Sue Ritchie is a sought after Fertility Coach who is passionate about helping businesswomen who are struggling to conceive to boost all the areas that underpin fertility so that they increase their potential for conception even if they are undergoing IVF treatment. She takes a totally holistic approach that includes mind, body, and spirit. She covers areas that are generally not considered by medical professionals, simply because they are not part of their expertise, but are nonetheless important if you are looking to conceive. She loves to see her clients up-leveling all areas of their life, so that they go through this journey in great health and with a positive mindset, leading to a happy, joyful life where they will be empowered to become the best parents they can be.
Who is Sue?
I guess the best place to start is at the beginning of my career, which is quite a long time ago now, but it does play a big part in how I came to be The Fertility Coach.
I had a successful career in corporate marketing before I became the owner of my successful direct marketing business and then following that I moved into my current business as a fertility coach which I am so passionate about.
My life in my corporate marketing career and running my own business involved working long hours under high levels of stress. Like many women, I was putting everyone else first in my life and my work was a huge part of my life. I constantly pushed myself to the limit, trying to fit everything in, thinking my body would somehow keep going regardless. With hindsight, I can see that I was addicted to busyness and it wasn’t a good thing.
Things came to a head around 10 years ago when I found myself unhealthy, overweight, and with low energy. A diagnosis of Hashimoto’s disease resulted in my doctor telling me that I would be on medication for the rest of my life. I was, however, unwilling to accept the prognosis of living a compromised life. This really spurred me into action and saw me taking responsibility for my own life and my health. As a result, I made some big life-changing decisions.
I made a conscious decision to create a better work-life balance, taking time out to focus on healing myself. I also spent a lot of time researching how I could get myself well again and through this, I discovered the root cause lie in my gut health. By focusing on rebalancing my gut microbiome, as well as making changes to my diet and nutrition, I fully recovered within 18 months and lost 35lbs in weight. My big realization was how fundamental our gut microbiome is to our health, and this has led me to specialize and continue to increase my huge knowledge in this important area, particularly as it also underpins fertility.
I have a huge love for children and from a young age, I always had a strong desire to have children. Life circumstances, however, didn’t quite go the way I wanted though. I didn’t have my first child, my son, until I was 36 and then my daughter when I was 39. I am hugely proud of them both and at the beginning of this year, I became a grandmother for the first time. A new role that I am delighted to be able to step into and my granddaughter is just beautiful and adorable, but then of course, I am a little biased!
I live in Leicestershire, in the UK, with my wonderful husband and we share our home with my crazy cat Bella. I particularly love cooking, music, and foreign travel, and thoroughly enjoy photography and being out in and experiencing all the wonders of nature.
What is it that you do for your clients?
In simple terms, I help my clients to boost their fertility naturally so that they increase their potential to conceive and create that bundle of joy they desire.
I do that by helping them to optimize all the areas that underpin fertility. Some of these often come as quite a surprise to my clients, simply because the traditional medical approach focuses on purely the physical aspects. Of course, having great physical health is really important and I help my clients to attain that in order to improve their fertility. But there is more to fertility than just that. Many people don’t realize that just living in today’s modern, busy world creates lots of factors that can negatively impact fertility for both the man and the woman. There are also factors in the environment both outside and inside our homes that can work against fertility. I teach them about all of these things and how they can take steps to reduce the impact of them on their fertility.
I take a holistic approach, simply because as human beings, we are mind, body and spirit. All of those parts are interconnected and have an impact on each other. So, if we want to improve our ability to conceive, we do need to ensure that they are all working effectively and are in alignment with that same common goal to increase the potential to conceive.
A key element is providing them with support. When you are on this journey wanting to become pregnant and it doesn’t seem to be happening, it can become a really lonely, frustrating and emotional place. Having non-judgemental support from someone who understands your challenges, and the emotions you are going through plus, helping you to stay grounded and in the positive zone is so important.
On top of it all, I help my clients to start living a happier, enjoyable and more fulfilled life.
Who should hire/work with you?
There are really three different situations where women hugely benefit from working with me. Firstly, those female professionals wishing to become pregnant, but are finding that it isn’t happening as quickly as they had hoped, who are open to try a different approach and who would really value having the support of someone who understands what they are experiencing.
Secondly, female professionals who have just decided that they would like to start a family and want to prepare themselves fully so that they increase their chances of conception from the start. I have always believed that if you prepare fully you are more likely to achieve success.
Then, finally, those female professionals who are looking or are booked in to start IVF treatment. Particularly those who would like to increase their chances of it being successful and so reduce the number of cycles they may have to go through. They also know that going through IVF can be a stressful and emotional experience and getting support can be hugely beneficial.
Tell us a little bit about the OptiMum Fertility Formula? What is it?
My OptiMum Fertility Formula is a 6 month comprehensive and life-changing one to one program that is for couples who are open, ready and committed to doing everything they possibly can to increase their potential for conception, but equally the program can be done by a woman on her own, if that is her personal choice.
There are six main core pillars to the program and these are:
Physical health: We assess your current health and then create an eating and nutrition plan to improve the effectiveness of all the systems in the body so that they are ready to support conception.
Thoughts: Here, we focus on managing the negative voice in your head and your mindset. Plus providing the support that resulted in a more positive outlook on life and increased resilience to cope with life’s ups and downs. This part alone has been proven in a Harvard study to increase the potential to conceive by 55%.
Intimacy: Your relationship with your partner is one that can so often can come to the breaking point when you are on this journey. Receiving coaching and support helps you create and maintain a happy, loving and supportive relationship.
Maintenance: Consistency is the key to success, so lots of support is provided to keep you on track.
Understanding: This part is all about getting to know you and learning to love yourself, as well as healing and letting go of all the things that no longer serve you. This is a key area of this program that will enable you to step into parenthood and avoid healing your childhood wounding through your child.
Motherhood: This is about teaching and advising you on how to become a conscious parent, to increase the chances of your child growing up to be a happy, fulfilled individual who has self-love. Plus, helping you to be more fulfilled parents.
What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
My mission is to change the health of the next generation of children, because currently, children’s health in this country is poor. I know that when you have great physical health when you conceive, you are helping to ensure that you have a healthy baby.
I would also like to see more parents step into parenthood as the best version of themselves. Where they make their health a top priority, they live life in the positive and they have built a loving and supportive relationship with themselves and each other. This will result in more children being brought into the world having self-love and knowing that they can achieve their true potential and be primed to live a happier life.
Becoming a parent, to me, is the most important role that we have in life, but one where we receive no training except that we have learned from our own parents. For many of us, we come to realize in adulthood that the parenting we received may not have served as well as we might have hoped.
I see myself in 10 years’ time having created a legacy of encouraging both men and women to step into parenthood as the best version of themselves, but also have created a Parenting School where both men and women can find training, resources, advice, and support that will take them from the point at which they decide to start a family all the way through pregnancy, and birth and then into parenting from early years through to adulthood enabling them to become the best parents they can be.
For more details and how to increase your potential for conception, follow me on Facebook or Linkedin join my Facebook Community or visit my website
