One-to-One Support
Sometimes you don’t need a course. You need a conversation.
You might be pregnant and trying to make sense of your options.
You might have been told something at an appointment that has left you worried or unsure what to do next.
You might be approaching birth and suddenly everything has changed.
You might be newly postpartum and need someone experienced to sit with you and help you work out what you need.
Or you might be a doula, birthkeeper or practitioner who needs another pair of eyes, a sounding board or some mentoring around a situation you’re holding.
This is what my one-to-one sessions are for.
A space to work things through
I have spent more than three decades supporting women and families through pregnancy, birth and postpartum, alongside teaching and mentoring doulas and birthkeepers.
Over those years I have learned that sometimes what someone needs most isn’t another piece of information.
It is time.
Time to tell the whole story.
Time to ask the questions that didn’t get answered at an appointment.
Time to understand what your choices actually are.
Time to untangle fear from fact.
And time to work out what you want to do next.
One-to-one sessions give us that space.
Pregnancy & birth
You can book a session at any point during pregnancy.
Women come to me with all sorts of questions and situations, including:
- preparing for birth
- understanding birth physiology
- thinking through where to give birth
- making or revisiting birth preferences
- preparing for conversations with healthcare professionals
- induction discussions
- breech babies
- caesarean birth and VBAC
- pain relief options
- navigating recommendations or changes of plan
- preparing partners and family
- thinking about homebirth
- previous difficult or traumatic birth experiences
- preparing for postpartum
- simply feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to begin
I won’t make decisions for you.
What I can do is help you understand the situation, explore the questions you may want to ask, look at your options and help you find your own way through.
Something has changed…
Sometimes these sessions are needed very suddenly.
Your baby is breech.
An induction has been suggested.
Something unexpected has appeared on a scan.
Your planned place of birth is no longer available.
You’ve had an appointment and come away feeling that you agreed to something you don’t fully understand.
Or perhaps you’re 39 weeks pregnant, everybody has an opinion and your brain has simply had enough.
Come and talk to me.
We can slow the situation down, look at what you know, identify what you don’t yet know and work out the questions you need answered before making your next decision.
Preparing together
You don’t have to wait until there is a problem.
One-to-one sessions can also be a beautiful way to prepare for birth, particularly if you don’t want a full antenatal course or doula package.
We can create a series of sessions across your pregnancy and build your preparation around you, rather than following a predetermined antenatal curriculum.
We might explore physiology one week, comfort measures another, spend a session thinking about your birth environment and another preparing your partner.
We can talk about the realities of postpartum before you’re standing in the middle of it wondering why nobody mentioned any of this.
Your preparation can be as practical, detailed and individual as you need it to be.
Postpartum support
The weeks and months after birth can bring questions that nobody anticipated during pregnancy.
Feeding.
Recovery.
Sleep.
Your changing body.
A difficult birth.
A beautiful birth that you’re still trying to comprehend.
Relationships.
Family.
Food and nourishment.
Herbs and traditional remedies.
The emotional enormity of becoming a mother.
Or simply the feeling that everyone is asking about the baby and nobody has really asked about you.
One-to-one postpartum sessions give us somewhere to begin.
For doulas & birthkeepers
I also offer one-to-one mentoring for doulas, birthkeepers and others working alongside women and families.
You don’t have to be a Red Tent Doula to work with me.
Perhaps you’ve encountered a situation you’ve never seen before.
Perhaps you’re preparing for your first birth.
Perhaps a birth you’ve attended is sitting heavily with you.
Perhaps you’re struggling with boundaries, confidence, relationships with healthcare professionals or knowing what belongs within your role.
Or perhaps your practice is changing and you’re wondering where you want to take your work next.
Bring it.
Mentoring isn’t about me telling you how to become a version of me.
It is about helping you develop confidence in your own practice, while having access to the perspective of someone who has been doing this work for a very long time.
Traditional knowledge & remedies
Some sessions naturally move into the traditional side of my work.
Depending on what is happening for you, we might talk about food, herbs, oils, warming practices, postpartum care, belly care or other traditional approaches that sit within my experience and scope of practice.
Where something needs clinical assessment or is outside that scope, I will tell you.
Traditional knowledge and medical care do not need to be enemies.
Sometimes the most useful thing I can do is help you understand which questions belong where.
Wherever you are in the world
These sessions are available internationally.
Most take place online, which means we can sit together whether you are in Edinburgh, London, Cairo, Zanzibar, New York or somewhere I’ve never been.
All you need is somewhere you can speak freely and enough time that we don’t have to rush.
How long do I need?
You can book a single session when you have something particular you want to explore.
For more complex situations, pregnancy preparation or ongoing mentoring, we can arrange a package of sessions and work together over a longer period.
If you’re unsure whether I am the right person for what you need, you can arrange a free 15-minute conversation first.
Tell me briefly what is happening and we’ll work out whether a session with me would be useful.
You don’t need to have everything figured out
You don’t need to arrive knowing exactly what you want to ask.
Sometimes the beginning of a session is simply:
“This is what’s happening and I don’t know what to do with it.”
That’s enough.
We start there.
Book a one-to-one
Tell me a little about what you would like support with and where in the world you are.
We’ll find a time to sit together and talk.
