For most women and families pregnancy and birth is an exciting time, with mixed emotions and a lot of unknowns ahead of them. Birth and pregnancy is life changing. These events are bigger than your wedding, getting a new job or buying a house. Many go on to have a wonderful experience but some will experience feelings that they might perhaps not understand such as anxiety, confusion, anger and fear. Others may feel a complete lack of control, experience severe flashbacks or nightmares to a negative experience or loss, have significant difficulty bonding with a newborn child, feel detached from friends and loved ones or even be struck with unexplained fear at the time of a new pregnancy.

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"Being human is being unique and experiencing life around us in our own, unique way. Everyone reacts differently to different life events, has their own perception of that experience and only you know how you feel."

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You may feel like you are in pain without a reason or it is increasing without knowing why. Perhaps you are feeling overwhelmed or dissociating from the world around you or even your child.  Perhaps you are seeing your child as a cause of your problems? Sometimes you feel like you are having panic attacks or other physical symptoms when you see people or places that are similar and a reminder of your traumatic event. You may have headaches or muscular pain where there is no obvious diagnosis or physical cause. Remember, a traumatised or stressed body keeps the score. You may feel like you need to keep busy, so no one will notice. You don’t want to ask for help or maybe you became dependant on others. Maybe you are worried that you may be told you have mental health problems if you would talk about your anxieties or problems. Perhaps you have been mistakenly diagnosed with depression or post-natal depression and the treatments so far are not helping and you still feel trapped.

 

When you or your loved one experience trauma or severe life stressors such as fear of birth, fear of hospitals, anxiety and panic attacks, lack of control during pregnancy and birth, induction of labour, emergency instrumental or surgical birth, miscarriage, traumatic birth, grief and sadness, or even a birth that is documented in your hospital notes as a “normal birth”, you may still be experiencing trauma or even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This could be deep rooted disappointment regarding the birth, painful or complicated breastfeeding, fertility treatments, medical investigations, sexual abuse or painful memories of not being ready for love life.

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My great passion is bringing healing to everyone who has been through a traumatic or stressful experience, is feeling worried, anxious, grieving or even terrified by something which disturbs your family life or has an impact on your health.

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"I mean, everyone’s telling you that things worked out “fine,” and they did. But then why are you left unraveling a tangled knot of emotions, tightly wound with things you’re not “supposed” to feel, like anger, confusion, and deep, nagging sadness? Shouldn’t you really be over it by now?"

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What are the Causes and Symptoms of Birth Trauma and PTSD? 

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​Common Causes (birthraumaresolution.com):

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• A situation leading to fear of maternal death.

• Fear of the baby dying.

• A long and difficult labour.

• A short intense labour.

• Loss of volition – An act of making a choice or decision.

• Feeling of having lost control of their birth.

• Feeling humiliated.

• Lack of privacy or dignity.

• Pain is dismissed.

• Lack of information and feelings of not knowing what is happening to you.

• Inadequate labour and delivery care.

• Staff incompetence.

• Staff indifference.

• Inappropriate staff comments.

• Neglect – Being left on their own.

• Lack of continuity of care.

• When a woman feels invisible/unheard.

• When an emergency situation arises suddenly.

• High levels of medical intervention.

• Non-consensual intervention.

• If you feel trapped and unable to escape from the situation.

• Stillbirth.

• Birth of a sick or damaged baby.

• Previous trauma (miscarriage, multiple failed IVF treatments, previous sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, previous bad birth experience, previous bad experience in a hospital).  NB a woman is also at risk if she has witnessed the listed traumas happening to family members/friends, television etc.

• Poor postnatal care.

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Common signs and symptoms of perinatal trauma (mind.org.uk)

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Re-living aspects of the trauma

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• Vivid flashbacks (feeling that the trauma is happening all over again).

• Intrusive thoughts and images.

• Nightmares.

• Intense distress at real or symbolic reminders of the trauma.

• Physical sensations such as pain, sweating, nausea or trembling.

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Alertness or feeling on edge

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• Panicking when reminded of the trauma.

• Being easily upset or angry.

• Extreme alertness.

• Disturbed sleep or a lack of sleep.

• Irritability and aggressive behaviour.

• Lack of concentration.

• Being easily startled.

• Self-destructive behaviour or recklessness.

• Hyper vigilant (feel jumpy or on their guard all the time).

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Avoiding feelings or memories

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• Keeping busy.

• Avoiding situations that remind you of the trauma.

• Repressing memories (being unable to remember aspects of the event).

• Feeling detached, cut off and emotionally numb.

• Being unable to express affection.

• Using alcohol or drugs to avoid memories.

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How Can I Help You?

 

I know that no single approach is the right one for every individual, and so I have been trained in a range of techniques including Birth Trauma Resolution, Rewind Therapy, EFT, NLP, Deep Relaxation Techniques and debriefing techniques. My work and educational background as a senior midwife allows me to understand your events and experiences even more deeply. Everyone’s experiences are unique and everybody is different which is why it is usually best to have a short, free, telephone consultation to I can understand how I may be able to best help and so you can ask questions if my therapy is right for you.

 

Your sessions with me will enable you to remember you experience in a normal and calm way so that you are able to talk freely about events without sadness, anxiety and fears and not have the event interfere with daily life and health. It will become a normal memory. The sessions will free you from revisiting the negative experience again and again and remove the trauma template and triggers.

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I help my clients, who include men and women, sometimes whole families, or even medical staff such as midwives, doulas and doctors to completely free them from traumas or fears and  find healthy perceptions of themselves and strengthen their relationships so they can know themselves as peaceful, complete, whole and safe so they can enjoy their lives to the fullest and have better connections with each other. I free people from living in “private hell of trauma”.

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To discuss and book, please contact Magdalena here

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How does it work?

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With BTR therapy, you may need approximately 1-4 sessions to be completely free of trauma.

 

The initial two sessions are £350 with any followup sessions required at £75 per hour.

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All sessions are personalised to your specific needs and personality characteristics.

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Everyone’s experiences are unique and everybody is different which is why it is usually best to have a  free telephone consultation so I can understand how I may be able to best help and so you can ask questions if my therapy is right for you. Please use the contact form below to arrange a suitable time to talk or for more information.

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Session 1

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1st session 1.5- 2hrs long. Involves personalised questionnaires, debriefing if you would like to disclose your experience- fully confidential, but you don’t have to disclose any details if it’s to upsetting for you. BTR works equally well as non-disclosure therapy. We can then use a range of techniques, unique to you and your experiences.

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Session 2

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2nd session, usually 1-1.5 hour long, involves personalised solution focused session, positive reframing, building positive rehearsal, relaxation and healing metaphor. Sometimes you may find that you will need to “rewind “on newly surfaced emotions or traumatic memories that can be attached to the primary trauma.

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Session 3

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3rd and 4th sessions- £75 per hour – Sometimes there may be a need for additional sessions, for example if multiple traumas surface, and if so, the 1 st session will be repeated. If there is no emotional charge to the memory this is a sign of the successful therapy. You will be offered personalised relaxation, confidence, calmness or motivation building rehearsal at the end designed to your emotional and current needs.

 

Downloads of your personalised relaxation material can be provided if asked at the beginning of the session.

 

To discuss and book, please contact Magdalena here

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Is Birth Trauma Resolution Therapy Suitable for Everyone?

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​The techniques and therapies are suitable for most and I need to be aware of previous mental health disorders such as psychosis, paranoia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder before a session. In addition, those with epilepsy would require their GP to confirm that you are fit for the therapy in writing.

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