About
In the autumn of 2015, I struggled to accept that I would not ever be a mom. Almost all my friends had children. I felt isolated and alone with my sadness and grief. I knew I needed help. And, specifically, I wanted support from women who were living with involuntarily childlessness like me. I searched the words 'childless support Canada' online only to find a screen full of fertility-focused sites - this made me feel more alone.
Thankfully, so thankfully, I eventually found blogs and books by women who wrote about their similar experiences and their grief. I explored and joined the Gateway Women online community for women childless not by choice. And, I kept reading. A couple years later, I attended Jody Day's Reignite Weekend workshop where I met an amazing group of women in my shoes and, with their connection, felt myself surfacing from years of feeling alone in my involuntary childlessness.
Time and these resources helped me move through childless grief. Reading and hearing other women's stories, being fully part of female conversations again, sharing my own stories and building community have helped me most.
In 2018, I trained with Jody Day and a group of women from the U.S. to deliver her workshop in our two countries. That September, I facilitated a sold-out Reignite Weekend in Toronto. It was another incredible weekend spent with other women without children creating connection and community. My heart felt full. In 2019, Jody paused delivery of her workshops in North America and I decided to create this website as a resource for Canadian involuntarily childless women. I wanted to continue to build awareness and community. The need remained.
In autumn 2019 - four years after my initial discouraging online search for childless support - curious to know what new might be available in Canada, I again searched those same words - childless, support, Canada. The search results hadn't really changed. Resources for people searching for support around childlessness again seemed invisible as fertility industry ads and sites still dominated the search results.
No woman struggling with childlessness should find it so hard to locate support resources. An online search as I did shouldn't result in fertility-focused sites that fail to acknowledge the reality of involuntary childlessness.
And so, using the very words I first searched, I created this site. I want to help women more easily find support resources. I want to share what has helped me through my experiences. Like me, this blog/site will continue to take shape and evolve over time.
As a woman without children who no longer feels alone in this experience, I am feeling peace and joy again. When grief arises, I have the precious and ready understanding, community and comfort of other women who get it. I hope the same for you.
Susan
Ontario, Canada ~ 2019
Thankfully, so thankfully, I eventually found blogs and books by women who wrote about their similar experiences and their grief. I explored and joined the Gateway Women online community for women childless not by choice. And, I kept reading. A couple years later, I attended Jody Day's Reignite Weekend workshop where I met an amazing group of women in my shoes and, with their connection, felt myself surfacing from years of feeling alone in my involuntary childlessness.
Time and these resources helped me move through childless grief. Reading and hearing other women's stories, being fully part of female conversations again, sharing my own stories and building community have helped me most.
In 2018, I trained with Jody Day and a group of women from the U.S. to deliver her workshop in our two countries. That September, I facilitated a sold-out Reignite Weekend in Toronto. It was another incredible weekend spent with other women without children creating connection and community. My heart felt full. In 2019, Jody paused delivery of her workshops in North America and I decided to create this website as a resource for Canadian involuntarily childless women. I wanted to continue to build awareness and community. The need remained.
In autumn 2019 - four years after my initial discouraging online search for childless support - curious to know what new might be available in Canada, I again searched those same words - childless, support, Canada. The search results hadn't really changed. Resources for people searching for support around childlessness again seemed invisible as fertility industry ads and sites still dominated the search results.
No woman struggling with childlessness should find it so hard to locate support resources. An online search as I did shouldn't result in fertility-focused sites that fail to acknowledge the reality of involuntary childlessness.
And so, using the very words I first searched, I created this site. I want to help women more easily find support resources. I want to share what has helped me through my experiences. Like me, this blog/site will continue to take shape and evolve over time.
As a woman without children who no longer feels alone in this experience, I am feeling peace and joy again. When grief arises, I have the precious and ready understanding, community and comfort of other women who get it. I hope the same for you.
Susan
Ontario, Canada ~ 2019