Birth Reflection sessions

A space to share your birth story, and feel validated in your experience.

What is a birth reflection session?

A birth reflection session with me, is a relaxed environment where you can share your birth story, or parts of it that feel relevent to you. I offer a listening ear but most importantly, validation and understanding of what you have experienced.

Through this, depending on what your desired outcomes of the session are, we can look at how this may be impacting you in your postpartum, and even craft a gentle plan of practical things that might be beneficial for you moving forward.

There is never any pressure, and it is led entirely by you, some people want to reflect and gain an insight into why it went how it did, in a logical yet non-clinical sense, others just want to be able to offload and not feel the weight of their experience all to themselves, yet know that offloading to a friend is not quite the same as someone who works in this and has the ability to hold the space for reflections with no judgements or undermining of your experience.

NHS Birth debrief vs A Private birth reflection session?

While the NHS do offer Birth Debrief sessions, for many women a birth debrief session is sought after to provide emotional support and understanding for what they have experienced, and sadly it is becoming more common for women who attend a Birth Debrief with the NHS, to feel more confused and often re-traumatised. Usually there will be a reading of your medical notes and clarification as to what happened in what order, with a midwife. This can be really useful if you are unsure of what happened or the timeline of events. The NHS offers these for free for anyone who wants one.

If you are wanting to feel heard and you are less concerned about the medical notes side, then a private session with a Doula or Birthworker might be more appealing to you. These are paid for by the client directly to the Doula/Birthworker. As a paying customer you are able to tailor the session more specifically around your individual needs without needing to justify yourself.

Often its women with birth trauma that are in most need of a reflection session, however some people feel that their care provider during labour/birth, caused or greatly contributed to their birth trauma and therefore don’t feel comfortable going back to them for a debrief. Sometimes when you have suffered from Birth Trauma, just the mention of a midwife or doctor can cause anxiety and stress on your body so it is completely understandable that more women are seeking reflections with an impartial professional.

How many sessions Will I need?

This largely depends on where you are in your processing of your experience, some women may only need one or two, others may need more time to integrate the experience. There is no right or wrong and only you will be able to know how many feels right for you, but if you are unsure you can book one at a time.

What is the investment?

A 1 hour 30 minute Reflection session with me is £90. It takes place online and you are sent the link and confirmation once full payment has been received.