My own anxiety, struggles and fears surrounding my first pregnancy are what ultimately led me to be doing what I do today.

If I am honest the signs of an emotional breakdown were there long before I found out about my pregnancy.  A 10 year career in media to that point had left me spiritually voide...

As the NHS turns 72 this month I think we need to talk about where it is heading, what our expectations are and how we will become increasingly disappointed as service users if we don’t wake up to painful home truths about the way we are cared.

What the Covid19 pandemic has shown us is how grate...

What is this quiet revolution in perinatal mental health?

Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a real fascination for the history of health and medicine, particularly when it comes to birth and maternal health. I love learning about common medical practices, beliefs and outcomes of yesteryear. ...

I am very thankful that there is more awareness of birth trauma now than what there was even 5 years ago. The internet, social media and the contribution of blogger’s real life experiences of birth trauma have really helped many women to recognise what they were experiencing. They can begin the proc...

When I first started teaching the TBR 3 Step Rewind technique to other birth professionals a fellow hypnotherapist messaged me. She said ‘Do you know if midwives and doulas are actually allowed to use the rewind technique? I don’t want you to get into trouble for teaching it if you’re not allowed or...

Have we normalised a bad birth experience?

When I originally met Sarah* she had come to see me for treatment for anxiety. I had no idea when she booked the appointment that she was a new mum, and had a baby just 5 months beforehand, she didn’t mention this in her original email. She had said she wa...

As strange and even ridiculous as this statement sounds it’s a more common thought to occupy the mind of new parents than you might imagine.

It might be tempting if you hear a parent say this, to mollify them. ‘Don’t be silly’ you might say. Or ‘that’s daft, a baby can’t hate anyone’ you might try ...

If there is one thing we should all know about perinatal mental health, it’s this:

I consider myself to be very lucky. I love working with parents because I know first hand how unhelpful perinatal anxiety is to the bonding process.

I know how damaging everyday anxiety is to our sense of self, our ...

As a pre & post natal specialist who hold groups for mums and babies you become used to reading the signs of a mum who has had a rough time with her birth. My heart aches for the women who tear up when others talk about their positive birth, or have to leave the room completely. The women who strugg...

I am sure that many birth professionals reading this will think ‘I do offer a service to listen to folks birth stories.’ And I know that many will be listening and hearing parents birth stories as part of their role as a doula getting to know clients, or as a hypnobirthing teacher discussing their v...

Research suggests that PNA is as prevalent as PND in new parents, effecting as many as 20% of parents in the first year. Yet, despite this many HCPs lack the knowledge to identify anxiety in new parents often dismissing what they hear as ‘normal’ worry.*

GAD scores are routinely used by mental heal...

I will be completely honest with you, when I first decided to study Clinical Hypnotherapy, it was because of my own rampant problems with anxiety and addiction. However rather than face, what I perceived at the time, as the stigma of a mental health problem I decided to learn about my experience rat...