Meet the Essex HypnoBirthing® Practitioners

HypnoBirthing -Unique Antenatal Classes in Bishops Stortford, Braintree, Billericay, Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Chingford, Danbury, Dunmow, Epping, Harlow, Halstead, Ilford, Ongar, Loughton, Maldon, North Weald, Raleigh, Southend, Saffron Walden, Stansted, Theydon Bois, Walthamstow, Woodford, Witham.

For details of how to contact the Essex HypnoBirthing® practitioners please see our "Contact" page.

                                                    Sarah Ockwell-Smith                                   

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner       
• BSc(hons) Psychology Degree
• Qualified Homeopath 
• Birth and postnatal doula
• Happiest Baby educator
• Baby massage instructor
• Registered member of FEDANT (federation antenatal teachers)
• HypnoBirthing mum                                                                   

www.birthfriendly.co.uk

www.babycalm.co.uk

I live in Saffron Walden with my husband, 4 children, 6 chickens, 3 cats, 1 hamster and 3 goldfish (yes I am quite mad!). I have been a HypnoBirthing® practitioner since 2005 and have trained over 600 couples locally in that time. My group HypnoBirthing® Antenatal classes are taught in my home in Saffron Walden as well as the Royston Centre for Complementary Health and Bishops Stortford  in neighbouring Hertfordshire. I am also happy to travel to client’s own homes, for private HypnoBirthing®  classes, along the Harlow to Cambridge M11 corridor including Bishops Stortford, Stansted, Sawston & Dunmow.

After studying for an honours degree in Psychology I worked in the Pharmaceutical  Industry for 5 years. I became a mother in 2002 and whilst on maternity leave with my son I trained to become a Homeopath. During my four year long studies I had two  more children and motherhood fuelled my desire to work with women and children. In 2005 my third child was born at home in a birthing pool, weighing an astounding 11lbs 3oz, yet he was born gently, without pain relief, in four hours using HypnoBirthing® . Later in 2005 I trained as a HypnoBirthing® teacher myself and founded “BirthFriendly” to bring natural pregnancy, empowering birth and gentle parenting to as many families in the Essex region as possible. I am also a Baby Massage Instructor and am a member of the maternity Services Liaison Committee at the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge. I am a recognised birth and postnatal Doula (with Doula UK) and provide a supportive doula service across Essex. As a doula I have been present at over 20 births across Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire (including The Rosie hospital in Cambridge, St. Johns in Chelmsford, Maldon Birth Centre, Princess Alexandra Hospital - PAH - in Harlow, The Lister in Stevenage and QE2 in Welwyn Garden City as well as many homebirths in all 3 counties) which I find gives me a wonderful insight into birth and also into how different hospital and midwifery teams in the area operate - this extra knowledge I bring to my HypnoBirthing classes.

Finally, in the spring of 2007 I gave birth to my fourth child, another big 11lber, again at home in water using HypnoBirthing, with no pain relief. This time my labour lasted less than an hour! I also own and edit the site http://www.bigbaby.org.uk a positive informational website for women who are worried about, or have been told they expecting a "large baby".  Lastly, I also run BabyCalm(TM) my sister business http://www.babycalm.co.uk offering help & support to new parents in Essex including Baby Massage Classes, Baby Calming (Happiest Baby) Classes, Dunstan Baby Language Classes, Postnatal Doula Services and Homeopathy for babies and children.

I am incredibly passionate about pregnancy and birth, I adore women and children, I love babies & children. I also strongly believe that HypnoBirthing should be available to all regardless of their financial situation, for this reason my group classes are all priced in line with other antenatal classes, such as the NCT, and start from as low as £135.

Geraldine Vinall    

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner     
• Clinical Hypnotherapist
• NLP Practitioner
• Trauma Cognisant Therapist
• Hypnosis for Infertility and IVF support Therapist

www.birthknowhow.co.uk

Based in Mid Essex, my practice offers clinical hypnotherapy, NLP and HypnoBirthing®, as well as hypnosis for fertility and IVF support. My training for fertility and IVF matters was with Sjanie Hugo, who works with the Zita West Clinic in London.

My speciality is all things relating to stress and distress, in which I have very wide experience. I see HypnoBirthing as ‘stress management for childbirth’ and it is the most comprehensive preparation for a fear-free birth, effective in whatever circumstances prevail at the time.

Instead of group classes, I travel to clients’ homes, in most areas of Essex, for one to one sessions, which can be scheduled for daytime, evenings or weekends. I can be flexible around irregular work patterns or busy social lives – classes can be booked from week to week to suit - and it is obviously popular for those planning a homebirth. It is especially helpful for VBAC’s and for mums who benefit from planning specifically around particular health conditions which may put them into a high risk category.

I am pleased to offer this more confidential service for those with particular fears or individual challenges and it has proved very popular and successful.

Marilyn Griffin

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner
• HypnoFertility Practitioner
• Clinical Hypnotherapist                                      
• Psychotherapist
• NLP Practitioner

www.mghypnobirthing.co.uk

Marilyn holds individual and group sessions in the Braintree/Dunmow area.

I have been a HypnoBirthing practitioner now for several years and I must say it is the favourite part of my busy practice. I have met, and befriended, many different couples from all walks of life and even different parts of the globe! Childbirth is universal and should be universally rewarding and fulfilling - HypnoBirthing helps parents return it to that fulfilling event. The Mongan Method helps couples prepare for such a birth; and with the expertise of hypno/psychotherapy that I bring to my classes I find I am able to help even the most anxious of parents to learn to look forward to a gentle and joyful birth. My particular interests have always been in women's health and wellbeing and to that end I have recently added therapies to help with fertility issues. So I can now be involved from pre-conception rright through to empowering birth. My classes are small, fun and informal, so they offer a relaxing and informative experience for mums and birth companions.

Any questions? then call me for a no obligation chat - I will be happy to hear from you!

Karen Tootill

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner
• HypnoBirthing® mum!

www.calmbirthing.co.uk

A secondary school teacher by profession I now run an established HypnoBirthing® practice in Chelmsford and Rayleigh, as well as being a full time Mum to my sons Callum  and Matthew.

When I was 6 months pregnant with Callum I discovered HypnoBirthing® and decided it would be worth a go even if it only helped a little. I found the course amazing and my attitude to birth totally changed. I began to look forward to the birth and felt confident enough to have Callum at home. The experience of birthing Callum was so wonderful that I decided to train as a practitioner so I can pass on the positive birth message and help other couples to have the birth they want.

I now enjoy running courses, which are fun and relaxed in a home environment. I work closely with the local hospitals and community midwives and because of my drive to make birth better I have been invited to speak at several local NHS study days as well at the Natural Birth conference for the Royal College of Midwives (Broomfield Hospital 2007). I also regularly contribute to Basildon Hospital relaxation antenatal classes.

My classes are fun and informative and I have worked with many different couples from those who are set on a home water birth to those who face medical complications and will need to be closely monitored in hospital during birth. I really enjoy being a practitioner, I am, able to hear about amazing births, meet wonderful families and make a positive impact on the most amazing day of a family’s life.

Cathy Salmon

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner
• Clinical Hypnotherapist
• EFT Practitioner
• HypnoFertility® Practitioner

 
I live in the Epping area and have been a healer for 18 years, but after the death of my husband 6 years ago I decided to make some real changes in my life, so I trained as a Clinical Hypnotherapist. After I qualified I took further training in HypnoBirthing®, HypnoFertility® and EFT. I provide individual classes in the client's own home and will travel to Epping, Theydon Bois, Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Chingford, Ilford and Redbridge and I am happy to hold classes at weekends.


I am a mother of 3 and the proud grandmother of one year old twins. It was my daughter in laws difficult labour with the twins that coincided with a talk by one of our supervisors on my hypnotherapy training course that started me on the HypnoBirthing road. The class attendees were asked if we thought pain was inevitable in labour and I was one of the first to raise my hand as I’d had 3 unpleasant birth experiences and I had been brought up on my mother’s stories that “there was no pain like”. After listening to the talk I was hooked and am now a passionate believer in the right of mums and babies to have a wonderful birth experience. I truly believe that babies born by this method have a distinct advantage as they do not have to start life trying to overcome trauma. Birth should be looked forward to with joy and anticipation.

I also took the HypnoBirthing Fertility course as well. It is tailored to each individual and couple to increase the likelihood of conception and many mental and emotional blocks can be removed to allow nature to take its course. I find that EFT when used in conjunction with the other therapies enhances their effectiveness.

Giving up my London job as an events and courses organiser in my 50s and stepping out into the unknown was a big step, but I haven’t regretted a moment of it.

Debs King

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner
• HypnoBirthing® mum!

www.naturalhypnobirthing.co.uk

I am the new kid on the block. A graphic designer based in Stansted
Mountfitchet with no experience of midwifery, working as a Doula, nursing or
anything else in that realm. I am however a HypnoBirthing® mum, and
experience speaks for itself. When I found out I was pregnant, I was
petrified, I never wanted children purely because I didn't think
I'd be able to survive childbirth. Its a long story, and I only have
a paragraph or two, but then I came across HypnoBirthing® and the
experience not only got me through the birth, but kept me calm
throughout the pregnancy too, not allowing fear to consume me and
give me too many sleepless nights!

Well, I survived the birth, and live to tell the tale and how I love
telling it. My passion for so long was design, but this is in a
league of its own. When I talk of Roni's birth I get so excited, it
was something I had feared my whole life, then at 32, could have
done it again the next day!

I wanted to learn to become a practitioner, so that hopefully I can
help other mums to be, as scared as I was, have a wonderful pregnancy
and birth. All I can say is.... it works.

Jackie Fletcher

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner
• Clinical Hypnotherapist
• EFT Practitioner
• Doula
• HypnoBirthing® Mum!

www.hypnobirthing4u.co.uk

I offer HypnoBirthing Antenatal classes in Epping, Essex; E17, London and Reading, Berkshire with a variety of evening and weekend dates.

As a hypnotherapist, I used hypnosis all through my pregnancy and because I was carrying twins, my birth was rather medicalised. Knowing the positive benefits of hypnosis during pregnancy, I know that my children have benefitted from all the preparation I did throughout my pregnancy and I know that as babies they were happy and contented babies who slept and ate well and this has continued through. It was during my pregnancy that I decided that it would be lovely to specialise in birth so I trained as a HypnoBirthing practitioner in 2003 when my boys were just 6 months old. I was one of the first practitioners in the UK and I have been helping couples prepare for their births ever since 2004. I love empowering couples to take control of their births and I know that those couples who prepare for birth and practice these techniques can create a birth experience they are happy with.

I am also a doula, registered with Doula UK as well as a Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) practitioner and hold a diploma in Integrated Energy Techniques. With my classes you will be surprised how easy the techniques are to learn and put into practice. Couples enjoy my the informal style and the fun along with lots of relaxation, they finish the classes feeling surprised how quickly they pass, empowered and looking forward to their birth.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Georgina Warwick

• Certified HypnoBirthing® Practitioner
• Registered Midwife
• Clinical Hypnotherapist

Georgina is based in Wickford.

Georgina's profile & photo will be added shortly - check back soon for updates!

Cath Anderson

HypnoBirthing -Unique Antenatal Classes in Bishops Stortford, Braintree, Billericay, Basildon, Chelmsford, Colchester, Chingford, Danbury, Dunmow, Epping, Harlow, Halstead, Ilford, Ongar, Loughton, Maldon, North Weald, Raleigh, Southend, Saffron Walden, Stansted, Theydon Bois, Walthamstow, Woodford, Witham.