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 regular distraction, at worst they were medication for the pain of living an unpurposeful life. When I think back maybe that is why I became pregnant. It was unplanned for sure but was there some unconscious desire for real connection and meaning driving me? Probably. However connection and meaning was not what I got. Not right awa ..read more

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 grateful we, the British public, are for ‘our NHS heroes’. We clapped for them every Thursday evening, we displayed thankful posters in our living room windows, and popstars promised free concerts for NHS staff when it was all over. As we unified in our support we donated over £92 million to NHS chari ..read more

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 regular distraction, at worst they were medication for the pain of living an unpurposeful life. When I think back maybe that is why I became pregnant. It was unplanned for sure but was there some unconscious desire for real connection and meaning driving me? Probably. However connection and meaning was not what I got. Not right awa ..read more

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 grateful we, the British public, are for ‘our NHS heroes’. We clapped for them every Thursday evening, we displayed thankful posters in our living room windows, and popstars promised free concerts for NHS staff when it was all over. As we unified in our support we donated over £92 million to NHS chari ..read more

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 and convince them. However this statement is really a sign that this person is struggling with their parenting experience and maybe they are even vulnerable to PND because of thinking this.   ‘My baby hates me’ is a thought born out of struggle with a difficult situation. Babies with high ..read more

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 mental health professionals to assess levels of anxiety. Unfortunately HCP, such as GPS, midwives and health visitors, don’t have access to these tools and are one step behind because often the parents they are seeing may not recognise themselves what they are experiencing and are seeking help and guidanc ..read more

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 rather than take the shorter and more cost effective approach of therapy.   I was in denial, other people had problems, not me. I couldn’t have problems because I had a persona of professional working mother, provider and modern educated woman. Anxiety riddled addict didn’t really fit the image I ..read more

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 that around 8,000 more nurses, midwives and nursing associates are now registered to work in the UK compared to 12 months ago. However the numbers joining the profession are not enough to fill the NHS’s leaky bucket. The hole in question created by a massive level of burnout amongst midwives ..read more

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 it made for “ghastly” reading and showed “unmistakeable parallels” with the scandal at Furness General Hospital. Speaking to The Independent, he said: “I was extremely disappointed to read it. The facts in Morecambe Bay were bad enough but to see it happening somewhere else in ..read more

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 HCP  and that very often it had been a re-traumatising process that had brought more grief, upset and anxiety. I was curious to know why parents request a debrief, what their expectation of such a session is. Indeed I often asked the parents who described their woeful experience why they were seeking a debrief and very often they replied that it had been suggested by ..read more