The centre was the vision of Sr. Marilyn Mangan, CND, who, more than 25 years ago, became a certified practitioner after taking the course offered by the Pope Paul VI Institute in Nebraska. The centre grew to encompass Natural Procreative Technology, which treats women’s health problems like infertility and premenstrual syndrome in line with Catholic teaching.

“We definitely have had an increase over the years in the number of clients that we have coming who have reproductive and gynecological health issues,” Smith said. “A lot of our clients are being referred to our medical consultant.”

The centre has 15 practitioners — six of whom were trained at the Pope Paul VI Institute and nine training in the new Toronto-based education program. They are located in a medical building on Coxwell Avenue in east-end Toronto and are associated with three doctors  trained in NaProtechnology.

The Family Centre saw 150 new clients last year, plus an ongoing 350 clients.

To help with the increased demand and growing number of professionals, this year the centre added three new offices for practitioners to meet with clients, a large board room and an education office.

Although clients come from a range of backgrounds and religions, the focus is still very Catholic.

“I was intrigued by it because it looks at the whole of the person and that’s what we look at when we’re taking care of their fertility,” Smith said.

Practitioners will explore physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

“We have people of all faiths and no faith but they know when they come here that they’re in a Catholic organization,” said Karen Hemingway, the centre’s executive director.

Hemingway said the Creighton Model System carries impressive statistics. Studies show the method is almost foolproof — almost — with 99.6 per cent efficiency in preventing pregnancy when applied properly.  

“Sometimes it’s heartbreaking to see the clients who are trying to achieve pregnancy and are not and you kind of wonder what God has in store for them,” Hemingway said.

Though they aren’t always able to fix the problem, clients can still walk away in peace, usually knowing why they can’t conceive. The percentage of inexplicable cases of infertility are rare, Hemingway said.

“Even if they get treatment and still cannot conceive, they feel better and come to terms with things. As much as we pray for everyone to have a baby, sometimes that just isn’t possible.”

Natural Reproductive Technology targets the women’s menstrual cycle and can allow women to identify problems that may not be obvious as they begin their marriages, like predisposition to having miscarriages, Hemingway added.

The group hosted a dinner dance and silent auction Nov. 28 with clients and friends to commemorate their milestone year.

For more on the centre, visit www.fertilitycare.ca .