Maternity experience

My interest in maternity has been life-long and personal. I began my education into the world of maternity in 2010 when I completed a year of a midwifery degree at King's College London. At the end of that year my daughter was born, and so I stepped back from this rewarding, but time-demanding training to focus on being a mother. Having had the opportunity to be with women during their pregnancies, being present during their births and in those early postnatal weeks, I witnessed how considerate communication, and in particular the ability to truly listen, had the power to transform how a woman felt about being a mother.

The rigorous training I have undergone at the UK's leading psychotherapy institute has equipped me in addressing the need I had observed for women to talk and be heard by a professional. As a psychotherapist I have the skills and the time to listen and be with women, and although I am not a qualified midwife, my maternity experience enables me to understand the language around this life-changing time.

My MSc research focused on women’s experiences of motherhood when their first baby dies at birth.

My interest in maternity (pre-conception, pregnancy, postnatal, bereavement, attachment) continues to grow, and I am actively involved in the NHS as a member of my local NHS Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP), helping to improve maternity care for women and families. I am currently assisting a London university with designing their pre-registration midwifery programme to meet new NMC requirements. I have been invited to sit on a national maternity research ‘Project Advisory Group’. I regularly attend training days to enhance my psychotherapy practice, and to maintain up to date information in my specialist area.

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Education and Continuing Professional Development

  • MSc in Contemporary Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Applications – Metanoia Institute (2013-2019): Sheila Haugh

  • UKCP Registered Person-Centred Diploma in Psychotherapy – Metanoia Institute (2013-2019)

  • BSc Midwifery (first year) – King’s College London (2010)

  •  Perinatal OCD: the increasing role of psychotherapy and counselling (2023)

  •  The histories and contemporary lives of Traveller groups in the UK (2023)

  •  ‘I Don’t Want this Child!’ – when Attachment doesn't stand a chance (2023)

  •  Understanding and Working with Shame in Person-Centred Practice: From Implicit to Explicit (2023) 

  • Can Insecurely Attached Mothers Have Securely Attached Children? (2023)

  •  The Make Birth Better 7th Annual Birth Trauma Summit (2022)

  • Psychological Trauma-informed care across the maternity journey - The Royal Society of Medicine (2022)

  •  Gender Identities & Sexual Orientations: A Contemporary Understanding of Sexology (2022): Silva Neves

  • Current trends in the management of pregnancy loss. Baby loss-perspectives and pathologies - The Royal Society of Medicine (2021)

  •  Working with Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender-Questioning Clients:  Building a Gender-Affirming Practice (2021)

  • Current trends in the management of the infertile couple - The Royal Society of Medicine (2021)

  • Person-Centred Theory: Working with People with Severe Mental Distress - Sheila Haugh (2021)

  • PCCS Books Workshops: Art Bohart, Beverley Costa, Sheila Haugh, Nick Totton (2021)

  • 6th Annual Birth Trauma Summit (2021)

  • Current trends in the management of pregnancy loss. Baby loss-perspectives and pathologies - The Royal Society of Medicine (2021)

  • Current trends in the management of the infertile couple - The Royal Society of Medicine (2021)

  • 5th Annual Birth Trauma Conference (2020)

  • Working with Surrogacy - BICA British Infertility Counselling Association (2019)

  • 4th Annual Birth Trauma Conference (2019)

  • Importance of addressing Mental Health during pregnancy – House of Commons, Westminster, London (2018)

  • Time2Heal Study Day "Improving Care when IVF Pregnancy" - Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (2018)

  • Importance of addressing Mental Health during pregnancy – House of Commons, Westminster, London (2017)

  • A risky business? Exploring risk perception and care provision during pregnancy and birth – The Royal Society of Medicine (2017)

  • Developing Empathic Following Responses for Trauma Focused Work – Dr David Murphy Ph.D. (2016)

  • Social & Political Challenges of Being a Person-Centred Therapist – Professor Peter F. Schmid (2015)

  • Positive Action for Mental Health – PCCS Conference (2015)

  • The Neurobiology of Early Experiences and Affective Regulation – Affective Neuroscience & Attachment Theory: Considerations For Psychotherapy Practice (2014)

  • Forty Years After Meeting Carl Rogers: The Possibilities and Troubles of the Person-Centred Approach – Charles O’Leary (2014)

  • Parental Conflict & Attachment Theory – Dr Christopher Clulow Ph.D. (2013)

  • Enid Balint Lecture: Psychic ‘Geodes’ – The Presence of Absence – Joan Raphael-Leff (2013)

  • Post Natal Depression & Insecure Attachment – Professor Lynne Murray (2012)

  • BA in Music – University of Chichester (2003)