Latest / The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee / Unlocking Superannuation for Fertility Care and Why the ATO Asks You To See a Psychiatrist with Dr Justine Schelle

Transcript

Unlocking Superannuation for Fertility Care and Why the ATO Asks You To See a Psychiatrist with Dr Justine Schelle · The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee

• 0:04
  Liz Walton: Welcome to the Home of Fertility, a space for real conversation and expert insights about fertility, healing, and creating family.
• 0:14
  Liz Walton: I'm Liz Walton.
• 0:17
  Helen Zee: And I'm Helen Zee.
• 0:18
  Helen Zee: We are two mums who've walked this path and are passionate about supporting you on your journey, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
• 0:28
  Liz Walton: We talk about it all.
• 0:29
  Liz Walton: Fertility treatment, holistic support, relationship, mindset, and the emotional high and left.
• 0:38
  Helen Zee: Because sometimes the missing piece lies in someone else's story, in the quiet wisdom of the body, or in a breakthrough that's finally made for you.
• 0:49
  Liz Walton: We are so glad you are here.
• 0:52
  Liz Walton: Let's dive in.
• 1:08
  Helen Zee: Today I am super excited to be sharing the expertise of Dr.
• 1:16
  Helen Zee: Justine Schelle, who is a consultant psychiatrist who has a particular interest in psychiatry relating to fertility and is eager to assist individuals and families during what can be an emotional, isolating, and costly journey.
• 1:34
  Helen Zee: I, for one, have got questions to ask because I know that accessing your superannuation for fertility treatments and medical treatments is something that is relatively new for us.
• 1:48
  Helen Zee: And a lot of people don't know about it.
• 1:50
  Helen Zee: And those that do know about it go on hearsay and don't get the proper information to make an informed decision.
• 1:59
  Helen Zee: So today I'm happy to pick all that out with the lovely Dr.
• 2:05
  Helen Zee: Justine and welcome.
• 2:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: Thank you very much, Helen.
• 2:10
  Dr Justine Schelle: I'm very excited to be here as well.
• 2:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: Wonderful.
• 2:15
  Helen Zee: I want to start off by asking why do I need to see a psychiatrist to access superannuation for fertility treatment?
• 2:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: That's a great question, and certainly one that we get asked reasonably frequently.
• 2:31
  Dr Justine Schelle: Sometimes people feel very annoyed that they have to see a psychiatrist because they say there's never, you know, there's nothing wrong with me.
• 2:39
  Dr Justine Schelle: I don't have any psychiatric issues, and why do we have to see one?
• 2:44
  Dr Justine Schelle: It's an ATO requirement basically.
• 2:47
  Dr Justine Schelle: So for fertility treatment, if you're wanting to access super, one of the requirements is that you see a psychiatrist.
• 2:56
  Dr Justine Schelle: You need two forms in order to access super.
• 3:01
  Dr Justine Schelle: One has to be from a psychiatrist, and the other can be from either your GP or your fertility doctor.
• 3:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: We find that the majority of people get the combination from us and their GP, as often fertility doctors are reluctant to do the second form, mainly because it can be seen as a conflict of interest, as in access to your superannuation and then pay it to my clinic who will pay it to me.
• 3:27
  Dr Justine Schelle: So, yes.
• 3:29
  Dr Justine Schelle: So many of them refuse to do it, nicely, of course.
• 3:34
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so usually it's us and the GP.
• 3:37
  Dr Justine Schelle: I think I think the reason that the government chose psychiatrists as the other specialist to do this pre this um these forms is probably because we seem where we would be the most appropriate.
• 3:55
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um and the we also during the assessments with fertility psych, which take about an hour, um, we do a full psychiatric assessment.
• 4:05
  Dr Justine Schelle: And through that process, we probably pick up between five to ten percent of our patients who have a major psychiatric condition, usually depression, and we're able to give advice to them and to their GPs about how to treat that.
• 4:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: Right.
• 4:26
  Dr Justine Schelle: We we also know that if if people, particularly women, are depressed before they get pregnant, there's a much greater risk of them developing postnatal depression after the baby's born.
• 4:38
  Dr Justine Schelle: So by hopefully by capturing some of those people because they have to see a psychiatrist, we're able to effectively be active in treating what is likely to become postnatal depression in these women.
• 4:54
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and that obviously has long-term consequences for paternal and infant attachment, um, and very long-term consequences potentially for that child in the future to be raised by a very depressed mother.
• 5:08
  Helen Zee: Yeah.
• 5:08
  Helen Zee: Wow, that you've just opened my eyes up.
• 5:12
  Helen Zee: Um as you're talking, uh, a few things have come up for me, and that is you are correct in what you're saying about undiagnosed um conditions that they carry on through pregnancy as well as postpartum.
• 5:31
  Helen Zee: And we've seen the statistics come out, and behind the statistics are people and families.
• 5:37
  Helen Zee: And I feel that what you're doing here is you're a safety net.
• 5:42
  Helen Zee: You're a safety net of capturing and also identifying uh people that may not realize are at risk.
• 5:54
  Dr Justine Schelle: Absolutely.
• 5:55
  Dr Justine Schelle: And I think a lot of the time people are very understandably very, very stressed about doing IBS, particularly if they've had sales cycles.
• 6:04
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and uh they think this is just normal.
• 6:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: You know, I'm disappointed about not having a baby, all my friends are having babies, and yes, I'm low in mood, but what would you expect otherwise?
• 6:16
  Dr Justine Schelle: And there's a difference between being low in mood because your fertility journey isn't going as you had hoped, and having a major depressive episode.
• 6:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, we are thrilled at times when we've really encouraged women to have treatment, um, keeping in mind that particular antidepressants are considered very, very safe in pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as obviously interactions with a psychologist or counsellor.
• 6:44
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, but we're thrilled when people contact us later and say going on that medication or seeing a psychologist, or preferably the combination of both, has changed my life.
• 6:56
  Dr Justine Schelle: And not only have you changed my life, but you've also made my relationship much happier as well because my partner was beside themselves with how depressed I was.
• 7:07
  Dr Justine Schelle: And yes, I'm still not pregnant, but at least I'm managing my life better and my relationships better.
• 7:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: So it feels like a gift.
• 7:15
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yeah, we and we love hearing those stories.
• 7:18
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, it's just great to have people obviously get pregnant, um, but also to hear that we have made a major change in women's lives in general as well.
• 7:29
  Helen Zee: And uh the question that comes to mind and my curiosity is what made you decide to specialise in this area of fertility and psychiatry.
• 7:42
  Dr Justine Schelle: It was serendipitous, really.
• 7:44
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, I was talking to a colleague and she mentioned that one of our other colleagues was doing this for a larger company.
• 7:53
  Dr Justine Schelle: And I had a look at how that company operated, um, and they're still they're still working.
• 8:00
  Dr Justine Schelle: I obviously won't mention any names.
• 8:03
  Dr Justine Schelle: And I just thought I can do this better than them.
• 8:06
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, I can not only assess women um and do a full mental health assessment, which which takes an hour, whereas a lot of the other doctors doing it for other clinics um were just saying we went for 15 minutes signing the forms and sending them on their way.
• 8:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um but I also thought I can do it cheaper than the other clinics because with my assistance um I will write exactly what people need to do to access super through their MyGov accounts.
• 8:39
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, they won't need a third party to assist them with logging into their MyGov accounts.
• 8:46
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, that part of the process is actually really, really simple.
• 8:50
  Dr Justine Schelle: And other companies charge a lot of money for that assistance.
• 8:54
  Dr Justine Schelle: And obviously, that suits some people, they just want to outsource everything, and I can understand that as well.
• 9:00
  Dr Justine Schelle: But for people who don't want to outsource everything and want to save money, um, this is a is a fantastic service.
• 9:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: So I I started it seven years ago.
• 9:11
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um initially it was just me, and um I thought, oh, this is a lovely little part-time job to do while I work um you know a lot more hours in the public hospital system, and then it just grew and grew.
• 9:28
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, there was so much need for this service, and we were getting fantastic reviews on Google, for example.
• 9:37
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, Facebook groups started talking about fertility psych, um, and then some IVF clinics started recommending us directly to their patients if they wanted to access superannuation.
• 9:52
  Dr Justine Schelle: So ultimately it got to such a stage where I couldn't do everything.
• 9:57
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, I got an admin person, and then and then I started asking friends who I'd worked with or trained with if they'd like to join as well.
• 10:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so I was extremely selective with who came to join the fertility site business.
• 10:14
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and that they were all wonderful women and and a few men who I'd also worked with and thought would would be really great.
• 10:24
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um we work very quickly, we tend to get reports back to people within 24 hours, generally, occasionally 48.
• 10:34
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so that the momentum is going.
• 10:37
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, they see us, they get the report, they go to their GP, um, and realistically, all of that process can happen within a few days.
• 10:48
  Helen Zee: Well, and that would be such a relief for people because we already know that the waiting costs so much emotionally and mentally.
• 10:59
  Helen Zee: And so to be able to have uh a process executed so effectively, I feel would give people hope that that they're gonna get closer to their next goal and series of goals.
• 11:12
  Helen Zee: I've got a question for you, two questions.
• 11:15
  Helen Zee: Three questions, actually.
• 11:17
  Helen Zee: Keep going.
• 11:18
  Helen Zee: One is uh do you you service people nationally, I'm assuming.
• 11:24
  Helen Zee: You don't just need to be in the jurisdiction of where you live to be able to carry out this service on someone's behalf, correct?
• 11:31
  Dr Justine Schelle: Absolutely, that's the case.
• 11:33
  Dr Justine Schelle: So um on our website um there's a tab that says posts, and if you look on that tab, um you can see the map of Australia and where we've seen people from.
• 11:45
  Dr Justine Schelle: So um our all of our appointments now are done over Zoom.
• 11:50
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um we often see people, women in particular, um, sitting in their cars at lunchtime on their mobile phones, zooming us.
• 11:58
  Dr Justine Schelle: We've seen people from almost the tip of um Queensland, down to Tasmania, um in the Kimberleys in Western Australia, just everywhere.
• 12:09
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, Alice Springs, Broken Hill.
• 12:11
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so a significant portion of our patients are rurally based, where of course it's even harder to find psychiatrists.
• 12:20
  Dr Justine Schelle: And um, Medicare has a benefit that if you haven't seen a psychiatrist within the last 12 months and you live rurally, um, you can have one free psychiatrist appointment.
• 12:35
  Dr Justine Schelle: So the very vast majority of people that we see from rural areas don't have to pay us anything at all.
• 12:44
  Helen Zee: I'm just gonna write that down because um I feel like we can highlight that as well for people that so they can come in and get more information.
• 12:55
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes, there's a there's something on the um on the web called the Monash Medical Model, um, and that tells people where they live with regards to if they're rural, regional, or metropolitan.
• 13:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um it's a system graded from one to seven.
• 13:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: If you're a one, then you're considered metropolitan.
• 13:15
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and that doesn't only include big cities, unfortunately.
• 13:18
  Dr Justine Schelle: In, for example, in New South Wales, where I am, all from Newcastle down past Wongong is all considered metro.
• 13:26
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, but the majority of the rest of New South Wales is considered regional or rural.
• 13:32
  Dr Justine Schelle: So there's um we I can't remember, but I think about 20% of our patients are rural or regional.
• 13:40
  Dr Justine Schelle: So they don't they don't pay anything for service.
• 13:43
  Helen Zee: And I am assuming that as a uh a wholesome provider in the services that you do, that you also do the applications to the ATO where you mentioned my gov, I'm assuming that you would be doing it the application to the ATO, and not all companies do applications to the ATO?
• 14:08
  Helen Zee: No, it's the opposite.
• 14:10
  Dr Justine Schelle: So um most of the other companies, I think all of the other companies actually do the application to the ATO on the patient's behalf and charge several hundred dollars for doing that.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:24
  Dr Justine Schelle: Whereas our company doesn't do that, um, but we send out an email when we send the report to the patient, the GP, and the fertility doctor about exactly how to do it themselves online.
• 14:37
  Helen Zee: Love that.
• 14:38
  Helen Zee: So that's how the go-to guide is part of the service, which means that people will be saving hundreds of dollars as a result of that.
• 14:48
  Helen Zee: Absolutely.
• 14:49
  Dr Justine Schelle: And and more to the point.
• 14:50
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yeah, and a third party doesn't access people's MyGov account.
• 14:56
  Dr Justine Schelle: So you're the only one as the patient who is accessing your own MyGov account or your partner's MyGov account if you're using their super.
• 15:04
  Dr Justine Schelle: Because you don't have to use your own super, you can use your partner's super.
• 15:10
  Helen Zee: Yeah.
• 15:10
  Helen Zee: The other question that came up for me while we were talking was we're talking that psychiatrist uh consulting psychiatrist is needed to be engaged to do a review to access superannuation for fertility treatments.
• 15:27
  Helen Zee: Now we know that we can also access superannuation for other treatments and medical treatments.
• 15:34
  Helen Zee: Yes.
• 15:35
  Helen Zee: Are we saying that you don't need a psychiatrist for a lot of the other medical treatments?
• 15:40
  Helen Zee: That's correct.
• 15:42
  Dr Justine Schelle: So for fertility treatment, and that's not just IBS.
• 15:47
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, it can also include egg harvesting, um, IUI, um pieces, which is the testicular biopsies in order to access sperm, um, or even gynecological surgery related to fertility.
• 16:02
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, all of those need a psychiatrist.
• 16:06
  Dr Justine Schelle: Other operations or procedures such as um bariatric surgery, um dental surgery or implants, etc., um, don't need a psychiatrist.
• 16:19
  Dr Justine Schelle: Some clinics do want another opinion from psychiatrists.
• 16:24
  Dr Justine Schelle: So we've certainly done some lap banding applications or gastric bypass.
• 16:29
  Dr Justine Schelle: We've done a few dental, but we really concentrate on the fertility side of things, which is how we can be very, very specific and our applications are accepted well and truly by the ATO.
• 16:46
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, very, very occasionally someone will get a message back from the ATO saying that their application has been declined.
• 16:55
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, what we ask them to do is ring the ATO and find out why.
• 17:00
  Dr Justine Schelle: It's usually that the GP hasn't put a date on the paperwork.
• 17:05
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um it's not an issue with our paperwork.
• 17:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: We haven't had problems.
• 17:09
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um occasionally people say, Oh, um, I was going overseas for my treatment.
• 17:14
  Dr Justine Schelle: I told you I was going to Greece, but now I'm going to Spain, and the ATO want that changed.
• 17:21
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so we we do that on the same day as we get that phone call or that even usually that email.
• 17:27
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, of course, we don't charge anything for that.
• 17:30
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um so if there are any issues, then we certainly sort them out from our point of view.
• 17:36
  Dr Justine Schelle: But there are so few, it's it's not even really worth talking about.
• 17:47
  Helen Zee: Say, you know, their their state or nation, they can travel internationally for that as well.
• 17:53
  Helen Zee: Absolutely.
• 17:54
  Helen Zee: So this is incredible information to know.
• 17:58
  Helen Zee: Like I know that the person listening to this is being highly educated and uh to make their choices as well.
• 18:09
  Helen Zee: It's wonderful.
• 18:11
  Dr Justine Schelle: Thank you.
• 18:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um we we see several people a week who are going overseas to get donor products, primarily donor eggs or occasionally donor embryos.
• 18:21
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, but that is absolutely part of what we do.
• 18:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and the ATO agree for funding to be accessed for accommodation flights and obviously the treatment overseas.
• 18:34
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um women are accessing donor sperm products.
• 18:40
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um a lot of those are imported into Australia, and again, they can access superannuation to pay for the cost of those as well.
• 18:50
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, people travel interstate quite often to have treatment at their preferred um IVX specialists, or that can be covered as well.
• 18:59
  Helen Zee: And can you have um uh uh more than one application?
• 19:06
  Helen Zee: Because you've you've got funding and it's taking longer than what was anticipated.
• 19:13
  Helen Zee: Yes.
• 19:14
  Dr Justine Schelle: So yes, you can.
• 19:16
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um so according to the ATO, the applications need to be lodged within six months of seeing the psychiatrist.
• 19:26
  Dr Justine Schelle: But what that means is during that six month period, you can lodge a number of applications.
• 19:32
  Dr Justine Schelle: We you don't need to see us again.
• 19:33
  Dr Justine Schelle: So the paperwork is valid for all of that time if you do need to go back and do either another egg collection or frozen embryo transfer, for example.
• 19:44
  Dr Justine Schelle: So um, after that six month period, if you do want to access super again, you do need to see us again.
• 19:51
  Helen Zee: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:52
  Dr Justine Schelle: They're the ATO rules.
• 19:53
  Helen Zee: And um, would there be like a a cutoff because a person would also need to have a certain amount in their superannuation for life longevity?
• 20:05
  Helen Zee: Or no, there doesn't seem no, you can use all of it if you can use all of it.
• 20:11
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um obviously that's not ideal because you will hopefully live for another 60 or so or 50 years after you've used it for IVF purposes.
• 20:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um if you are using it for a second or third time, often the ATO will request the receipts to show that you actually have used the money appropriately for fertility treatment rather than spent it on, I don't know, holiday or something like that.
• 20:42
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, but certainly you can use it a number of times, and in theory, you could use all of your super.
• 20:52
  Helen Zee: Ideally, that's not going to happen.
• 20:54
  Helen Zee: We want people to parenthood.
• 20:58
  Helen Zee: Yes, absolutely.
• 21:02
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes, because we can have and that's something that we talk to um our patients about as well.
• 21:07
  Dr Justine Schelle: If they've had multiple failed attempts with their own eggs, we have quite a frank discussion about at least considering using donor products rather than keeping doing the same thing as they're getting older and older.
• 21:24
  Helen Zee: Yeah.
• 21:24
  Helen Zee: Well those conversations, it's like the it's like us being in that space of being wise elders that people are going through.
• 21:34
  Helen Zee: We do need to lean in and have what would feel like really difficult conversations, but when we can sit and and speak to our people, a woman and our couple, and just say the importance of creating a family, uh, where does that sit in alignment and in the values with whether that that genetic material comes from you andor other people exactly?
• 22:06
  Helen Zee: And there's no right or wrong answer, but at least if there is that possibility of people saying, yes, I would do that, then you know you can start having the conversation and the counseling around the timing of that.
• 22:21
  Helen Zee: Yes, yes.
• 22:22
  Dr Justine Schelle: And as you've just said, it's up to the individual or the couple to decide what is the most important for them.
• 22:28
  Dr Justine Schelle: Is it having a child of their own genetic material or is it being a parent?
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:35
  Dr Justine Schelle: And you know, certainly we've assisted people, many, many people, with having donor product children, and those children could not be loved any more than they are.
• 22:46
  Dr Justine Schelle: Like you know, it's amazing.
• 22:48
  Helen Zee: So that too is my practice, absolutely.
• 22:52
  Helen Zee: So, Dr.
• 22:54
  Helen Zee: Justine, what questions would somebody ask?
• 22:58
  Helen Zee: And how long does the process take?
• 23:01
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes.
• 23:01
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so usually the process begins by um looking on the website, which is fertilitypsyc.com.au.
• 23:09
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, there is an intake form, um, which just basically is a request for information.
• 23:16
  Dr Justine Schelle: We get that filled in by the patient.
• 23:20
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, we send back information that all happens usually within a few hours.
• 23:26
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, if people are interested, there's an online booking system that they find an appointment.
• 23:33
  Dr Justine Schelle: Usually you can get an appointment within a week.
• 23:36
  Dr Justine Schelle: It's pretty unreal, it's pretty unusual that you have to wait more than that.
• 23:40
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um we also do have a very active wait list, um, and sometimes if the wait list gets a little bit long, an email is sent out to the other psychiatrist saying, Quick, can you open up a few more appointments?
• 23:54
  Dr Justine Schelle: And generally speaking, most of the psychiatrists will open up one or two so that people don't have to wait for too long.
• 24:01
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um after that, everyone who sees us because we are specialist doctors requires a GP referral.
• 24:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: It can't be from the fertility doctor, uh, it has to be from a GP in order for people to get the best Medicare rebate.
• 24:16
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, so that sometimes slows things out down by a day or two.
• 24:22
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, we generally see them within a week.
• 24:24
  Dr Justine Schelle: As I've said, their um the invoice um goes out within a few hours of being seen.
• 24:31
  Dr Justine Schelle: Once they pay that, the um report goes to them, their GP and their fertility doctor within a few hours.
• 24:39
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um and then they need to go back to their GP to get the second form for the ATO filled in.
• 24:46
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um they apply to the ATO via their own MyGov account, and it generally takes about two to three weeks for the ATO to process the application.
• 24:55
  Dr Justine Schelle: So in total, you know, if everything's going beautifully, from the first time you've ever basically heard of us to getting the money approved from the ATO would take about three weeks.
• 25:09
  Helen Zee: That is super fast.
• 25:13
  Dr Justine Schelle: We're very efficient.
• 25:14
  Dr Justine Schelle: We've been doing this a long time and have literally seen thousands of patients during that time.
• 25:21
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, yes, we certainly the vast majority of people we've seen are female, but we see probably about two to three males a month who are requiring testicular either biopsies or extract aspirations or extractions um in order to obtain semen um and all of those applications um we assist with as well.
• 25:51
  Helen Zee: Does that also include um surrogacy?
• 25:57
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes, it does now.
• 25:59
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um so the ATO changed the rules around surrogacy in our at about Easter 2024.
• 26:06
  Dr Justine Schelle: Beforehand, it didn't involve or didn't allow for surrogacy, but now does.
• 26:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: So we since then have certainly seen um several, a number of um mainly same-sex male couples who are having surrogacy, but some some heterosexual couples who have also required it.
• 26:28
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um we've got a little baby being born sort of any time now in Canada from a same-sex male couple, which we assisted with.
• 26:37
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, we've had we've got another little baby who is now in Canberra.
• 26:43
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and we've yeah, so we yes, surrogacy is fine as well.
• 26:47
  Helen Zee: Pathways to parenthood have opened up to be able to not discriminate against uh the the inherent will that we have as a as a human being to want to become a parent.
• 27:03
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes, yes.
• 27:05
  Helen Zee: The definition of the modern family has changed.
• 27:07
  Helen Zee: And so it's great to see that the glass ceiling is lifting.
• 27:12
  Helen Zee: Services are able to be more accessible to everybody who desires to be a parent.
• 27:21
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes, yes, absolutely.
• 27:22
  Dr Justine Schelle: So, and it's marvelous to be able to assist with all of those different combinations of families as well.
• 27:30
  Helen Zee: Yeah, great, great, wonderful.
• 27:33
  Helen Zee: Ah, is there anything else that we've missed that this has been an intriguing conversation?
• 27:41
  Helen Zee: I've relished in the information and what's what's possible for me to also uh through my own uh practice be able to share this information uh with people.
• 27:54
  Helen Zee: So I ask you.
• 27:57
  Dr Justine Schelle: I can't think of too much else.
• 27:59
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um I think the fact that we are frequently promoted by by members of Facebook groups um between people.
• 28:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: And it's interesting.
• 28:14
  Dr Justine Schelle: Generally, we say, How did you hear about us?
• 28:17
  Dr Justine Schelle: Because it's fascinating.
• 28:18
  Dr Justine Schelle: And um, you know, occasionally people find us on Google, particularly after reading the Google reviews, they're keen to see us.
• 28:25
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um fertility clinics promote us, not all of them, but quite a few.
• 28:30
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and the Facebook groups, then I'll say, Oh, which Facebook group?
• 28:35
  Dr Justine Schelle: And often it's um, you know, IVF Australia or um Monash Gold Coast.
• 28:40
  Dr Justine Schelle: But then there's other ones that I didn't even know existed, like Single Mothers Over 40, um, and I've had someone from Single Mothers Over 50 as well.
• 28:50
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and just all these little niche groups that someone has used our services, been delighted with them, and is spreading the word.
• 28:59
  Dr Justine Schelle: And um, often I'll someone will say, Oh, I just put on the face, I didn't know what to do, and how would I find a psychiatrist who has an interest in fertility specifically?
• 29:09
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um and so I put it on my Facebook group, and within minutes, four or five people replied back, all saying, You have to use Fertility Psych.
• 29:18
  Dr Justine Schelle: And obviously that just makes us so happy.
• 29:22
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, and and me as as the founder of this community, um, absolutely delighted as well.
• 29:29
  Dr Justine Schelle: So um as I was saying, it got so busy, Helen and I um ended up employing or working with, I say, um, so many of my friends that I did actually successfully sell the business in May, but am still working with them.
• 29:45
  Dr Justine Schelle: And um, because it's not just me um and the admin person doing all of the admin work, there's a few of those people now.
• 29:55
  Dr Justine Schelle: Um, it's even more efficient than it was.
• 29:58
  Dr Justine Schelle: So um, and they've actually Kept some of the same acne people as we had anyway.
• 30:03
  Helen Zee: So our wonderful, wonderful.
• 30:06
  Helen Zee: This is why I'm excited that upcoming we've got the Melbourne Fertility Expo.
• 30:12
  Helen Zee: You get to showcase um your keynote speaker position at the expo as or being a part of it at the panel.
• 30:29
  Helen Zee: And also having other fertility and family planning providers get to know you and have this similar conversation that I'm having with you.
• 30:42
  Helen Zee: So more and more people know the village that exists, the threads of connection that exists.
• 30:49
  Helen Zee: So we are all more efficient about where we send our our people.
• 30:58
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yes.
• 30:59
  Dr Justine Schelle: Well, there'll be two psychiatrists at that organized meeting.
• 31:04
  Dr Justine Schelle: So the Fertility Summit, obviously, I'll be there, and Dr.
• 31:08
  Dr Justine Schelle: Louisa Christie, who's absolutely delightful.
• 31:12
  Dr Justine Schelle: And Jade, who is the business manager for Fertility Psych, who is so knowledgeable.
• 31:18
  Dr Justine Schelle: And she runs the back office extraordinarily efficiently.
• 31:23
  Dr Justine Schelle: So we're certainly keen to talk to as many people as would like to come and talk to us.
• 31:29
  Dr Justine Schelle: We're psychiatrists, we can talk, as you've probably worked out.
• 31:33
  Dr Justine Schelle: So we have a chat.
• 31:36
  Dr Justine Schelle: You're very personable.
• 31:37
  Dr Justine Schelle: Absolutely.
• 31:39
  Dr Justine Schelle: Yeah, come and talk about it.
• 31:40
  Dr Justine Schelle: There's no question, that's too silly.
• 31:44
  Dr Justine Schelle: So and ask everything.
• 31:46
  Dr Justine Schelle: We've been asked everything before.
• 31:48
  Dr Justine Schelle: So you won't be the first.
• 31:50
  Helen Zee: Fabulous.
• 31:50
  Helen Zee: And we're breaking the stigma.
• 31:52
  Helen Zee: We're breaking the stigma of like, oh my gosh, I've got to do this.
• 31:56
  Helen Zee: And it's now a psychiatrist, and now I have to duh and I've got to do this and I've got to do that.
• 32:00
  Helen Zee: And it's all so overwhelming.
• 32:01
  Helen Zee: At the end of the day, we are having a human experience.
• 32:06
  Helen Zee: And just having the warmth of the conversation and the knowledge come through today, I know that I am grateful.
• 32:14
  Helen Zee: And I dare say that the person listening is also grateful for this opportunity and this information.
• 32:22
  Helen Zee: So thank you.
• 32:23
  Helen Zee: Thank you.
• 32:23
  Dr Justine Schelle: I always feel I'd be very anxious before seeing a psychiatrist, even though I am one.
• 32:28
  Dr Justine Schelle: But and so and so many of the patients say that they struggled to sleep the night before, or they've been so stressed about it.
• 32:36
  Dr Justine Schelle: And at the end they say, that was actually really pleasant.
• 32:39
  Dr Justine Schelle: And I'm like, yeah.
• 32:40
  Dr Justine Schelle: So by all means, speak to us, have a cup of tea in your hand.
• 32:44
  Dr Justine Schelle: And um, yeah, it's not scary.
• 32:47
  Dr Justine Schelle: We're very nice.
• 32:48
  Dr Justine Schelle: You are, you are.
• 32:50
  Dr Justine Schelle: We're all very nice.
• 32:51
  Dr Justine Schelle: I've chosen very lovely people.
• 32:54
  Helen Zee: So excellent.
• 32:55
  Helen Zee: Once again, I thank you for your time, your knowledge, your expertise, and as well as the ethos that got you on this path and keeps you here, servicing so many people through this very special path to parenthood.
• 33:12
  Helen Zee: Thank you so much for interviewing me, Calem.
• 33:14
  Helen Zee: Thank you too.
• 33:16
  Helen Zee: Thanks for joining us at the Home of Fertility.
• 33:23
  Helen Zee: We hope today's episode brought you clarity, comfort, and connection.
• 33:30
  Liz Walton: If this podcast resonated, please share it.
• 33:33
  Liz Walton: Leave a review or subscribe.
• 33:35
  Liz Walton: This helps us support more people that are on this path.
• 33:39
  Helen Zee: And if you'd like to connect or share your story, find us on Instagram and Facebook at Australian Fertility Summit.
• 33:48
  Liz Walton: Remember the missing piece might be waiting in a story, your body's wisdom, or something new just made for you.
• 33:57
  Liz Walton: Take care.