We wish you all a happy and healthy 2012.

Last month we were delighted to meet Dr Maya Spencer and Karen Atkinson of the York House Centre and Mindfulnessuk.

www.yorkhousecentre.co.uk

www.mindfulnessuk.com

They explained the origins of mindfulness in Buddhism and Yogis  and how Jon Kabot-Zinn  has modified the teachings so that it is applicable to all with a non religious base but maintaining integrity value and purpose . InAmericaandAustraliamindfulness is incorporated into parenting and mindfulness for Parents and Children is a growing approach.

Mindful parenting {educating} is the hardest job on the planet, but it’s also one that has the potential for the deepest kinds of satisfactions over the life span, and the greatest feelings of interconnectedness and community and belonging.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

See   www.drstevesilvestro.com  www.mindfulnesscentre.com/parents-educators.html

Maya and Karen run courses and give talks nationwide and are happy to be contacted about any aspect of mindfulness.

This month, January we meet on thursday 12^th at 7.45 to hear from Consultant Paediatrician Louise Newbury about her role in child protection and safeguarding Children from a young age .

We look forward to seeing you there,

With best wishes,

Eleanor and Simon Copp

www.relaxedparenting.co.uk

01823350945

Our seasonal Birth Forum is nearly here and we are ready with mince pies and brandy! We wish to thank our November guests Mel Scott andViv Groskopwho together gave us a special evening relating their respective experiences of losing a baby, and writing in the media about Parenthood and the variety of issues surrounding it.

Mel has set up a charity to support Parents through dark times and can be contacted on : www.finleysfootprints.com

Viv writes articles regularly published in Guardian Family , the Times and the London Evening Standard , and can be heard on radio 4 too , specifically woman’s hour and you and yours .  

On December 8^th we will be hearing about Mindfulness from leading educators Karen Atkinson and Dr Maya Spencer .

They will be explaining how Mindfulness impacts positively on daily life , and how new parents can incorporate and use it to manage  the transitions necessary when  a new baby arrives .

We meet from 7.30 to begin for 7.45 at the Friends Meeting House,Bath Place,Tauntonand look forward to seeing you there .

Top tip:

As it will be late night shopping we have learned over the past years that parking can be more difficult than at any other time.

see you there .

Ever since the last forum when John Wilks explained the role of the psoas muscles in Mother and baby during pregnancy, birth and afterwards I have been subtly watching women’s posture and wondering how their psoas’ are! His talk was fascinating and informative. John works in Dorset ,Somersetand London with Obstetricians ,Midwives ,Parents and Babies , for more information about him and Bowen Technique see  www.cyma.org.uk

Joy Horner , Independent Midwife spoke about her work with breech births ,  the current trends nationally and gave a broader  perspective on an issue which has become synonymous with concern over the past 12 years . To know more about the workshops Joy is running contact her at  www.birthjoy.co.uk

Thank you to them both. They touched on aspects of trauma for both Mother and baby and this will be a future topic at the forum. We will be looking at the masculine face of birth and how Men process what they see.

We are pleased to announce another great forum this month, there will be tears and there will be laughter. There will be cake.

Mel Scott, will be talking about her Son Finley who died and how she has become a Mother for a second time to her daughter Toni-Jay.  Mel is passionate about sharing her experience about a part of birth and becoming a parent that has been hidden over the years. She is going to share what Parents in this situation need and how they can be best supported.

After a break where tea and cake will be present, we will be ready to hear from Viv.

Viv Groskop is a freelance Journalist based inLondonbut originally fromSomerset.Her articles are regularly in the Times, The Guardian and the Independent as well as many  Magazines,  Viv has many strands to her bow and her interest is in  birth and parenting and she writes with a feminist slant . Anyone familiar with Viv’s writing will know she writes brilliantly because she is well researched and balanced and clearly interested in what she is writing about .

We welcome to you an evening of seriousness and fun where we can all learn together about issues that touch the heart .

We look forward to seeing you at the friends meeting house, bath place,Taunton from 7.30 for prompt start at 7.45 .

Eleanor and Simon .

01823350945

This month we are looking at optimum fetal positioning as we know how much of an impact this has on labour and birth.

Our first Speaker Joy Horner, independent Midwife came last month to speak about the changes which will mean that in 2013 independent Midwifery will be a thing of the past.

This month she is talking about her work with Mary Cronk , MBE,  a now retired Midwife who has worked  with breech position babies and become synonymous with her knowledge and skills on the subject of vaginal breech , at home,  at hospital , and breech presentation babies who need to be born via caesarean . Joy has been co- running training days for Midwives and Doulas teaching them about their combined experience in this field.

Our second Speaker is John Wilks , a Cranio Sacral Therapist and Bowen Technique Practitioner,  In 2005 he set up a 2 year practitioner training for midwives in Craniosacral Therapy at Poole Hospital NHS Trust, the first of its kind to be accredtited with the Royal College of Midwives.

John is talking about the  Psoas  : a major group of muscles in the lower back and abdomen which can profoundly affect optimal foetal positioning and has a deep resonance with mothers’ own birth experience.   Its not something that is often talked about and something we are really excited to be learning about.  

John has worked all over the world and he  has been involved in a number of charitable projects organising therapeutic work overseas, including after the war in Bosnia and El Salvador. In 2009 he was listed in Tatler’s guide to the 250 best private doctors in the UK.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday , 7.30 for a prompt start at 7.45 , at the friends meeting house , bath Place, Taunton . We are excited to be distributing our first newsletter .   

Refreshments are included and due to a rise in rent ,admission is now £8.00 on the door , no pre booking is needed . Just arrive !

Warm wishes,

Eleanor and Simon Copp

Tel 01823350945 for any enquiries .  

This a resume of the forum last week and a heads up for next month which will be on

October 13^th.

Thanks to Joy Horner, an Independent Midwife who explained the current situation in this country in relation to Independent Midwifery, which will become illegal in 2013.

She discussed the model ofNew Zealandwhere women were unhappy with the choices available to them and generated changes meaning Independent Midwives can work alongside Hospital based Midwives. The key issue in theUKis the lack of affordable insurance meaning that Midwives are unable to practice legally.

She talked about her fears that unassisted birth would become more commonplace and some women would become secretive about their pregnancy.   

Joy is returning next month to talk about her work with Midwives and Doulas training for breech births, and her experience of breech births herself.

She is co running a training day on September 24^th, for more info please contacts Joy:

joy@birthjoy.co.uk

Tel 07939247462

Thanks also to Consultant Obstetrician John Macaulay for coming and talking about risk. He listed definitions of risk, from different models, how to put risk into context, explaining what risk is, evaluating and reviewing risk and risk according to the litigation authority. Discussions evolved around usage of monitors, ante natal screening and vaginal birth after caesarean.

On reflection it seems that we can understand and incorporate the concept of risk and decision making better when we understand it, and that is based upon the way it is given. He also gave some personal insight into how his own negative experiences have informed his practice.

October 13^th

We welcome John Wilks who has been practising Bowen Technique and Cranio Sacral Therapy full time since 1995. He works in Dorset andSomersetand all over the world.  

In 2005 he set up 2 year training for Midwives in Cranio Sacral Therapy atPooleHospital, the first of its kind to be accredited with the Royal College of Midwives.

John will be talking about the major group of muscles in the lower back and abdomen which can profoundly affect optimal fetal positioning.  

Heather O’Mahen from ExeterUniversitywill be giving a talk on Therapies for perinatal depression on Friday 16^th at Taunton Library Meeting Room,Paul Street at 7.45 pm.

Heather spoke at the birth forum last year and for anyone who missed her here is another chance.

Some news on us:

Simon is running a low cost clinic on Saturdays for mothers and babies for issues with crying, feeding and sleep and meets with adults on Mondays; his speciality is accidents, injury and trauma.

Eleanor works with Women who experienced birth trauma and post natal depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and with couples in pregnancy for birth preparation.

We are planning the next years programme of speakers and the months are filling , if you would like to hear someone speak of offer yourself as a speaker , do let us know ,

We wish you a great month,

Eleanor and Simon Copp 01823350945

We hope you have all had a good summer; we have been refreshed by a holiday inBrittanywhich was fantastic.

We are now preparing for the Autumnal forum‘s and are very excited to be welcoming our speakers: John Macaulay, John Wilkes, Viv Groskop and Karen Atkinson before our pause for Christmas.

We will be meeting on September 8^th at 7.45 at the friends meeting house inTaunton and will be hearing from Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist John Macaulay on the subject of risk. He is the Lead Doctor for Risk management on the Labour Ward inTaunton .   

Last time John came to the Forum he talked about the origins and effects of the active management of Labour. He is currently head of the new VBAC service and overseeing my Colleague Mandy and I in our new roles as Specialist Midwives in Supporting empowered births whether that is planned VBAC or repeat C-section.

A question and Answer session  will be held after the talk .

Also included is a Directory of Practitioners as requested by forum attendee’s to use as an aide memoire of who does what locally, or who they can refer too. The Practitioners listed have been to the forum and spoken about their work and are happy to be contacted.  

Please forward this to anyone who you think would like to come along to the forum , we welcome everyone .

We look forward to seeing you in September ,

Warm wishes ,

Eleanor and Simon Copp

01823350945

July 8^th 2011

This forum was our last one before the autumn, and we celebrated with cake and cherries! We thank all the speakers who have come along since September and shared their knowledge and wisdom with us; we have very much enjoyed it and learnt a lot on the process, which we bring into our work.

We would like to thank Tracey Prosser from Mother care who talked about the importance of wearing the right bra throughout the pregnancy as the rib cage and diaphragm widens and the intercostals muscles stretch. Breast changes are part of pregnancy and yet not often discussed, or acknowledged as integral to the transition to motherhood. Keeping comfortable is part and parcel of self esteem and wellbeing during pregnancy.

Mother care is expanding intoIndiaand Tracey has been inIndiabut she is back now and available to help with any bra matter.

If anyone has need of a childminder we would like to promote Davina Pickering, who has worked hard to achieve a warm and homely environment in the outskirts ofTaunton. She has spaces at the moment

Davina Pickering: 07970221259

Davina.pickering@virgin.net

Thanks to Wendy Teasdill, Pregnancy yoga teacher expert, who demonstrated how yoga helps in pregnancy with mobility, flexibility, core strength, pelvic girdle pain and that’s just for starters. It seems that many difficulties in pregnancy and birth would be fewer commonplaces if everyone included yoga into their daily routine.

www.teasdill.com

Finally   : Simon runs a clinic inTauntonon Saturdays from 10 till 2 for babies and children and for adults on Mondays, for more details contact him on: 07977441883   

Eleanor: works at Prometheus Psychological Therapy Centre on Mondays

For more details contact her on: 07929857608.

See you in September 8^th, when we will be joined by John Macaulay.

Have a lovely summer,

Eleanor and Simon Copp

We begin next term, our 3^rd year with John Macaulay, Consultant Obstetrician who will be talking about his role in understanding, recognising, advising and minimising risk on the labour ward .We meet with him and you on September 8th.

 Last week we heard from Beth Murray, Psychotherapist who described what her model “psycho synthesis” is and how she relates it to Mothers post birth. She works with Mothers who have a diagnosis of Post Natal Depression, and those who may not, but have high anxiety. She is able through a structured supportive framework to enable them to make the change from feeling low to feeling better and crucially in relationship ith their baby.

She is based inTaunton and Exeterand takes self referrals, and via the Somerset Counselling Service. Tel: 01823 271712 . A sliding scale payment structure exists .

Jenny Thomas, spoke about her work with Neuro linguistic programming and its speedy effects for fear based concerns and self limiting beliefs .She is based inTaunton

Tel: 01823 400175

Sarah Green owner of yummy mummy hair and beauty in the courtyard Taunton talked about the salon and what it offers Mothers : a crèche whilst you have a hair cut , a sound proofed upstairs for beauty treatments , so that Mothers can get feel human and look good when there is minimal time to self care

Tel : 01823 618186 .

Next Month, July 7^th

Wendy Teasdill, author and teacher of yoga in pregnancy will be talking, she has taught inNepal and Hong Kongand written many books, she is a voice of knowledge and trains other yoga teachers within the British wheel of yoga.

Mother care will also be present to talk about their bra fitting service, it is important to consider breast changes in pregnancy as well as post birth.    

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Eleanor and Simon Copp

01823350945   

£ 5 entry , refreshments included .

Two Therapists with be discussing how they support Women’s internal self esteem and view of themselves as Mother and strategies for being ok:

Beth Murray and Jenny Thomas trained and work with different Models for the Mothers they meet and support.

Sarah Green will be talking about her role with regards her shop called Yummy Mummy: looking after Mothers and their external appearance, how they look on the outside: skin, face, makeup, massage.

The approach, practicalness   and affordability will be different for every Mother but it all helps Mothers at a time of vulnerability and transition and change.

Look forward to seeing you,

Eleanor and Simon

01823350945