Sharon Covington

Sharon N. Covington is a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work with 50 years experience as an adult psychotherapist and over 40 years working in reproductive medicine providing highly specialized fertility counseling services. Her passion, throughout her career, has been working with her clients in individual, couple and group psychotherapy. As a recognition of her work by other mental health professionals, she was voted as one of Washington’s Top Therapists in the July 2009 issue of Washingtonian Magazine, the last time it was reported.

In addition to her private practice, Sharon is the Director of Psychological Support Services at Shady Grove Fertility, helping start the largest fertility practice in the country over 30 years ago. She is, also, an Associate Clinical Professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and was an Associate Investigator with the Intramural Research Program on Reproductive and Adult Endocrinology of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Sharon maintains an active clinical practice, teaches, is involved in assisted reproductive technology (ART) research, lectures and writes extensively on reproductive counseling issues. Considered an essential guide for reproductive health professionals, the 2^nd Edition of her text on Fertility Counseling was recently published and is now in two volumes: Clinical Guide (Vol. 1) and Case Studies (Vol. 2). Her co-edited text, Infertility Counseling: A Comprehensive Handbook for Clinicians, is considered internationally as a classic in the field and her next text, Fertility Counseling: Clinical Guide and Case Studies has been equally well received. In addition, the media has sought Sharon out for her expertise in interviews, podcasts and articles appearing in Time Magazine, The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, NPR, as well as numerous other telecommunication sources.

Over 30 years ago, Sharon helped to start the Mental Health Professional Group (MHPG) of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), later serving as the Chair. She headed the committee that established practice guidelines for mental health professionals   in reproductive medicine, which is still the standard used today. She has worked on numerous committees of the ASRM, including being asked to serve on the Executive Committee of the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) an organization that oversees fertility clinics in the USA.

Within the community, Mrs. Covington co-founded M.I.S. (Miscarriage, Infant Death, and Stillbirth) in 1981, the first perinatal loss support group in metro Washington, D.C. In 2000, she helped to start Mercy Health Clinic, a non-profit community health clinic serving the needs of uninsured working adults of low income in Montgomery County MD. As a founding member and first Board Chair, she was awarded the Heart of Mercy Award in 2014 by the Clinic. In addition, she has been an active professional member of Resolve, the National Infertility Association, and received their Friends of Resolve Award in 2007 for outstanding contribution to the field of infertility and patient support.