How to become a fertility awareness method (FAM) teacher

So many of us have this universal experience when learning fertility awareness, where we're just blown away that we didn’t learn this information sooner. Naturally, we want to make a difference in the world by learning to teach fertility awareness and create more accessibility around fertility, cycles and hormone knowledge.

I decided to become a certified fertility awareness educator because I wanted to help people tune into their bodies and cycles by using FAM for natural birth control. Maybe you’ll resonate with feeling like more people should have access to the very basic information about their hormones and physiology. Maybe you want to learn how to teach fertility awareness too. Here’s everything I wish I knew, when I was thinking of becoming a FAM educator.

decide on fertility awareness educator training

Certifying in a method and deciding on a fertility awareness educator training is an important step if you’re wanting to eventually teach FAM. A training program will guide you through mastering a specific method of FAM teach you how to teach it to your clients. Training programs include a level supervision where your teaching will be observed and assessed, as well as in depth information on the reproductive continuum and how to handle ‘non textbook’ scenarios. Certifying with a method of fertility awareness will also teach you your scope of practice and when to refer out to medical management.

The main distinction between teacher training programs are differences between methods. Over the years, multiple methods have emerged based on the research on fertility biomarkers. Different methods interpret fertility awareness slightly differently. The umbrella term for these methods are Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABMs), and include a variety of different ways of charting that differ on religious beliefs, protocols and biomarkers.

Within different methods, there are many variations including whether the training is religious or secular, how long the training is, the cost and the focus of the training.

You’ll also find that there are different types of fertility awareness based methods, including symptothermal, symptohormonal and cervical mucus only methods. Each method and training program has its pros and cons, it’s important to make the best decision for you. I’d also recommend taking a class with an instructor in the method you want to learn to teach, to get a sense for the method, teaching style and to build your own experience as an educator.

I learned to become a FAM educator a few years after taking a fertility awareness class. My first certification was in FEMM, and my second was in the Billings Ovulation Method. You can read more about my experience with FEMM here.

develop your business and marketing skills

One of my top tips for future FAM educators is building your skillset as an educator before going into a training program (or while you’re in a training program) so you can get a head start on developing your business, mentoring and teaching skills.

While the actual teaching and client mentoring is a central part of being a FAM educator, you’ll find that you’ll be wearing many hats as a business owner. If you’re brand new to the business world, there are resources aplenty for becoming more familiar with social media, marketing, sales, copywriting and more.

Developing and honing in on your business skills will be incredibly useful, especially if you are wanting to teach FAM online (which is the direction that many FAM educators are taking.)

As a fertility awareness teacher, you’ll be marketing yourself on social media, creating a website, designing course material, keeping track of the bookkeeping, You will be creating and designing your website, taking photos, posting on social media, writing blog posts and developing online courses.

learn to handle non-textbook charts

As a fertility awareness educator, you will often work with people who have non-textbook cycles. Whether it is coming off hormonal birth control, PCOS or postpartum - having resources to help people navigate irregular cycles is essential.

Some teacher training programs focus more heavily on helping clients restore healthy hormones, and others will have pathways to refer out to medical management. Knowing the parameters for a regular cycle, and becoming up to date on reproductive dysfunction will serve you well as a FAM educator.

You can familiarize yourself with reproductive and hormonal health educators by reading articles and books or by listening to podcasts. If you are a student or alumni of a post-secondary institution, you should have access to full-text journal articles. To this day I am constantly attending professional development and furthering my own education on other fertility awareness based methods and hormone health

Your fertility awareness teacher training certification is important but there will inevitably be some gaps. Continuing to educate yourself and further your learning is a great way to fill those gaps and become an incredible teacher.

gain valuable first-hand experience

One of the best things that you can do to be an excellent FAM educator is to take a course and work with an instructor yourself. It’s essential that you’ve charted your cycle with FAM before taking a certification. Some training programs require it, to ensure that you have adequate first hand knowledge before you begin teaching others.

You will be able to learn different teaching styles, online teaching methods and master your chosen method of FAM before taking a teacher training or having your own clients.

FAM educators teach all over the world and mostly teach online, so chances are you can find someone who aligns with your values and personality. Check to see when I’m offering the next round of my FAM course.

hone in on your teaching superpowers

Before you take a FAM teacher training course, think about how you want to teach and what your message is. Here are some questions to think about:

What do you wish you would have known when you were just starting to use fertility awareness?
What type of support would you have found helpful?
What were the main challenges that you had when you started learning and how could you fill those gaps as a future educator for others?
How do you learn best? Which visuals are appealing or helpful in demonstrating certain ideas?
What additional information aside from the technicalities of fertility awareness would you like to incorporate in your own FAM course or training?

What steps are you going to take today towards your dream job of becoming a FAM educator? Maybe investing in learning, sharing about your journey on social media, practicing your FAM elevator pitch on social media, or signing up for a FAM teacher training?