Meet Dr Marie
I spent twelve years navigating fertility impairment myself. That is why I know this support matters.
I became passionate about this work because I lived it
Twelve years of unexplained (in)fertility. A long stretch of liminal space, of confused loss, of disenfranchised grief.
It drove me to learn everything I could, so that no one else would have to wait as long as I did to be understood. I qualified as a psychotherapist in 2011, completed an MSc at the University of Edinburgh in 2021, and a PhD in Counselling Studies in 2025. All of it focused on the under-researched intersection of fertility impairment, grief, and the therapeutic work that supports people through it.
All of that, while running my private practice. Honoured to bring my clients’ stories into my research, and grateful every time one of them said the words I had once needed to hear myself: I am not alone anymore.
Both the medical and the emotional, held together
My doctoral research showed something I already knew from my own life: fertility counselling must hold both the medical and the emotional. The shame, the grief, the loss of hope, the courage it takes to rebuild hope again after each loss, all of it is part of the journey, and none of it is well served by a purely medical approach.
What that means for you, sitting opposite me: I am trained to walk you through both. I speak the language of fertility impairment, fluently. I will not judge you when you describe the loss of an embryo, the silence of a failed transfer, or the confusing grief of a pregnancy that was never confirmed. I have researched it, written about it, lived it, and held space for many others through it.
Client-centred to feel, a coach to decide
I am client-centred in the emotional work, and psychodynamic in my approach, meaning I follow you, help you explore what sits beneath the surface, and support you in making meaning of your experiences.
When the work shifts to practical decisions, IVF, ICSI, surrogacy, adoption, when to pause and when to stop. I become more directive, more of a coach, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with you through the choices. You are held throughout. You receive both the space to feel and the guidance to act.
Trained, researched, and accountable
- PhD in Counselling Studies — University of Edinburgh, 2025
- MSc in Counselling Studies — University of Edinburgh, 2021
- Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy (DipCouns)
- COSCA Counselling Certificate
- Registered member, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
My BACP membership means I work to a strict code of ethics and ongoing professional standards. Protection and reassurance for you, from the very first message.
Alongside my private practice, I give talks to groups and organisations. I write, research, and am developing a training programme for fellow counsellors and healthcare professionals working with fertility impairment.
For professionals - training & speaking - coming soon
Dr Marie completely transformed my whole approach to my infertility diagnosis. Her integrated style of counselling and coaching helped me understand the emotional and psychological pieces I didn’t even know were holding me back. She really does understand the layers of loss that come with this. She taught me how to mark my losses along the way, and brought clarity, meaning and hope, even in the moments it all felt hopeless. And she walked forward with me into my new identity with confidence.Female client · Edinburgh
A little more about me and my work
Yes, I have. I lived with unexplained (in)fertility for twelve years. That’s not just my credential — it’s my compass. It’s why I understand the weight of your story in a way only lived experience can teach. When you work with me, you’re not just getting expertise. You’re getting someone who knows what it feels like to be where you are right now. That understanding shapes everything I do.
I hold a PhD and an MSc in Counselling Studies, both from the University of Edinburgh, with a focus on fertility impairment, as well as a Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy and the COSCA Counselling Certificate. I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
It means I work with the whole picture. Fertility impairment is not only medical, and not only emotional — it is both, layered together, and my research showed me how to hold both at once. In practice, that often means helping clients name and mark losses that society does not recognise: the embryos that did not implant, the pregnancies that were imagined but never came. Naming these losses and giving them their proper grief is one of the most healing things we can do together.
General counselling and CBT are valuable, but they are not built for the specific weight of fertility impairment — the medical complexity, the disenfranchised grief, the rollercoaster of hope and loss, the shame that society has yet to fully name. As a specialist, I bring both clinical training and lived experience to the work, and I stay current with the realities of reproductive medicine. You do not have to teach me what an FET is, or what it feels like when one fails. We can begin where you actually are.