Tanya Rubin
Tanya Rubin is a qualified counsellor, registered social worker and logotherapist,
and most importantly, one of Nurture’s fab donor liaisons!
This mom of two is also a former infertility patient, with one IVF baby and one “free gift”. Besides her Nurture work, Tanya continues to counsel those struggling with infertility. Talk about a superwoman!
We sat down with Tanya to find out what makes her tick.
Describe in 15 words or less what you do at Nurture.
Looking after matched donors, making sure that the match runs smoothly and efficiently.
What does a typical day at Nurture look like for you?
Checking emails every two minutes, chatting to donors all day via email or WhatsApp, interviewing and meeting donors, keeping in constant contact with the co-ordinators and nurses at the fertility clinics to make sure all is on track with the current matches and that donors know what the next steps are, and chatting to the Nurture recipient support team almost daily.
What has been the highlight of your Nurture career?
Every positive result we get is like a mini-highlight on a daily basis. I am privileged enough to see both sides in that I get to screen donors and counsel recipients – it is amazing how close the match is even though egg donation is anonymous! Those are my highlights, every day.
What is the one piece of advice that you have for a brand-new egg donor?
This experience is going to change your perspective on life and will be forever lasting
Describe the average Nurture egg donor in five words.
Dedicated, compassionate, committed, awesome and selfless.
If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question – what would you ask?
Why do good people have to suffer through so much pain and loss?
Open up your handbag / laptop bag – what are the first five things in there?
Chewing gum. Lip gloss. My purse. My phone. Tissues.
What’s your superpower?
My gut instinct. It’s never wrong!
Your Nurture profile talks about your qualification as a logotherapist. Can you briefly define it, and explain how you bring it into your counselling practice?
Logotherapy is based on Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. The basic premise is to help people find meaning through suffering. For me, being a counsellor who focuses primarily on grief, loss and infertility, it is vital to help patients find some type of meaning and connection in their life when they are going through so much pain and suffering.
A quick Google search mentions that you previously specialised in the field of addiction. How did you move into infertility counselling?
Having been a fertility patient myself, I knew that my experience as a patient had to mean something and so I decided to stay in the fertility world and have never left. It became a part of my soul and I have dedicated every aspect of my world to helping patients – hopefully by making their lives a little more manageable while the world of infertility consumes them.
What is family to you?
Family is everything to me! The most important elements in my life, my whole entire world!
What gets you going in the morning?
Coffee and my gym classes
What is your proudest achievement?
My two perfect, beautiful children! I cannot believe they are mine
Your profile mentions that you’re still practicing privately as well as working with Nurture. What are you doing when you’re not at work?
My children keep me busy rushing around all day, but when I have time out, reading, drinking wine with family and friends and going to gym would be my escape from work
What is the biggest misconception about egg donation that you would wave a wand to clear up?
That egg donors donate only for money, that egg donation is dangerous and that donors will lose all their eggs and never be able to have children after.
You can contact Tanya at Tanya@nurture.co.za or call her on 0826001989
