Symptopro

No, we train either couples or individuals. If training as a couple, we do train for individual competency, and work must be completed and turned in separately.

Yes! A married couple can take our class together for $510. The level of coursework commitment from a husband depends on the level of participation he intends to have in teaching.

While our method and instructor training program are both approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, we do not require you to be of any particular faith background to teach our method. Our method is taught and used by people of other faiths and people with no religious affiliation. There is no religious or moral instruction in our course materials. We simply ask that you do not teach or represent anything contrary to our values when you are teaching as a SymptoPro instructor. See “statement of values” above.

Our method fully represents the Catholic moral principles of abstinence during the fertile time as the only licit way to prevent pregnancy, respect for natural fertility as good and healthy, and marriage as the only good context for a sexual relationship. Theological and moral instruction are provided in our instructor training course, but are not part of our standard client course presentation material. You are welcome to add those yourself, with our approval, and we have some content available for you to use.

While we recommend abstinence, we provide the same level of respect, education, and support to women and couples who choose other methods in addition to SymptoPro, and we have a way to record use of those methods on our charts. However, SymptoPro instructors are not allowed to recommend clients utilize those methods. The research behind our method was done using abstinence during the fertile time; other methods for avoiding pregnancy are just that, other methods.

No, training is far more involved. You will be thoroughly trained in how to individually counsel a woman/couple through any special circumstances or reproductive category, including posthormone, postpartum, breastfeeding, premenopause, long cycles, cycles with constant mucus, and many more. You will learn about many rules and guidelines that are not discussed in the client course. The training is rigorous, and not everyone is a good fit. Possessing solely a passion for charting one's fertility, while good in itself, is not enough to do well in training. Those that do well and complete the training tend to have a keen attention to detail and are highly self-motivated. If you feel that teaching SymptoPro may not be a good fit for you, consider other ways that you can contribute to the fertility awareness movement in your area. Promoting classes and offering personal stories are excellent ways to spread the word, and can have a huge impact.

Yes! You will be able to determine the cost of your SymptoPro class. There are base fees needed to cover the cost of the client packets that each couple will receive, but beyond that, the cost you charge is up to you. We do not collect anything beyond the cost of the client materials for all live classes (in-person or virtual), so anything you charge beyond this amount is your income.

If there are more than 2-3 couples or individuals in your area, we may be able to arrange workshop-style training. Contact us for more details.

Our materials are currently available in English or Spanish. At this time you cannot teach our method in any language besides those. Our training program is conducted entirely in English, and all teachers must speak English fluently, or at least well enough to read and write about the details of our method in English.

Instructors outside of the US can use all-digital materials to avoid shipping difficulties. This will be explained in detail when relevant.

Yes, it is necessary to learn the method first before beginning the instructor training program. Every fertility awareness based method (FABM) has different terminology and guidelines, and it is important to become familiar with the specific way SymptoPro teaches its method. It is our experience that switching methods can be a confusing process, and we’d like to get those kinks worked out first, before moving on to the more complex material of the instructor training program. Doing so will also allow you to be confident in your decision to train with us before investing in the program. In essence, we want those who train to teach with us to first be happy and confident SymptoPro users!

If you do have a strong background in fertility charting, let us know and we’ll change the charting requirement from 6 months to 3 months.

The coursework required will be the same, but if you are already familiar with some of the content, it should go more quickly for you.

All instructors must adhere to and uphold these principles when acting as a SymptoPro instructor while understanding that all those they work with may not agree with or adhere to these values.

1. The family is the fundamental unit of society and is based on the loving, generous, and stable relationship of the husband and wife, with an openness to life and respect for the sanctity of life from conception onward, at all times. NFP education can be part of the dialogue by which responsible parenthood is achieved in harmony with the nature of the family and the family's purpose. This is compatible with the meaning of the family before God as understood by most faith-based organizations.
2. Each couple, though unique, is presumed capable of integrating the many facets of human sexuality, particularly fertility awareness, periodic abstinence, and mutual acceptance of responsibility for procreation.
3. A couple has the right to full NFP instruction and follow-up in accordance with program policy, and confidence from the NFP Instructor in their ability to learn and successfully use NFP. It is the couple's decision to fully participate or not and this decision should be respected by the instructor.
4. The instructor, whose role is to inform and encourage couples in their decision to practice NFP, will therefore work to convey personal and spiritual values inherent in NFP, as well as facts of fertility awareness, and will never recommend, or refer for, contraception, sterilization, or abortion.*
5. Natural Family Planning (NFP) is defined as meaning uniting to achieve, or abstaining to avoid, pregnancy, during the method-defined fertile time as discerned by the couple themselves.

Be aware that the language of our method is gender specific (only women have cycles) and assumes that a client’s sexual partner is her husband. Our presentation cannot be given and our method cannot be advertised using different language, but clients with extramarital partners or with other gender identities need not be turned away from instruction.

Our materials do not include any religious content and are used in both Catholic and secular settings.

*Contraception includes barrier methods, spermicide, etc, as well as withdrawal. The only recommendation for avoiding pregnancy during the fertile time must be abstaining from sexual activity entirely. While every couple is capable of practicing abstinence, we know that some will choose to use contraception during the fertile time. Instructors should respect their choice while being clear that this is not fully utilizing our method and that the effectiveness drops to the effectiveness of their chosen method of contraception. The instructor should not provide advice or information on the use of any of these methods while working in the role of a SymptoPro instructor.

There are currently three different ways to teach the SymptoPro method. No matter the class type, the recommended spacing of the three SymptoPro class sessions is every two weeks (spacing up to a month is also acceptable).

Both the live in-person and live virtual class types are available to you right away when you begin teaching. The self-paced online course is an option, but it comes with a startup cost and ongoing fees (check with your trainer for more details). Because of this, the online course isn’t practically feasible unless you plan to teach a large volume of clients, or if you are part of a group, such as a diocese, who manage their own portal. We do not allow you to create your own recorded classes, but we do allow for the recording of a specific class only to accommodate a client who was absent.

All materials used in your course of instruction must be created, distributed, or approved by SymptoPro. If you have need of a specific resource or material that is not currently available, please contact us with your suggestion, and we will see what we can do to create one and make it available to all of our instructors.

The policy on material creation includes translating our existing materials into other languages. Currently client materials are only available in English or Spanish. Translating to other languages without our permission is not allowed, since we cannot ensure that the translation is correct.

The live course, whether in-person or virtual, must be taught using the most current version of our SymptoPro PowerPoint presentations, covered in their entirety. The instructor must present the content of the provided lecture notes, in their entirety, but is encouraged to rephrase naturally, not read them. Additional information or coaching can be added as desired, including theological content for use in a Catholic setting, but no addition or adaptation can violate our policies stated above.

When acting in the role of a SymptoPro instructor, we require that you present a SymptoPro class using SymptoPro materials. This ensures brand quality and consistency for our entire program.

Yes, you can review the SymptoPro Instructor Policies here. This document is also covered during instruction and available to all certified instructors.

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act governs organizations that deal with protected health information and provides rules for safeguarding client information. When working with clients, you are responsible for ensuring that you following these rules and securing client data. This includes not sharing client names, charting data, and other private health information. If you decide to obtain an email address with our SymptoPro domain (@SymptoPro.org) for a small annual fee, you will have the ability to send encrypted emails which will help ensure data protection. You can read more about HIPAA here.