In this episode, Kendra Schaa, ScM, LGC, a prenatal genetic counselor at a major medical center talks about the importance of the therapeutic model in meeting patients where they are. She also discusses how prenatal genetic counseling is influenced by the profession’s roots in biology over psychology, the skyrocketing number of genetic tests, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Full episode & transcript at:
https://www.geneticfrontiers.org/episode3-kendra-schaa

• Introduction to personal story of prenatal genetic counseling and history of genetic counseling profession

• How does genetic counseling’s roots in the field of biology more than psychology or therapeutic counseling influence the profession today?

• How does the genetic counseling interaction need to change?

• With so many genetic tests out there, how do you think genetic counselors can best support patients to decide what tests are right for them?

• What tools do you think genetic counselors need?

• Can you talk a little bit about Allay Life and your focus on providing therapeutic support to people during their reproductive journey?

• As a genetic counselor, what do restrictions on women's rights to choose when to terminate a pregnancy mean for how you counsel them?

• How do you think genetic counselors can be champions of the future of genetics in medicine?

• Monthly Peer Supervision Groups hosted by Allay Life.

• Allay Life: Light in the Unexpected Pregnancy Journey.

• Allay Life. Finding Your Way After Unexpected News in Pregnancy Workbook.

• Schaa KL, Biesecker BB. Where is the "counseling" in prenatal genetic counseling? Patient Educ Couns. 2024 Jul;124:108278. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2024.108278. Epub 2024 Mar 29.

• Masha Gessen. Blood Matters: From Inherited Illness to Designer Babies, How the World and I Found Ourselves in the Future of the Gene. 2008.

• Seymour Kessler. Genetic Counseling, Psychological Dimensions. 1979.