Couples wanting to start their family or manage their fertility the natural way now have a host of resources at the click of a mouse, following the relaunch of Natural Fertility New Zealand’s (NFNZ) website.
One in six couples in New Zealand struggle with fertility and more women are wanting safe, reliable, drug free methods of avoiding pregnancy.
In an effort to meet the increasing demand for reliable information on what options are available, NFNZ has updated its resources.
What is the NZNF?
It may sound like a bit of a new-age term, but in one form or another NFNZ has been around for almost four decades.
The organisation’s primary role as the Natural Family Planning Association in 1974 was to provide information and teaching about natural family planning.
Founded in the wake of worldwide advances in physiological and scientific knowledge about fertility and the menstrual cycle, the method was quickly adopted by couples throughout the country, with educators in almost every city and town.
The Natural Family Planning Association (as it was known then) received government funding through the Department of Health for the training and payment of educators in natural family planning and for educators working in schools and with other community groups.
Although this was initially for teaching individual couples fertility awareness and natural family planning, requests were made by health professionals, schools and community groups for educators to teach in the areas of fertility and sexuality.
“In 2002 Natural Family Planning Inc carried out a re-branding exercise and changed its name to Natural Fertility NZ Inc to better reflect the services we now provide,” explains Robyn Fausett, a NFNZ Accredited Educator.
In 2011 NFNZ began the process of changing from an organisation that employed its educators, to a national association that educators belong to.
The relaunch of their site is to supply more online resources around getting pregnant and avoiding pregnancy and fertility educators can now be found via an interactive map.
What is a fertility educator?
Fertility educators generally come from a medical or health professional background and (in addition to their existing qualification of nurse, midwife, doctor, naturopath, etc) undergo a theory and practical training course which takes six to twelve months to complete.
This is then followed by a period of supervision before they are accredited as fertility educators.
All educators undergo a regular full clinical audit and are re-accredited to NFNZ annually.
Fertility educators hold clinics and/or provide home visits in most main centres throughout New Zealand and many also provide distance education either online or via Skype.
Group Education and In-School Education (puberty and fertility awareness courses) are also provided throughout much of New Zealand.
For more information visit www.naturalfertility.co.nz
– © Fairfax NZ News