Welcome To
MAMA BEAR BIRTH PREP
Your choice - Your Voice - Your Baby - Your Birth.
I'm Mel and I carry with me a burning passion for all women to come away from their birth, feeling mentally and physically well. Having trained as a birth doula, my unique perspective gives me an inside view into the failings of our maternity service, and what needs to be better.
When the 2024 Birth Trauma Report was published I felt compelled to stop 'just reacting' to the fall out of difficult birth experiences. Instead, I decided to use all my skills as a counsellor, EMDR therapist and with my Doula history, to start proactively guiding families.
Finally, having pulled all of my knowledge together, I'm incredibly excited to now offer Mama Bear Birth Prep, my amazing boot camp for birth.
Why Mama Bear Birth Prep?
“I would never have considered that we need to be prepared for birth in this way, but it completely makes sense that we need to be, with maternity services being the way they are.”
~ Craig Fulham, St Albans, Herts
We are living in a reality that the maternity services prioritises getting mamas in and out as quickly as possible because it is vastly understaffed.
In doing so, things can go wrong, which adds a layer of risk aversion for fear of litigation.
The only thing that you have the power to change right now, is how you prepare for your birth.
This is where Mama Bear Birth Prep comes in:
You can give yourself and your baby the best chance with the right knowledge
You will have tools to feel heard, to make informed decisions and to understand your choices. You will be able to ask the right questions, hold your boundaries and say ‘yes’ to only what’s right for you and your baby
You will build confidence to believe deeply in yourself and your ability to birth your baby the way you want
Mama Bear provides the most vital birth preparation, appropriate for the UK's current maternity service. Schedule a free consultation appointment, where you can talk to Mel to learn more about the programme and whether it's right for you.
Who is Mama Bear Birth Prep for?
This course can be for you as an individual, or you and your birth partners
If you are planning on getting pregnant:
This is the perfect time to fully prepare yourself for what’s to come. We can work through anything that might hold you back from your best birth without the time pressure of an impending birth.
If you are pregnant:
Then there is no time like the present. The earlier in the pregnancy we can get to work, the sooner we can prepare you, so that you can then focus on the important business of enjoying your pregnancy
If you are supporting someone in their birth:
This is the perfect course to tool you up, to support them in the best way possible. You can of course do the course as a couple, though any counselling or EMDR elements would need to be individual.
If you are a professional:
You can feel better able to support families and learn how to use your voice to hold their and your boundaries.
What does Mama Bear Birth Prep cover?
We start off by setting a strong foundation for the success of the course. Working with your history and beliefs around birth, we may utilise my counselling and EMDR skills to resolve emotional triggers and build your confidence and voice. We then go onto the empowerment phase where you will understand your legal rights, coercion, informed consent and radical communication. We can then think about the practicalities of birth and your specific preferences. Later we move onto learning a variety of physical and emotional techniques to give you the best chance at the birth you want.
Remember, the above is just an insight into what this course covers, and if you sign up , you will see how incredibly informative this course is and how prepared you will be.
The legacy that I want to leave is for all women to come out of their birth feeling mentally and physically well and with the best chance at a good bond with their baby, this should be the least we can expect.
Click below if you are ready to book onto your Mama Bear Birth Prep course.
FAQs
We anticipate twelve 1 hour sessions to cover the whole course. If we need extra sessions to further debrief birth or for further counselling, you can pay for those on a session by session basis and they can continue alongside or after the course if it is helpful.
Sessions can take place either in person, in my therapy room in Hitchin Hertfordshire, or if that’s too far to come, I can accommodate online sessions.
You will be provided with a beautiful online manual to guide you through the course, and for you to write your notes in. This will form the basis for you to be able to write a concise, usable and flexible birth plan.
During our consultation call, we can discuss exactly what your bespoke requirements are, I am able to offer flexibility of the whole programme. You wouldn’t start to drive without the investment of driving lessons.