Sun 27 September 2026 • 12:30pm
Storyhouse Childless: A Panel About Making Decisions
“No one has thought more about having children than the people that don’t have children”
Event details
Part of: Storyhouse Childless
Childfree and childless stories are never linear, never black and white but full of grey areas. Following feedback from last year, this year is event about the uncertainty that comes with the decisions many of us face navigating through our different journeys.
When our pronatalist society and all your peers are “talking about babies” it can be difficult to make sense of questions like,
- Why do I feel like I don’t want to have children?
- Will I regret not having children?
- How will I know if or when to stop trying?
- What does it feel like having never tried?
The focus group loved this theme, and they raised even more issues about all the complex decisions people without children have to constantly make and re-make, no matter the stage in their journey.
Chaired by psychotherapist and founder of ‘Are Kids for Me’, Margaret O’Connor has made it her mission to support individuals and couples. This event isn’t a live therapy session but Margaret will expertly introduce the panel members, sharing a snap shot of the decisions they’ve faced and made.
This event is for people who are Childless and Childfree and their supporters.
Events may feature strong language, mention of abortion, trauma, pregnancy, miscarriage, and suicidal ideation. Please look out for yourself and others and please remember you can come and go from any event.
If you have any access needs for example noise sensitivity, mobility or if there is any other support you need, please add yourself to the access register here. We will get in touch with you before the event to chat about we can support you to have the best experience of the discussions group events.
Included in Festival Pass
Storyhouse Childless: Welcome Gathering
Storyhouse Childless: Festival Welcome
Storyhouse Childless: Birth Rate Panic! Not our problem.
Learn more about the panel:
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Margaret O'Connor
Margaret O’Connor, a counsellor and psychotherapist from Ireland. She has been working as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist since 2011 – Fully accredited member of the Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Masters in Gender, Culture and Society, University of Limerick. Degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Middlesex University and a Bachelor of Social Science, University College Cork. In her late twenties, Margaret found herself facing the question of whether she wanted to become a mother or not, feeling like the only person who needed help to make this decision and desperately searching for information about what to do. Margaret is now the founder of Are Kids For Me, a counselling and psychotherapy service working with people who are unsure about their parental decision and those who have decided to be childfree.
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Bethan Taylor
Bethan Taylor
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Jovian Ridley
Jovian has lived in Chorlton, Manchester with his wife, Clare Ridley, for the last decade. Having met in London they left the capital in 2012 for Latin America, working, studying Spanish and writing about their experiences. They’ve been married for 16 years, the first six of which were spent working out whether they wanted children, and what that would mean for their post-travel plans. They finally decided to be child-free following ‘Maybe Baby’ counselling. Outside of his day job in social housing, Jovian volunteers with HOME Manchester and DJs in bars and clubs across the north, including The Carlton Club and The Golden Lion.
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Jolene Jalota
Jolene Jalota, a higher education technician from Canada now living in London. She provides technical assistance to research students and staff as they conduct research in Environmental Sciences. In her later-twenties, with a diagnosis of unexplained infertility and then multiple miscarriages the dream of becoming a parent was gone. After a few rough years, she discovered Jody Day and Gateway Women. She left the online Gateway Women when it moved but kept reading and listening to CNBC content. After moving to London, she began to re-engage with the CNBC community, joining a CNBC support group at work, attending Storyhouse childless and a monthly meet-up. Since 2024, she has helped to run the support group at her university which was established to create a safe space, enable people to ask for advice and raise awareness of the childless community.