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How my work and achievements can help you

How my work and achievements can help you

After my experience of severe postnatal depression and anxiety I have made it my mission to ensure that mothers suffering have appropriate support available to them. I am very proud to say that my absolute determination paid off and I successfully created a charity that is able to provide both peer support and counselling services to mothers across London. The charity, Cocoon Family Support, has supported hundreds of parents and has been running successfully for almost six years. It continues to run services in Camden Town and Vauxhall and works side by side with NHS services to “fill the gaps” and ensure that mothers with mental health issues have a well rounded support network.

During my career and my time working with Cocoon I personally created and initially ran all services, designing the peer support workshops, courses and counselling service alongside health professionals and mothers to ensure that they were as beneficial as possible. I have worked one-on-one and within a group setting providing support for parents for a number of years working with hundreds of families. I have had the privilege of playing a part in families recoveries and feel my work has had great purpose knowing that I have helped families lead happier and healthier lives. Please take a look at the bottom of this websites homepage to see some testimonials from parents I have worked with.

Here are some of the professional achievements I have obtained over the years:

  • Creating Cocoon Family Support and obtaining it’s charitable status

  • Creating and running numerous emotional wellbeing workshops including – “Managing Anxiety Through Parenthood”, “Understanding Your Anger”, “Intrusive Thoughts – We All Have Them” and “A Mothers Brain – How Does It Change And Why?”
  • Creating and running parenting courses for new mothers in partnership with psychotherapists including the popular “Chrysalis – Transition To Parenthood” course.
  • Creating and managing a low-cost counselling service for new parents
  • Speaking at numerous events about my own personal experiences
  • Speaking at numerous events and conferences helping educate other professionals on how to support a mother and the benefits of peer support including The Royal College of Midwives, The Royal College of Psychotherapists and at The Houses of Parliament – see example of one of the conferences I have had the pleasure of speaking at below:

  • Becoming a mental health first aid giver – giving me a greater understanding of how to handle a crisis situation and support those that feel suicidal
  • Working on advisory boards for NHS England, helping to create and shape services for new parents.
  • Working on advisory boards for numerous national organisations including NCT, Heads Together and MIND
  • Being a trustee for charitable organisations such as “Camden Health Watch” and “Sheriff Centre”
  • Contributing to numerous campaigns including “Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week”, “Heads Together” and campaigns to encourage more funding within the NHS to be targeted towards support mothers resulting in a positive result and seeing more services being delivered directly due to these campaigns.

  • Having the honour of privately meeting and publicly presenting, alongside my husband, our personal experience to HRH Duchess of Cambridge

  • Being asked to speak on National TV, Radio and Newspapers about my personal experience and my professional opinions about maternal mental health care in the UK.

Here are a few of the videos I have contributed towards and spoken on:

 

I have also completed numerous trainings that have boosted my knowledge and aided me in creating services and offering support for parents. Here are some examples of the training I have undertaken:

  • Mental Health First Aid
  • Perinatal Mental Health Awareness
  • Accredited Peer Support Training
  • Birth Trauma – Detection And Support
  • Counselling Skills Diploma
  • Antenatal Instructor Training
  • Attachment In The Early Years – Understanding John Bowlby Theory

All of the above achievements and experiences have provided me with a plethora of knowledge that I have been able to utilise to help mothers from all walks of life with varied experiences.

With this in mind I have now decided to offer the services listed here in an unique and easily accessible format to further support a wider range of mothers and those who are interested in further exploration of the complexities of motherhood. Throughout my journey I have learned that ALL mothers, not just those with a diagnosed illness, need support, a space to talk and a hand to hold through the tough moments that ALL mothers face.

The services I am offering have been specifically tailored by me to ensure that you can be the happiest and healthiest parent possible.

 

January 9, 2019

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