ConceiveAbilities Egg Donation Agency Expands Family-Building Offering to Provide Surrogacy Support and Services
Industry Veteran, Deb Levy, Joins Team as Surrogacy Coordinator to Help Guide Both Intended Parents and Surrogates through an Often Complex Process 

Chicago, IL– March 30, 2009 – Leading egg donation agency, ConceiveAbilities, today announced that it will expand its capabilities to offer support services for gestational surrogacy.  To ensure the same level of support and services on which ConceiveAbilities has built its reputation, the agency has tapped Deb Levy, MA, LPC to lead its surrogacy program as its coordinator.  Levy brings years of clinical and practical experience in the IVF industry, most recently spending six years at a large IVF clinic in Colorado coordinating the counseling services and wellness department.  In addition, as a parent of two children through surrogacy, Levy offers a unique level of personal experience to both intended parents and surrogates.

“Since 1996, ConceiveAbilities has been dedicated to helping our clients build families and now we’re providing support for the additional path of surrogacy,” said Nazca Fontes, founder and president of ConceiveAbilities.  “In addition to an unmatched professional background in guiding both intended parents and surrogates through this complex process, Deb brings a rare personal experience that just can’t be replicated.”

“We’ve been waiting to find the right person with the expertise needed to provide the exemplary level of service for which ConceiveAbilities has come to be known.  I’m pleased to be able to bolster the team with this level of surrogacy expertise and address a growing trend driven by an awareness of this family building option by more couples, including same-sex and international intended parents,” said Fontes.

Levy brings deep experience to ConceiveAbilities, having worked in many diverse aspects of counseling from eating disorders and high-risk youth to coping with chronic illness.  Over the past decade, Deb has specialized in infertility counseling, conducting psychological assessments of egg donor and surrogate candidates, and consulting with individuals and couples pursuing fertility treatments.

 “I couldn’t be more excited to join the ConceiveAbilities team and help build on its national reputation of delivering unparalleled service to both intended parents and surrogates,” said Levy.  “Having clearly identified a deficit in agencies providing surrogacy services to the fertility community, I yearned for a way to apply my experience and fulfill the expectations of people involved in these arrangements.  By partnering with an agency known in the industry for its excellence and leveraging my experience to deliver this additional service to clients, we advance our field enormously.”

Most recently, Levy was with the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, where she worked since 2003. Levy’s experience within the field of reproductive medicine includes counseling hundreds of couples experiencing infertility, assessing those wanting to become egg donors or surrogates, advocating for patients and helping them communicate with their medical team, and coordinating countless support groups, workshops, and retreats.  She is a professional member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Mental Health Professionals Group, and has had served on several committees, most recently serving as the mentoring committee chairperson within this distinct group of professionals.

Helping couples to cope with the unique stresses of infertility is a primary focus of Levy’s work; therefore, in 2005, she received additional training under Dr. Alice Domar on Mind/Body techniques for coping with infertility.  In 2008 Deb was asked to serve on the Mental Health Advisory Board of the American Fertility Association.  Levy has published articles on gestational surrogacy and egg donor screening.  Additionally, she lectures on various topics associated with infertility such as egg donor screening, gestational surrogacy, coping with stress, marital stability during infertility, and helping children understand third-party reproduction. Levy received her Master's degree from the University of Colorado in Counseling and Psychology/Marriage and Family Therapy.

-###-

About ConceiveAbilities
Since 1996, leading egg donation agency, ConceiveAbilities, has focused on providing the tools and support to simplify what, for some, is a difficult and daunting journey to parenthood.  With personal experience guiding the agency’s philosophy, its unique team brings an unmatched level of service and support to help guide intended parents, egg donors and gestational surrogates through an often complex process.  Its unique experience navigating the egg donation and surrogacy processes allows the ConceiveAbilities team to provide both sides of this partnership with the best resources, support and information to maximize the overall chances for success.

It’s exactly this approach and experience that has helped ConceiveAbilities earn the respect of the nation’s leading fertility experts.  In fact, some of the most distinguished and well-respected fertility resources in the U.S. refer patients to a select few agencies, including ConceiveAbilities, while others in that group refer exclusively to ConceiveAbilities.  There isn’t better proof that ConceiveAbilities is the gold standard in service, recruitment and matching for the fertility industry. 

ConceiveAbilities is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional offices Colorado.  For more information, please visit http://www.ConceiveAbilities.com.

Media Contact:
Amy Fitzenrider
773.960.7818
amyfitzdemaio@gmail.com