Traumatic Birth Recovery

21/07/2025

Back by popular demand!

Join me this Wednesday at 7pm to learn what is involved in setting up a CIC.

We will cover:

Sign up for this masterclass and learn:

💙 What is a Community Interest Company?
💜 Is a CIC suitable for your business?
💚 The benefits of starting a CIC
🧡 Things to consider before you begin the process
🩷 Walking through the process from set up to funding

Sending me a message or reply in the comments and I will send you the link.

20/07/2025

'𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. 𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗜 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗔𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜'𝗺 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗽 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜'𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻. 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱. 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹.'

This woman, who kindly gave me permission to share, has been through ALOT.

Like with many of my clients, I listened to her story with utter awe at how much they have endured yet how they are still doing amazing things.

It blows me away how strong mothers are, yet how little credit they ever give themselves.

Usually because trauma symptoms, anxiety and depression have left them feeling broken.

When those symptoms are lifted and women are re-engaged with their resources, their strength, their resilience they just get on with their stuff, doing amazing things, raising their kids.

Blows me away, every time.

If you need support getting back to who you really are, underneath the trauma symptoms, anxiety and depression, get in touch.

17/07/2025

This is an excerpt from a Nursing textbook that was only taken out of print in the UK in 2017 following an uproar on social media about it’s use of scientific racism.

The publisher immediately apologised and took the passage out of electronic editions and future prints.

Some people might defend this piece by asserting that it is a ‘cultural’ difference and not necessarily a biological one.

However, it has to be acknowledged that either way, it is a bias and a prejudice that could inform a care givers decision to administer pain relief (or not).

The other stunning racism in this excerpt is the positioning of these ethnicities as ‘Other’.

Notice how there is no cultural difference for white people and so we can only infer that white people’s response to pain is ‘normal’, ‘justifiable’ or ‘standard’.

This is a very clear example of how systemic racism is in healthcare.

Ethnicity is ‘Other’, ‘white’ is the norm, the benchmark, the known.

It is shocking to think that nurses right up until 2017 were being taught in this way and that these teachings could have, and would have in some cases, influenced the pain relief administered to patients' of these different ethnicities in pain.

Now seeing this in the context of maternity care, it’s easy to see why women of colour are more likely to die than white women.

It’s understandable why women of colour are more vulnerable to experiencing birth as traumatic.

This content is taken from the module 'Racism, Bias and Prejudice in the Birth World', from the TBR Level 3 Diploma in Perinatal Hypnotherapy.

14/07/2025

This years' Birth Trauma Awareness week will be centred around the theme of "Inequalities".

The week will focus on how birth trauma can disproportionately affect various groups, including:

💜 Racially marginalised groups
💚 Disabled parents
💛 Those living in poverty or deprivation
💙 Neurodivergent parents
❤️ Younger and older mothers
🤎 Same-sex couples

Let's raise awareness together.

Let's continue to campaign for improved maternity services.

Get in touch if you would like support unpacking, healing or recovering from your difficult or traumatic birth (or any other traumatic perinatal event)

14/07/2025

I set up the Community Interest Company; The Birth Republic back in December 2023.

I had been banging on about how this model for business could benefit heart centred businesses like the ones my students were in for a while.

I had admired TBR Practitioners like Rosie at Nurture the Borders and Jane at Taking Baby Steps and what they had achieved with their not for profit models for a while and I was curious to see if it was as easy as it seemed setting one up.

It was and it wasn’t and I would love to share what have lea
rnt with you on the FREE webinar: How to set up your CIC

The not for profit model has lots of benefits and advantages, such as:

Flexibility – CIC’s can sell products and services AND receive funding from other sources.

Funding opportunities – CICs can benefit from a diverse range funding sources, including grants, social investment loans, and donations, which may are not always available to traditional businesses or charities.

Serve more of your community – having a dual funding model means that some or all services can be offered free or at a low cost to the community, which means more of the community can benefit.

Directors can be renumerated – as the director of a CIC you can be paid a salary for running it.

Your community isn’t necessarily geographical – it can be parents nationwide.

Quick set up – there is less administration and fewer ongoing governance requirements with a CIC model than with a charity.

Community Interest Companies must benefit the community is some way.

This makes them perfect for antenatal teachers, therapists, breastfeeding supporters, doulas and so on.

These services are otherwise unavailable through public service (NHS) and many parents rely on Community Interest Companies like The Birth Republic to access free or low cost support.

If you are interested in hearing about how the CIC model can work for you then please sign up for a our FREE webinar: How to set up your CIC

Happening on Wednesday 23rd July at 7pm BST.

Sign up for this masterclass and learn: What is a Community Interest Company? Is a CIC suitable for your enterprise? The benefits of starting a CIC Things to consider before you begin the process Walking through the process from set up to funding

11/07/2025

Symptoms can include:

• Not being able to stop crying
• feelings of hopelessness
• persistent low mood
• feelings of not being able to cope
• not being able to enjoy anything
• excessive anxiety about the baby
• difficulty in bonding with the baby
• being unable to concentrate or focus
• isolating from friends and family
• sleeplessness
• extreme tiredness & lack of energy
• aches and pains
• feeling generally unwell
• anxiety
• loss of appetite

Parents often feel a heavy sense of self judgement, even loathing when experiencing depression, which only compounds the condition.

There is often a lot of pressure at this life stage ‘to get it right’ and be ‘the best parent’, have the ‘perfect birth’, ‘breastfeed’, ‘go to mother & baby groups’, ‘sign up for classes’, ‘get a sleep routine established’, and ‘bounce back’ (whatever the hell that means!).

When these things are difficult, or traumatic, or don’t happen for whatever reason, some can interpret this as a personal failing.

Which of course it isn’t at all.

But it does leave people to then vulnerable to experiencing depression as the harsh punitive self talk about ‘failing’, ‘not being good enough’ can begin to take root in their mind.

Tim Cantopher is a Psychologist who wrote the book; Depressive Illness The Curse of the Strong.

He puts forward an idea that I have found to be true in every woman I have supported with PND.

He suggests that depression occurs when people have a high standard for themselves, when they are conscientious, diligent and caring of others.

When they encounter struggle, stress or adversity they are unable to ask for support because they feel they have to shoulder it all, cope with it all, manage it all.

Here a 3 important therapeutic tool to share with depressed parents:

• It isn’t their ‘fault’ that they are finding this hard. Many of us struggle. Judging ourselves for perceived failure just makes a difficult situation harder to bear.

• Listen carefully for all the things that are going right. When depressed we become blind to any positives and part of the work is to reflect the things that are going right and to celebrate those wins – no matter how small.

• Ask ‘what would you say to a friend in the same position, who is struggling?’ and then suggest that they begin to affirm these things for themselves out loud, or in their head or in a journal, frequently to offer a counter balance to all the harsh, judgey thinking that has often been running rampant through the mind unchecked.

If you are a parent who needs support please PM me for details of our free funded therapy sessions.

If you are a professional who would like to know how to do more to support parents recovery from depression, anxiety and perinatal trauma then take a look at our 2 year course in Perinatal Hypnotherapy.

https://tbrschool.podia.com/level-3-diploma-in-perinatal-hypnotherapy

07/07/2025

🥁 🥁 🥁

We have a new Perinatal Therapist to join The Birth Republic CIC

We are delighted that Arlene will soon to be providing specialist perinatal therapeutic support to parents in her area as part of our FREE access scheme.

Arlene has served parents for the past 30 years as an active birth teacher and doula but most recently as a BACP counsellor and Perinatal Hypnotherapist.

We are really pleased that the parents of East London will soon be able to access support in their area 💗

03/07/2025

Everyone has walked a different path to get here.

Some have endured long, painful fertility journeys full of loss and longing...

some do not have adaquate support from partners, family or friends...

others have experienced traumatic births that have left them physically or mentally low and unable to cope...

some have had NICU stays or are still coping with their baby’s ongoing health issues ...

others are struggling to adjust to the seismic hormonal, relationship and identity shifts that are bigger for some of us.

Some haven’t slept for more than a few hours at at time for months on end...

others are torn apart by feeding difficulties.

Comparison is not just ‘the thief of joy’ it’s the killer of self worth, confidence and self compassion.

Give yourself a break.

You’re doing something difficult.

And you’re probably doing it a lot better than you give yourself credit for...

If you would like support in finding the ground beneath your feet again, get in touch using the links in the bio....

01/07/2025

If you support parents please seriously consider attending our 2 part webinar series about Perinatal Mental Health: recognising red flags and safe guarding

This webinar series is being delivered by Sasha Barber, PMH midwife with over 20 years of experience.

Here is what each webinar will cover:

Webinar 1 - Overview of perinatal mental health conditions -

Pre recorded from Thursday 5th June at 7pm

✅ Understanding and identifying post partum psychosis
✅ The prevalence of maternal OCD
✅ Su***de and self harm what you need to know
✅ Myths and stigma around perinatal mental health
✅ Amber /red flags to be aware of
✅ MMBRACE report and its relevance to our work
✅ How to ask the question / what to ask next../ and what to do next
✅ Case studies about managing risk
✅ Services explained and tips on referrals and thresholds
✅ Bring in the challenges of neuro diversity /LGBTQIA in the context of PMI

Webinar 2 -Safeguarding and mental health -

Thursday 3rd July at 7pm

✅ Understanding the statistics and our duty of care to parents
✅ Debunking the myths and stigma around pmh with a quiz
✅ Assessment of mental health in the context of safeguarding - what you need to know
✅ Parental factors and Family factors /ACE’S
✅ The impact of PMI on parental capacity including complex trauma
✅ The experience of the baby
✅ Question and answer session
Both webinars together are £50 and will be available for unlimited views and access afterwards.

All proceeds will go directly to the community interest company; The Birth Republic CIC and will be used to provide access to specialist perinatal therapy for parents seeking that.

Use the link https://tbrschool.podia.com/safeguarding-perinatal-mental-health

27/06/2025

..... BUT in years of supporting parents recovery from anxiety and depression I have found that working with any trauma FIRST is a really effective approach.

Why?

Because living with trauma symptoms untreated over a period of time is a struggle and can cause depression and anxiety disorders....

However this isn’t how most therapeutic approaches work.....

Most commonly available therapy uses either CBT or talk therapy first and fails to address the traumatic memories and symptoms that are holding low mood and anxiety in place.

Teaching relaxation, being solution focused and then using rewind or EMDR creates space and allows for something new grow.

This is trauma informed therapy that supports parents towards their own goals for recovery.

Better yet, it is faster than most ‘traditional’ non trauma focused approaches.

If you are a professional who wants to learn how to support parents back to health check out our 2 year course; Level 3 Diploma in Perinatal Hypnotherapy...

We start in September and would love to have you join us if you are committed to supporting parents back to health after trauma, depression or anxiety!

Find out more here https://tbrschool.podia.com/level-3-diploma-in-perinatal-hypnotherapy