I used complementary therapies at different stages of my pregnancies from fertility to motherhood. Having experienced the many benefits first hand, I decided to specialise in providing pregnancy related treatments myself.
I used to work in a high-stress job and in 2001 decided to have a career change and do something completely different as I wanted to start a family.  I enjoy working with my hands and working with people so I decided to study for a qualification in massage.
I was under the care of an endocrinologist for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and it was looking like I would need medical fertility treatment to get pregnant. I wanted to try everything possible to conceive naturally before going down this route, so I started having weekly reflexology treatments as I had been told it was really good for fertility. I received weekly reflexology for 5 months and my periods went from every 7 weeks to every 5 and I fell pregnant a month before I was due to start the medical fertility treatment, which was fantastic!
This experience opened my eyes to the wonderful positive impact that complementary therapies can have on fertility but I was disappointed to be told I could no longer receive treatments whilst pregnant.  My pregnancy was great, but my first birth experience was traumatic and I struggled postnatally and with breastfeeding.  I am convinced that if I had received ongoing complementary support through my pregnancy I could have had a more positive birth and parenting experience.
I did some investigating and found that most of the reservations about the use of complementary therapies through pregnancy were due to a lack of specialist training, despite there being lots of research to show complementary therapies can have a positive impact on birth outcomes.
So I decided to focus on developing all of the skills necessary to provide complementary health treatments for women during every stage of their pregnancy.
In the UK the qualification system is a little different from here. For example, in Australia remedial massage encompasses a few weeks training in reflexology, aromatherapy and pregnancy, whereas in the UK each modality is a whole qualification on its own, so I set out to find the very best pregnancy training available. Following a diploma in pregnancy massage (which incorporates shiatsu) and a certificate in maternity reflexology, in 2004 I set up my own company providing specialist complementary therapies from fertility to early motherhood.
I trained my husband to provide me with reflexology and massage treatments for my 2nd and 3rd pregnancies, and as a result, we both felt empowered to make our own decisions about the birth experience. My 2nd birth was in the UK, at home in a birthing pool, with the midwife arriving 3 minutes before my daughter was born, supported by my husband while my eldest daughter slept upstairs. I had no intervention and birthed my 2nd daughter and held her in the warm pool chest to chest and breastfeeding while I birthed the placenta. My son was born in Australia in 2016, again at home in a birthing pool, only this time the midwife didn’t make it until 45 minutes after he was born! I was surrounded by my husband, two daughters and my mum, with my grandad in the background. They all got to experience the wonderful moment that my son was born, an experience that will remain with us all forever.

I have not stopped training and adding to my skills, because I love what I do and I am passionate about helping other women to have a positive birth and parenting experience.

I had a traumatic birth and terrible breastfeeding experience with my first daughter. She had quite a bad tongue tie which wasn’t diagnosed until day 3, and by this time I had open, bleeding cuts. I was also diagnosed with deep breast thrush, which despite several courses of treatment did not resolve (I now know that it wasn’t thrush, which is why the treatment did nothing except kill off all my good bacteria at a time when I needed them most). I was given poor advice and inconsistent advice and as a result, I was put under a lot of pressure to give up as it was just ‘not worth it’. I was determined to make sure my daughter benefited from my breast milk, so I continued to express full time for nearly 8 months. I felt like a failure and it affected my early bonding experience with my daughter, something that I will always regret. I wanted to see something positive come from my experience, and so I started training as a breastfeeding counsellor for the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers in the UK.

My breastfeeding experience with my 2nd daughter was better, but still not without significant challenges, I breastfed for 16 months, enduring discomfort and pain throughout that time. Nobody was able to help me resolve the issues, even though I was by this time a part of the UK breastfeeding support network. When I moved to Australia in 2009 I joined the Australian Breastfeeding Association and became a counsellor, and later took on several other regional roles for the Association.

I am passionate about breastfeeding, and I know it is the natural and right way to feed a baby. I am upset that for both of my daughters the feeding was an almost entirely negative experience. My memories of the first year of both my daughters’ lives are of pain and failure. I am frustrated that there was not a more consistent, focused network of support and quality advice based on up to date research. I felt that because my latch looked right, there wasn’t anything else that anyone could do to help, I felt like my case was out of the norm and too difficult or complicated to deal with. I am not the sort of person that finds comfort in people telling me I am doing well to try and boost my morale, or that it wasn’t my fault. What I needed was help in finding a way that would allow me to feed my baby the way that it should be, and not to be in pain. There were times when I would resent having to feed, because for me feeding meant pain, the sort of pain that makes you rigid, clench your teeth or want to cry out loud, and I would have to deal with that pain every single day. Throughout, I continued with the feeding because I still had a bit of hope that something would click and it would be ok. Sadly that never happened for me with my daughters.

Since that experience, I have resolved to learn as much about breastfeeding as possible so that I can help other mums in ways that I wanted to be helped, so I decided to put my experience to good use and studied to take the IBCLC exam and become a Lactation Consultant. I now know what the issues were that caused me so many problems, and the frustrating thing is that with the right advice and support from a Lactation Consultant, I know they could have been resolved.

In 2016 I was blessed with a baby boy, and although not perfect I have been able to overcome many of the breastfeeding challenges I had experienced with my daughters, and breastfed him for just over 3 years. Life is full of challenges, and whilst I was able to overcome many of the issues I had experienced before, I was given a new set of challenges with severe food intolerances which were affecting his ability to absorb nutrients, fascial restrictions and central nervous system activation. Yet another learning experience!

Having experienced the challenges myself, I understand the emotional and physical drain that a bad breastfeeding experience can have. As well as the extensive formal training and examination process needed to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, I also continue to read extensively on the latest research, and as a result have learned about areas of lactation that are not part of the IBCLC training, such as the effects of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Breastfeeding Aversion, and food intolerances. In addition, I combine this knowledge with somatic psychology and various complementary therapies including specialist paediatric training which means I can take a holistic approach to support you, quite a different perspective compared to most professionals that support breastfeeding.  I have supported hundreds of mothers to overcome the many challenges that breastfeeding can pose and remain dedicated to helping mums achieve a positive breastfeeding experience.