One-on-One Fertility Awareness Mentoring
Even after having charted my own cycles since 2011, I still remember how it felt to be brand new to FAM and totally overwhelmed with all the rules, graphs, and nuances! I know how scary it feels to make the leap from a lifetime of reliance on hormonal methods and condoms to charting your own cycle.
With completely personalized support for ALL your questions and expert guidance on how to chart, you’ll feel confident using your charts to avoid pregnancy, know your own body better than any doctor, and/or plan for conception.
There are fantastic, low-cost classes, books, and blogs out there if you just want to learn the basic science of charting.
But my 1:1 container is specifically designed for you if you feel overwhelmed by the all the information, and scared to take the leap alone.
I provide 6 months of intimate, high-touch support, looking at your specific charts, motivating you with loving accountability, and providing a safe space to process whatever comes up for you on this journey.
What we’ll do together
Books, podcasts, and video lessons can be a great jumping-off point for learning the basics of FAM.
But what you can’t learn from these things is how to actually apply charting and all the ins and outs to your body, your chart, and your unique, lived experience.
This is where having a real, human instructor who has walked the very same path as you is such a gamechanger!
Working with me 1:1 means you’re not going to be flipping through the entire index of Taking Charge of Your Fertility trying to find an answer to that one tiny thing you noticed about your cervical fluid, or asking ChatGPT if you’re in a safe day when you had a fallback temp.
For six months, you’ll have my full attention, heartfelt care, and expertise in your back pocket at all times so you have the confidence and support you need to fully master your cycles and take the leap into charting for birth control, cycle mastery, or conception planning.
Here's what that looks like:
Personalized FAM education
You’ll get video lessons for learning about how to check and chart each of your fertility signs and the foundations of the symptothermal method. Once a month we’ll meet live to help you integrate the information, review your charts, and dive deep into your questions, feelings, struggles, and help you with mindset shifts and sticking to goals. You’ll also have me right at your fingertips whenever you need support or check-ins via WhatsApp.
Building chart confidence
We'll look at your charts as they develop so you can recognize your unique patterns and identify in real time when things happen, like celebrating your first confirmed ovulation - always such a huge moment! Plus troubleshooting for things like when your temp shift is being stubborn or Peak Day was unclear, or how to classify the secretions you see in your luteal phase.
Helping you befriend your body and love your cycle
I love to help my students find radical self-acceptance, empowerment, and reclamation of their bodies, cycles, sensuality, and pleasure in a world where mainstream medicine and culture has led us to believe that our fertility is something to control, suppress, and shut down. I’m a fierce proponent that our fertile bodies are a tremendous source of health, vitality, pleasure, and power. I’m here to lift you up and encourage you towards a loving relationship with your womb, periods, sexuality, cervical fluid, fertility, pleasure, self acceptance and care, and all the other juicy bits!
Ongoing access and support
You don't have to save every question for our live calls. Throughout the program, you’ll have me right there in your back pocket via WhatsApp any time something comes up - whether you’re laying there stressing at midnight about why your period came early, or wondering if you need emergency contraception, or unsure of how to apply one of the rules. Instead of getting 25 strangers to give you 25 different pieces of advice on a Facebook group, you’ll have one solid person to turn to who’s been teaching for over a decade.
A place to be fully heard
Many of my students never received sex ed growing up, or they learned that talking about sex or vaginas or periods was taboo. Often my students will say, “Wait, can I ask this?” or “This is probably TMI, but…” There is no such thing as TMI in my practice! Charting often brings so much to the surface. I offer a warm, judgment-free space to talk through whatever comes up along your journey.
Loving accountability
I'll help you stay on top of your charting practice by guiding you to identify what I call your “sacred yes” and what’s really at the heart of why you want to chart. I’ll help you stick to your intentions and goals without perfectionism and shame, but with curiosity and compassion.
3 months of Read Your Body (plus a digital chart PDF)
You'll receive free access to the only totally private, woman-owned charting app that I recommend. Plus a copy of my blank chart PDF that you can print out and fill in, old school style.
Hormone health support
I’m here to offer guidance around any areas you might need some extra TLC with - for things like period pain, short luteal phase, hormone health, stress, nutrition, and supplements. My toolkit ranges from offering you recipes, food hacks, journal prompts, lab testing, meditations, herbal remedies, certain books or podcasts, and heartfelt listening to your whole story.
Support beyond graduation
Once you've completed the program, you'll have the option to continue working with me through discounted follow-up sessions, as well as discounts on any workshops I offer, like Post Pill Power or Nourish Your Cycle.
Your investment: $1650
Monthly payment plans available.
FAM is for you if:
You know there MUST be other options besides the pill, IUD, and condoms, but don’t know where to find it
You’re sick of relying on doctors to get intel about your cycles and your body
You’re curious about natural birth control but have heard a lot of bad things and aren’t sure you can trust it
You want to learn your most fertile days for conception timing, and guidance for how to give your body all the TLC it needs to prepare
You’re ready to finally crack the code on your cycles and figure out WHY things happen when they do
You know deep down that living in a female body should not be painful and confusing, and you’re excited to create a more loving, peaceful relationship with your cycle
You want to learn how to honor the phases of your cycle, and live more in tune with your body’s rhythms
You’ve been trying to DIY natural birth control but aren’t totally sure you’re doing it safely and want the support of a seasoned guide
You want to be part of the legacy of women who are remembering their power, taking back their sovereignty from male physicians, and remembering the art of tracking their fertility signs
“After struggling with negative side effects from hormonal birth control for years, I feel so relieved to have found a solution that puts me in charge of my own body. Before taking Caitlin’s class, I knew very little about my reproductive health. I had been tracking the days I menstruated for a couple of years, but never went further into tracking my cycle because I had no idea where to begin.”
— Sophie
Want to dive deeper?
take mY free intro course and get all the info you need to start charting today
FAQs about FAM
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FAM (the Fertility Awareness Method) is a simple daily practice of checking 1-3 physical signs that your own body freely gives you. These are called primary fertility signs: cervical fluid, waking temperature, and, optionally, cervical changes. You observe these signs each day and then record your observations on a special chart. Charting your signs allows you to see many things about your cycles you wouldn't know otherwise. There are actually several different types of Fertility Awareness-Based Methods (what you're reading about on this site specifically refers to the "symptothermal method," which tracks all 3 fertility signs, plus uses an optional calculation rule).
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Our fertility signs are in direct correlation to our hormone levels. Under the influence of estrogen leading up to ovulation, the cervix begin to produce cervical fluid, the cervix changes in height and texture, and our body temperature stays in a low range. Under the influence of progesterone after ovulation, the cervix stops producing cervical fluid, the cervix closes, and our body temperature rises to a high range. Pretty amazing how your body talks to you in the form of fertility signs, isn't it?
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Cervical fluid is a very special and remarkable substance produced inside the cervix that allows sperm to survive for up to 5 days. Without cervical fluid, sperm will die within a few hours! Cervical fluid is made only within the fertile window of our cycle (about 7 - 10 days of each cycle). "Discharge" refers to unhealthy and abnormal secretions, such as a yeast infection.
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Every morning, before getting out of bed, you take your temperature (1 minute). Throughout the day, you check your cervical fluid (10 seconds). Optionally, you can check your cervix (10 seconds). Recording your signs on your chart takes another 20-30 seconds and can be done at the end of the day.
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Learning FAM requires an initial investment (somewhere between $50-$500 depending on the teacher) but once you know it, you have the information for the rest of your life. After learning, all you need to do is print paper charts (or you can use a FAM app to chart) and buy a thermometer. Then you're all set. Your body provides fertility signs each and every day for FREE.!
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No, not at all. FAM and the Rhythm Method are completely different. Rhythm is based on rudimentary knowledge about the menstrual cycle from the 1930s and relies on trying to calculate when your fertile phase will occur each cycle. It doesn't require you to look at the signs your body is actually giving you in real time. FAM is based in modern science and relies on looking at your physical fertility signs to tell you each day if you are fertile or infertile.
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Yes! Regularity and predictability is NOT an important part of this method. Instead, you check in with your own body daily to see what's going on. If you want to use FAM for birth control, know that irregular cycles may have more days that are unsafe for unprotected intercourse - meaning more days that you will need to abstain, use a barrier method/withdrawal, or have non-penetrative sex - but you are still covered by the FAM Rules. A great benefit of practicing FAM is you may even see the cause of your irregular cycles on your charts, and take steps to smooth things out for better cycle health.
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It does! (I have personally used FAM since 2011 to avoid pregnancy). Many studies abound that demonstrate the effectiveness of identifying the fertile window via fertility signs, and following standardized rules to make sure that sperm and egg never meet. A 2007 20-year study from Germany found that the symptothermal method (using similar but not identical protocols as the ones that Cycle Wise teaches) revealed a perfect use rate of 99.6% (how well the method works when people follow all the rules), and 98.2% with imperfect use (how well the method works when people make mistakes). These exceedingly high numbers are based on the fact that the study participants learned with a certified educator, and received follow-up support with their educator, as well as followed standardized rules.
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Most people agree that once you learn it, FAM is as easy as tying your shoes. Like any other skill in life, such as learning to ride a bike or drive a car, FAM requires an investment of time and energy to master. Checking your fertility signs every day is a habit that takes a bit of time to establish, but it's really just a matter of adding on to things you already do every day: taking your temperature when you're already laying in bed in the morning, and checking cervical fluid when you use the bathroom.
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FAM is the most scientifically advanced, modern technique to know what's happening in your cycle. Our fertility signs have been studied for nearly 150 years. We know that:
The absence of cervical fluid means that sperm cannot survive more than a few hours, and that ovulation is not impending
The presence of cervical fluid indicates increasing levels of estrogen and that ovulation is getting close
Ovulation is an event that occurs once per cycle (with two eggs occasionally released within 24 hours of each other)
A sustained shift in temperature means that progesterone is present, indicating that ovulation has passed
We are unable to get pregnant once we confirm, via the temperature shift and change in cervical fluid, that the fertile window is closed and no more fertility will occur this cycle
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Fertility Awareness is not a new thing. Amazingly, temperature and cervical fluid were verified by scientists in the 1950s-60s at the exact time that the Pill made its world debut! Guess which method got more recognition? There are a few different reasons that FAM is still relatively unknown:
This method has been taught and practiced largely in a Catholic context since the 1960s, leading to the perception that FAM is only for those who have large families, who don't mind an unplanned pregnancy, or who hold certain morals
Since FAM does not offer much profit to pharmaceutical companies, it has never found the same footing as hormonal and device methods of contraception
The public, the medical community, and large health institutions still believe FAM to be the ineffective Rhythm Method
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Most apps that call themselves "fertility trackers" or "period trackers" are nothing more than the Rhythm Method since they don't require you to observe cervical fluid in conjunction with basal body temperature. FAM is also not the same as temperature-based apps like Natural Cycles, which attempt to tell you when you are fertile by only temps and an algorithm. This is risky, as cervical fluid is what opens the fertile window, and temps cannot tell you when you are fertile, only that you HAVE ovulated.
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Anyone from menarche to menopause can use FAM and can benefit from knowing how to understand their cycles and fertility. Unlike NFP, the non-secular branch of this method, you don't have to be heterosexual, engaged, married, in a traditional relationship, or adhere to a specific gender role to use FAM. You do NOT need to have regular cycles.