Today, Katy makes some reflections on the podcast and her current practice, and discusses how widening out her focus to Women's Health can better serve YOU. During the episode she reveals her brand new comprehensive fertility service, which is designed to be a one-stop shop for fertility support, supporting you to reach your goal sooner than ever.

00:00

Hello, I am Katie Bradbury, a registered nurse, and nutritional therapist. Today's podcast episode is called, why I'm branching away from fertility, and how I can still help you.

00:27

So hello, hello. Welcome to today's episode, I'm really happy to be back for the second week on the trot after having a bit of an extensive period where I was getting quite sporadic with my podcast episodes, and what I wanted to do today, as I alluded to last week is just to come and chat to you, I guess a bit of a behind the scenes chat to just fill you in. Because I know that I've got a number of listeners who are really regular listeners to the show and who really enjoy it. I've had quite a few people get in touch to kind of ask about the absence of episodes when things had slowed down a bit. And I think what I realised is that part of the reason that I hadn't been coming to record the podcast every week is because I was just I don't know, I was finding that there was a resistance there. And usually, when we find some resistance in our lives, it's really worth actually sitting down with that and exploring it a little bit and hadn't had the chance to do that I was just it was just coming under the kind of the excuse, I guess of like, Oh, I've just been really busy. As you know, the summer has been really busy. But then, of course, the summer came and went and I was still putting off doing the podcast whereas actually, it used to be something that really lit me up. It used to be something that I used to really look forward to coming and doing. And I do, I enjoy coming into the studio at the bottom of the garden and making myself a cup of tea and coming and chat chatting to all of you, I really do. And so I was a bit puzzled as to why I was putting things off. And so this is what I'm here to talk to you about today. And I'm going to spend the episode just having a little chat through where I'm at at the moment. So it's a bit of a self-indulgent episode but hopefully, I'll just help you to make sense of things for where I'm at just now. And what it's made me realise is that I need to switch up the way of doing things a little bit. So what I've come to tell you today is just a little bit more info on where I'm going to be going next in terms of the services that I'm offering to you. So don't feel disheartened. Please, please listen on, I'm not saying that I'm packing in my fertility work at all. Very, very different to that. In fact, I'm figuring out a way to make it more comprehensive than it's ever been. But do stick around and listen to the episode I hope that you can join me today in whatever you're doing whether you're out for a walk or cooking or you know walking the dog or doing some chores or in the car or on your commute. Just settle in and have a little listen because I realised actually that I'm coming up to my two-year anniversary of when I set up my limited company Katie Bradbury Health. And although I was practising before that the birth of Katie Bradbury Health was really when I started to put my energy into supporting people in my private practice as opposed to anything else. So um, so that's kind of what my main focus has been for the last two years now.

04:26

My when back then in November 2020. My own fertility journey was still so raw, then actually and I'd, I'd not long had had my second child who I'm, you know, extremely blessed to have had. So she was born in June 2020. And then in November so when I set up as Katy Bradbury Health as I say my own fertility was just really still quite raw in. And for anyone who doesn't know about my own fertility journey that there is a previous episode, I can't remember what number it is off the top of my head, but I'll link to it in the show notes. So if anyone just want to go back and listen to my story, who doesn't already know it do, do go back and listen to that, because I go into the backstory a bit there. So if you're interested, you can do that.

05:33

But I so really still quite raw from my own fertility journey. And what I was determined to do then was help as many people as I could. And so I was at the end of embarking in a year-long programme that specialised or that taught me exclusively about fertility nutrition. So it was really so I was already you know, a nurse, I was already a nutritional therapist, I already specialised in women's health, I'd already got, you know, eight years of clinical experience by then, but this additional year's training was solely on fertility, male and female side, you know, fertility is a is an all-encompassing topic and looking at the underlying causes. And I was really determined, to specialise in fertility and to help as many people as I could, what I didn't realise two years on, is that I would end up holding the space for quite as many people, as I do, and that's an amazing thing, right? You know, I'm, I'm doing what I set out to do, which is helping as many people as I could. But what's happened recently is I've been feeling a little bit depleted. And I think that part of it seasonal, you know, of course, I think as we move away from the summer, that it's natural at this time of year, isn't it for your energy to shift. But part of it is because and this is, this might sound a little bit dramatic, but, hopefully, you can understand and, I will explain a bit further. But part of it is because for every person that I speak to who is struggling with their fertility, and whether that's, you know, an intensive one-to-one client, whether it's people who are in my membership, and that I support as a group, whether it's people in my Facebook group, whether it's people that reach out to me on the DM'S and Instagram, whether it's people who I speak to in this podcast, whether it's people who I indirectly work with, through a company in the states who I do some clinical mentorship for, it's, you know, there's a lot of people out there, and for each of those, and this is I don't mean for this to sound dramatic, but this is just the impact in me. But for a little, for each of those people, a little piece of me goes with them. And it's because it's a topic that I care so much about. It's very, very difficult to be really boundaries and to just leave that behind at the door, right? And so, what happened recently a couple of weeks ago, is I was at a bit of a crescendo, I guess, with quite a few people, you know, these journeys, of course, they ebb and flow, right? And so, sometimes you're up sometimes you're down. And the thing is, it's such a long journey, in a lot of cases, because lots of the people who come to me have actually got some really complex stuff going on. And it's not instantaneous, you know, it takes, can take time. And so the journey can last quite a long time. And then even when, you know, if a pregnancy does occur, it's not always all sunshine and roses, it's then Oh, hang on, we need to wait at least three months now before we can actually relax and then even then it can feel worrisome. So as I say, it's difficult to kind of be boundaries and leave that behind. And whilst I have got a lot better with my boundaries, in terms of I don't know, you know, being very clear in the way that I respond to people. It doesn't, you can't just leave, leave the emotional aspect of that out and so what happened a few weeks ago, is a few, I had a few people in my world who had you know, were coming to a bit of a kind of a crescendo whether that's, you know, they had IVF going on, or they've been pregnant, you know, they got pregnant, but that had a history of miscarriage and you know, there were quite a few people that I was talking to and it was quite intense and I was quite anxious for all of these people and I started in one of my journaling practices, I started writing out a prayer. And I started writing out a prayer for and it started just fit for each of these, I think there were about five people who one of them is a close friend.

10:16

And, you know, it's, it's I, as I said, one of them was like, in and out of hospital whos a client. And so I started writing about this prayer. And in this prayer, I, you know, I was asking for each of these people to get what they say, wanted, I was asking that, you know, that these, these IVF cycles would be successful, or that they, these pregnancies would work out. And I wrote, I wrote quite detailed messages in this in this letter, in this prayer. And then it all started spilling out. And I ended up then starting to think about other people who weren't kind of in this it sense of immediacy, you know, who didn't actively have this stuff going on, but who were still in my world and that I was supporting. And so I just carried on writing. And I carried on writing and writing and writing and pages later. And lots of names and lots of hopes and wishes and prayers later, I and I hadn't even stopped you know, I was full flow and I just realised my goodness, no wonder I'm feeling a bit on edge recently, because I'm holding this, right? And this isn't me being dramatic, by the way, because I have every, I completely know that it's far, far more intense for you than it ever could be for me. But a lot of it is, there's an element of kind of, and again, this sounds very dramatic, but it's just me being completely open, there's an element of, of re-traumatising there, because it's so close to my own heart in that I went through this myself, even though I'm so blessed and thankful to be on the other side of that. These are all feelings that I hold insid