Our Professional Team
Dara Roth Edney
(she/her)
Dara has been practicing since 2000, and is committed to providing services that are inclusive, empathetic, personalized and helpful, informed by her educational background and years of clinical and research experience, and inspired by her own long journey with infertility, IVF, loss, and ultimately, surrogacy. Personally, Dara experienced years of infertility herself, and eventually, after countless tests and surgeries, numerous unsuccessful intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) and multiple failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles, turned to gestational surrogacy. Today, she and her partner are grateful to have two daughters, each carried by a different and wonderful gestational surrogate.
Professionally, Dara’s works closely with individuals and couples, guiding people through the family building process as well as life after infertility. She provides reproductive counselling, psycho-educational and decision-making coaching, and overall mental health supports, in particular around grief, loss, bereavement, trauma, interpersonal relationships, anxiety reduction techniques, and the complexities of identity and family building through donation and surrogacy.
In her daily practice, Dara draws from numerous therapeutic models, including: Emotion-Focused, Solution-Focused/Oriented Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour and Narrative Therapy, and Structural and Systems Therapy. When appropriate, she also incorporates Positive Psychology, Coaching and Mindfulness methodologies. She works closely with Ontario and Saskatchewan residents, Canadian and international patients coming to Ontario for treatment, and clinics and affiliated professionals across North America.
In addition to counselling and coaching supports, required assessments for donation and surrogacy, as well as group and peer support facilitation, Dara works closely with professional and community organizations and is a regularly invited speaker at conferences, workshops, webinars/live stream talks, community organizations, university campuses and fertility clinics. She is an instructor in Wilfred Laurier University’s Faculty of Social Work Professional Development Program, teaching their first course on fertility and assisted human reproduction. She is actively involved in government consultations, beginning in 2002, when she delivered an invited presentation to the Canadian Legislature House of Commons, Standing Committee on Health, in regard to Bill C-13 (legislation that led to the Assisted Human Reproductive Act), to more recently when she was an invited witness at the Ontario Legislature, presenting before the Standing Committee on Social Policy regarding Bill 28 (the All Families are Equal Act). In the years between and on an ongoing basis, Dara is involved in numerous other government consultations, as well as industry research.
Dara holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from the University of Toronto and Bachelors’ Degrees from York University (BSW) and McGill University (BA). She is a member of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), is Past Chair of the Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG) of the CFAS, a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and ASRM’s Mental Health Practitioner’s Group (MHPG) and sits on the Board of Directors for Donor Conception Canada. She is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) with the Ontario College of Social Workers and the Saskatchewan Association of Social Workers, as well as a member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW) and a professional member of Fertility Matters, Canada’s patient support and advocacy group.
Dara feels very fortunate that her professional training, long personal experience with infertility and her family’s journey through surrogacy (twice!) combine to provide a unique and empathetic perspective for Informed Fertility’s clients. Her ability to respond to the particular needs of intended parents, donors, surrogates and donor conceived adults allows her to provide support and guidance that gets to the heart of the matter, with compassion, respect and pragmatism.
Blair Wexler-Singer
(she/her)
Blair is passionate about supporting individuals, couples, and groups as they navigate family building through collaborative and assisted fertility options. She offers sensitive education and thoughtful guidance through every stage, from pre-conception and pregnancy to post-birth, and also supports those exploring adoption or considering a life without children.
She earned her Master of Social Work from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation from Dalhousie University. Her therapeutic approach is strengths-based, mindful, and solution-focused. Blair is a registered member in good standing with the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, the Alberta College of Social Workers, and the British Columbia College of Social Workers. She is also an active member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers and the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS), where she currently serves as Chair of the Counselling Special Interest Group (CSIG). Additionally, she is a professional member of Fertility Matters Canada, the national advocacy organization for fertility patients.
Prior to her work in fertility counselling, Blair spent over a decade as the Foster Care Coordinator at Jewish Family & Child Service (JF&CS), where she provided mentorship and support to foster and adoptive families. She developed and facilitated psycho-educational training workshops and conducted mandatory assessments for prospective foster, kinship, and adoptive caregivers.
Her professional focus deepened after her own personal experience as a gestational carrier for close friends. That journey profoundly shaped her path, leading to extensive training in Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) and ultimately a full-time transition into reproductive counselling, joining Informed Fertility in 2022.
Today, Blair provides compassionate counselling and assessments for third-party reproduction (donor and surrogate arrangements), pre-IVF and egg freezing consultations, as well as ongoing support for those coping with infertility, miscarriage, or reproductive grief.
Warm, flexible, and grounded in an inclusive, anti-discriminatory approach to care, Blair lives in Toronto with her family and beloved dog. She is proud to have been a gestational surrogate and is a passionate advocate and practitioner in the field of family building.
Our Administrative Team
Amanda’s personal and professional life is motivated by a keen sense of empathy and kindness, as well as exceptional organizational skills. She understands the importance and value of making things as easy as possible for everyone around her, which she does every day for the counsellors and clients of Informed Fertility. Amanda’s identity is also closely associated with her strong work ethic. In addition to administrative support, her background includes personal organization services, brand management, and in her youth, helping to run her family’s farm. Amanda takes great pride in facilitating the smooth running of a business, and her commitment to high standards of client care ensures messages are returned quickly, and client needs are met with respect, flexibility and understanding.
Hannah loves helping people overcome barriers, so facilitating Informed Fertility clients access counselling supports is tremendously meaningful to her – which makes her the perfect person to step into Amanda’s shoes when she is away from the office for more than a few days.
Amanda and Hannah both know first-hand that a timely and compassionate administrative response can make a huge difference in people’s experience of and ability to access health and social services. They feel privileged to be the people behind the Informed Fertility counsellors who are so deeply committed to an inclusive, non-judgmental practice and have such a high degree of specialized expertise, in a field so challenging and emotional.
Memberships and Associations
