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 voided and empty of much meaning or connection. The daily booze and drugs were, at best, a...
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...
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...
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 HCP lack the knowledge to identify anxiety in new parents often dismissing what they hear as ‘normal’ worry.* GAD scores are routinely used by...
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...
There are record numbers of nurses and midwives leaving the NHS and they are stating intolerable stress and pressure as the reasons, according to separate reports by the RCM and RCN.* The numbers of nurses and midwives at a glance appear to be up because recruitment drives are bearing fruit, showing...
It was very upsetting to read about one of the biggest maternity scandals ever at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust last week. 40 years of 'toxic' culture within the maternity services there has lead to the uncovering 326 cases of suspected poor care. 'Bill Kirkup, who chaired the Morecambe Bay inquiry said...
I started surveying parents about their debriefing experiences about a year ago. My reason for the survey was because as a therapist working with traumatised parents I often heard that they had under gone a debrief with their HCPÂ and that very often it had been a re-traumatising process that had...
Ever stopped to think why our birth stories are so important? No matter how many years that pass, we will always remember the day our children came into the world. The number 37 bus was stuck in thick traffic as it inched from Richmond to Isleworth on that damp and slightly...
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. Our health...