“Between 25 and 34 per cent of women report that their births were traumatic. A birth is said to be traumatic when the individual (mother, father, or other witness) believes the mother’s or her baby’s life was in danger, or that a serious threat to the mother’s or her baby’s physical or emotional integrity existed.”
This definition comes from PATTCh, an organisation for the Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth. I recommend this site for useful information and resources.
Following a traumatic birth, some mothers develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Lesser degrees of this condition is sometimes called Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS). The symptoms can include intrusive memories, anxiety and fear, startle responses, poor sleep, irritability, emotional numbing, and physical symptoms such as sweating, trouble breathing, nausea, or a pounding heart when triggered by reminders.
Mindful of how vulnerable and traumatised you might be, I am ready to offer kindness, compassion, understanding, and a gentle process of healing.
I offer a unique, comprehensive package of care for mothers with traumatic childbirth
I am a recently retired anesthesiologist with extensive experience in maternity care. I am very familiar with the kind of events that can be frightening, overwhelming and traumatic. Moreover, I have been an international healthcare leader promoting compassionate healthcare and supporting both injured patients and clinicians when things go wrong. I have been a leader in processes such as open disclosure and apology after medical error, helping all parties heal after traumatic events. The New Zealand Medical Association gave me their highest prize, the 2016 Chair’s Award, in recognition of this work.
Now I work full time as a trauma therapist, helping many mothers rapidly heal their trauma, using the latest advances in neuroscience and trauma.
In my childbirth trauma package I offer:
- Deep empathy, compassion and understanding
- Evidence-based, rapid treatment
- A medical assessment of your childbirth care (but telling your story of trauma is NOT necessary for treatment)
- A graded assessment of your trauma severity – using a validated score of PTSD symptoms
- A tailored program of treatment
- Measurement of your outcomes to confirm relief of your symptoms
- Email support
- Advice on the rights and wrongs of your birthing care. When the trauma is relieved, you will find it easy to share the details of what happened, without getting emotionally triggered.
I can guarantee your positive outcomes, based on the specific research I have been doing in the treatment of childbirth trauma. The one exception is those mothers that have complex or chronic trauma, existing before the events of childbirth. Even if the childbirth trauma is resolved, symptoms of PTSD may persist unless you have longer-term therapy.
My research predicts your outcome, depending on the complexity and severity of your trauma:
- If you are otherwise healthy and resilient, and had a single childbirth trauma, your symptoms are likely to be dramatically improved or cured in one session of therapy.
- If you had serious pregnancy complications in hospital, or a baby that required neonatal intensive care, in addition to the trauma of the birth, you are likely to require one additional follow-up session of therapy to clear the trauma of these other events.
- If you have two separate birth traumas from two different pregnancies, or a stillbirth in addition to the traumatic live birth, you are likely to require one additional follow-up session of therapy to clear all the traumas.
- If you have severe childbirth trauma, in the context of pre-existing PTSD, then we can can substantially reduce the burden of symptoms with each session (for instance, a halving of your symptom score after two sessions). The treatment of all your trauma is likely to involve many sessions of therapy and I have seen many cases of complex PTSD cured over time.
While most clients will only need one session, the package price includes a free follow-up session if required.
I will use your self-assessed symptom score, plus the detail of your trauma, to design an individual package of care. I will advise you how many sessions are usually required in a case like yours.
Of the mothers I have treated (excluding those with pre-existing PTSD), 75% have been healed of their trauma after one session, 25% have needed two sessions.
I am using a breakthrough therapy, called Havening Techniques®, which can quickly and easily erase the traumatic memory that is causing your symptoms. This therapy is based on the latest neuroscience. The developer of Havening, Ronald Ruden MD, has discovered a mechanism in the brain that can rapidly delete the nerve connections that store emotional trauma. The result is astonishing. After the brief therapy, you will be able to recall the objective facts of your childbirth but the trauma will be gone: no fear, no stress response, no body symptoms.
If you wish to see a report of the research I have conducted in the treatment of childbirth trauma, please see this article, which is written for the lay person.