Should I tell my family?

Wellcome Connecting Science | Graphic | Empowering People: Genetic Counselling in Focus

Making a decision about a genetic diagnosis, whether actual or possible, raises many considerations for an individual. The process of working through a family history brings into focus our genetic connectedness; how something in our DNA that could impact us can also have implications for other people that we are related to.

Genetic counsellors provide guidance to enable people to make sense of these implications and find ways to approach having potentially difficult conversations with loved ones and relations. It can be a challenge to find the right language and to share advice, for example about the possibility of having testing of their own. Genetic counsellors can offer valuable support, which they are trained to deliver.