway Women (GW) year-long Plan B Mentorship programme and is a trained facilitator of the GW reignite weekend workshops. Jody Day (founder of Gateway Women) personally invited Yvonne to lead the Reignite weekends for women of colour having come to understand through many conversations together that there are unique aspects to the women of colour experience of childlessness that would be better served in a dedicated workshop.

Yvonne is passionate about creating an inclusive space for black women and women of colour to openly talk about their childless journey and is the leading voice on the childless experience of WoC and blogs at www.findingmyplanb.com
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SEASON 3 SPONSOR:

The Lister Fertility Clinic

Find them on:

• their website https://www.hcahealthcare.co.uk/facilities/the-lister-hospital/units-and-teams/lister-fertility-clinic
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/listerfertilityclinic?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA
• Twitter (X) https://x.com/listerfertility?s=21&t=Fs307LOBs3ujypHYHk4OFg
• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-lister-hospital/