None of the voices in this series are ongoing patients of Esther Parell.

Each episode of Where Should We Begin is a one-time counseling session.

For the purposes of maintaining confidentiality, names and some identifiable characteristics have been removed.

But their voices and their stories are real.

I have been in a relationship for the past 17 years. We built a family together.

Two and a half years prior to our daughter being born, I was approached by two friends about donating sperm for them to start a family.

I never told about the donation and I actively lied about it.

I received a text message from an acquaintance I know. Two other kids are twins.

And she texted me that the father of the twins is my partner.

At the same point that I made this donation, I was also having a relationship with another woman.

Yet I'm having an affair. I chose to take them back.

She's starting to question everything.

How do we move forward and is this a pattern?

I don't know if I can get over it.

And at the same time, I don't want to walk away from something that I adore so much.

And I don't get a chance to redo this with anyone else because I'm 49 and I'm not disabled.

It makes me question myself if I'm being weak to stay.

And how do you get over a betrayal to stay?

I've heard of many lies in the course of my 40 years of working with couples.

Sometimes it's the lies of cheating or stealing or sexual abuse.

In this instance, he has a secret.

And the secret is I donated sperm to a couple of friends.

...