Fertility Awareness and Natural Family Planning
Being aware of one's fertility empowers women's health decisions and helps spouses make moral decisions regarding fertility, how to deal with infertility, and the great gift of children.
Several organizations have instructors serving in Kansas City and St. Joseph. Please see the contacts below for more information.
offers instruction in the Creighton Model and has affiliated doctors who use NaPro technology to assist those with infertility.They offer instruction to women of all ages including those preparing for marriage and offer education programs and instruction for girls who have begun to menstruate.
Information is also available en Español.
Creighton Model Instructor Lizzie Accurso RN,BSN,FCP
Lizzie provides women and couples with a through understading of their fetility to empower them to make informed decisions about their reproductive and gynecological health trhough instruction in the Creighton Model.
Courses and prices:
- Introductory Session plus initial charting materials and handbook, $80.
- Subsequent follow ups, $40 each. (A minimum of 4 follow ups is required to be proficient in this system, the Creighton Model recommends 8 follow ups in a year).
Cell: 913.940.2975 (call or text)
Email: [email protected]
offers instruction in Natural Family Planning for the engaged and married.
Couple to Couple League is now offering an introductory course for the engaged to learn NFP as part of their marriage preparation process!
The cost to attend an introductory session is $35, which can be applied toward registration for the standard live course if the couple chooses to continue. To register for the introductory course, please contact Christina Paoletti by email: [email protected]. or Alison & Allen Greenlief at [email protected].
In addition to the standard live course (offered both locally and virtually), they also offer a self-paced online course, and classes for postpartum, and premenopause. Courses available en Español.
Restorative Reproductive Community Education Class
Join Patrick R. Herrick, MD, PhD, and Annie Courtney, 
PA-C, to learn about methods to assist with Natural Family Planning (NFP).
This one-hour session will cover topics such as the Marquette Method, an approach to assist NFP that uses fertility monitors (at home, daily) for a simple urine test to measure and track hormone levels in urine – specifically estrogen and luteinizing hormone.
As a member of the Fertility Appreciation Collaborative to Teach the Science, Dr. Herrick has extensive experience with every natural family planning method.
Annie Courtney is a physician assistant certified in The Marquette Method Lite instructor and works alongside Dr. Patrick Herrick.
What is Natural Family Planning (NFP)?
[description of NFP from the USCCB resource page]
The Catholic Church supports the methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) because they respect God's design for married love. In fact, NFP represents the only authentic approach to family planning available to husbands and wives because these methods can be used to both attempt or avoid pregnancy. When learning about NFP, it is important to know that:
- Natural Family Planning is an umbrella term for certain methods used to achieve and avoid pregnancies. These methods are based on observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle. Couples using NFP to avoid pregnancy abstain from intercourse and genital contact during the fertile phase of the woman's cycle. No drugs, devices, or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy.
- NFP reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life, promotes openness to life, and recognizes the value of the child. By respecting the love-giving and life-giving natures of marriage, NFP can enrich the bond between husband and wife.
Please visit the USCCB page on Catholic Teaching for a master list of teaching documents on NFP.
Please visit the pages on our website to learn more about discernment and Natural Family Planning use and the difference between NFP and contraception.
Looking for an NFP only doctor? Use the search at One More Soul.