Intended Parent Support Group
Support and connection while building your family through third-party reproduction.
Who Is the Intended Parent Support Group For?
This group is designed for individuals and couples pursuing or preparing for parenthood through donor conception and/or gestational surrogacy.
You may find the group especially helpful if you are looking for connection with others who understand third-party reproduction, navigating difficult or complicated emotions about your path to parenthood, making decisions about donors or surrogacy, thinking about disclosure and your future child’s conception story, or wanting support beyond the medical and logistical aspects of family building.
You do not need to have everything figured out before joining. Intended parents may be at different stages of the family-building process. Building a family through donor conception or gestational surrogacy can bring a unique mix of hope, uncertainty, grief, complex decisions, and anticipation. You don’t have to navigate it alone.
Sana Psychotherapy’s Virtual Intended Parent Support Group is a 6-week group for individuals and couples building their families through third-party reproduction. The group offers a supportive space to connect with other intended parents, process the emotional and relational aspects of the experience, and prepare for the transition to parenthood.
What We’ll Explore
Over the six weeks, topics may include:
Your path to third-party reproduction and how you got here
Choosing a donor and navigating uncertainty
Grief, hope, expectations, and changing ideas about family building
Genetics, identity, and what it means to become a parent
Relationships and communication throughout the process
Navigating family, friends, boundaries, and outside opinions
Talking with your future child about their conception story
Preparing emotionally for pregnancy, birth, and parenthood
Building confidence in your unique family story
Interested in Joining the Intended Parent Support Group?
We begin with a brief complimentary consultation to learn more about where you are in your family-building journey, answer your questions, and make sure the group feels like the right fit.
Complete the interest form, and a member of the Sana Psychotherapy team will reach out to schedule your consultation.
-
An intended parent support group provides a space for people building their families through third-party reproduction to connect with others navigating similar experiences. Sana’s group focuses on the emotional, relational, and identity-related aspects of donor conception and gestational surrogacy.
-
The group is designed for individuals and couples pursuing or preparing for parenthood through donor conception and/or gestational surrogacy.
-
Yes. All six sessions are held virtually, allowing intended parents to participate from the comfort and privacy of home.
-
The group is $75 per session for individuals or $135 per session for couples attending together. The group meets for six weekly sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Yes. Both individuals and couples are welcome.
-
No. Participants may be at different stages of the process. A brief consultation before joining helps us learn more about your experience and determine whether the group is a good fit for your current needs.
-
The Intended Parent Support Group is designed to provide education, reflection, connection, and peer support around the experience of third-party reproduction. During your consultation, we can answer questions about the structure of the group and whether it is appropriate for your needs.
-
Group dates and times are determined based on participant availability. When you request a consultation, we’ll ask about your scheduling preferences and use the availability of interested participants to determine the schedule for each 6-week group.
Meet Your Group Facilitators
The Intended Parent Support Group is facilitated by Jessica Erickson, LCSW, and Kristina D’Antonio, LCSW, co-founders of Sana Psychotherapy and therapists specializing in perinatal and reproductive mental health.
Jessica and Kristina bring extensive experience supporting individuals and couples through fertility treatment, third-party reproduction, pregnancy, pregnancy loss, postpartum adjustment, relationships, and the transition to parenthood.
At Sana Psychotherapy, we believe emotional support deserves to be part of reproductive and family-building care, not an afterthought.
Each 6-week group is led by either Jessica or Kristina with the same facilitator throughout the full series.
Co-founder
Co-founder
Support for Intended Parents Using Third-Party Reproduction
Every path through third-party reproduction is different. Some intended parents arrive after years of fertility treatment or pregnancy loss, while others may have always known that donor conception or gestational surrogacy would be part of building their family.
While significant attention is often given to the medical, legal, and logistical aspects of third-party reproduction, the emotional experience can receive far less. Intended parents may find themselves navigating excitement alongside grief, uncertainty, changing expectations, relationship stress, questions about genetics and identity, or concerns about how to talk about their family’s story in the future.
Whatever brought you here, having a space where you do not have to explain the basics of your experience can be meaningful. Each session combines psychoeducation, guided discussion, reflection, and peer support in a confidential and welcoming environment, with the goal of helping intended parents feel supported, informed, connected, and more confident in the family story they are creating.