Brooke Gonzalez, executive director of FertilityCare Center of Kansas City, receives her educator certificate from Dr. Thomas Hilgers. PHOTO COURTESY OF BROOKE GONZALEZ
By Joe Bollig
joe.bollig@theleaven.org
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The good news is that more women want to learn how to practice natural methods of fertility regulation and gynecological health.
The bad news is that consumer demand in the Greater Kansas City area is greater than teaching supply.
That will be changing this year, said Brooke Gonzalez, executive director of FertilityCare Center of Kansas City.
FertilityCare, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, plans to add more certified practitioners by conducting a two-phase training April 28-May 5 and Nov. 3-8.
The class size will be limited to 10 persons, so those who want to learn how to become certified practitioners need to sign up as soon as possible, said Gonzalez.
But it has never been easier to become a certified practitioner, thanks to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who has been with FertilityCare for 10 years, began as a practitioner. Three years ago, she became its executive director. Seeing the need for local training, she underwent training at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, to become a certified educator.
“That’s why I became an educator, so I could hold these training programs in the Kansas City area and reach out to and service more people in our area,” she said. “Otherwise, they’d have to go to Omaha to receive this training, or even farther away.”
Currently, FertilityCare has 12 certified practitioners and one practitioner intern. They work in the Greater Kansas City and the St. Joseph, Missouri, areas. All practitioners work out of local parishes or hospitals.
The first session of the training will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from April 28-May 5; the second session will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 3-8. Classes will be held at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, 4313 S.W. State Route 7, Blue Springs, Missouri.
No prerequisites are required, but students should have a bachelor’s degree (no specific field) and a desire to work with couples and single women to assist them in learning how to use the Creighton Model of fertility regulation and gynecological health.
Sometimes, students are able to get grants or scholarships from parishes.
“Generally, we find a lot of churches are willing to provide scholarships and a lot of parishioners will help a co- parishioner do this,” said Gonzalez.
For more information, go online to: www.fertilitycarekc.com. To download three documents useful to students — “Practitioner Program Outline,” “Finding Funding” and “Your Year in the FCP Program” — and to enroll, click on “Want more information” under the headline “Our Practitioner Training Program.”
