About
Mental Health Experts
Dr. Karen Kranz
Dr. Karen Kranz is a Registered Psychologist who has been working in private practice in Vancouver, British Columbia since 2000. She has a wealth of experience working with individuals, couples (heterosexual, lesbian, and gay), and adult families. Her practice includes a focus on infertility and reproductive health including working with heterosexual and lesbian couples and single women undergoing IVF/infertility treatments and/or using third-party reproduction to conceive their children. She helps clients navigate these difficult life experiences including assisting with decision-making (e.g., donor choice), considering the long-term consequences (e.g., disclosing donor origins to children) and working through the emotional impacts of fertility challenges in order to make meaning and integrate these experiences into their lives. She has researched and published on lesbian couples with children conceived through the use of anonymous donor insemination. Karen has received training and supervision for her work in infertility and third party counselling by some of the leading clinicians in the field and has worked with a number of fertility clinics in both Canada and the United States.
Karen received her Doctorate Degree in Counselling Psychology in 2005 from the University of British Columbia. Karen is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Psychologists of BC, is a member of the BC Psychological Association, Canadian Psychological Association, Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS) and the Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG) of the CFAS.
Dr. Emily Koert
Dr. Emily Koert is a Registered Psychologist with a Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia. Emily has been providing counselling to women, couples, and families for over 10 years. Her current area of clinical practice and research is women’s reproductive health. Emily provides counselling to women or couples who are making fertility-related decisions, experiencing infertility, considering third party reproduction to expand their families, or grappling with childlessness. Emily’s goal is to empower clients with information so that they can make informed reproductive decisions, and to help them process and navigate the emotional impact of fertility decision-making, infertility and its treatments, and childlessness. Emily has received training and supervision for her clinical work in these areas by Dr. Judith Daniluk, a leading clinician and researcher in the field of sexuality and reproductive health, along with other well-respected researchers and clinicians working in the fertility field throughout the world. Emily has published in numerous academic chapters and journals with Dr. Daniluk. She is currently researching the experiences of women in their 40s and 50s who expected to become mothers, but are faced with permanent childless after delaying childbearing.
Emily is a Registered Psychologist with the College of Psychologists of BC, is a member of the BC Psychological Association, Canadian Psychological Association, Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), the Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG) of the CFAS, American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the Mental Health Practice Group of the ASRM.
Dr. Janet Takefman
Dr. Janet Takefman, PhD, is a former contributor to MyFertilityChoices.com. She is the Director of Psychological Research & Services, and Patient Manager at the McGill University Health Centre Reproductive Centre, and holds joint Assistant Professorships at the Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Psychology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She has co-authored more than 40 monographs, book chapters, research manuscripts and peer review articles and presented for medical conferences around the world. Her current research examines the impact of psychosocial factors on fertility and treatment outcome, the value of complementary medicine for infertile patients and developing interventions to facilitate patient satisfaction and lower drop-out rates.
She is the co-creator of FertiQoL the only internationally validated quality of life measure for the infertile population. Dr. Takefman is Past Chair of the Mental Health Professional Group of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and current Chair of the Counselling Special Interest Group of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society. She is on the executive Boards of Infertility Awareness Association of Canada and Rhea of Hope and is an editorial reviewer for various magazines and journals. She is an advisory member to the Agency of Human Reproduction Canada which oversees reproductive laws in Canada and consults for various biopharmaceutical leaders.