Navigating fertility can be a challenging and isolating process. You may be filled with worry about what your journey to parenthood may look like, or whether you will become a parent at all. Long held dreams of pregnancy and parenthood can feel far away, and often there is a lack of understanding in others of the processes involved in fertility support.

As part of your journey, here at Nurture Parenthood we have specialist training in providing psychological therapy for infertility and for navigating fertility difficulties. We can provide a supportive space to explore the feelings that these experiences may bring.

Making the decision to become a parent is a huge step in your life. As well as feeling excited, you may have some natural worries. These can include concerns about conceiving a baby, worries about the pregnancy and birth, and fears about what you may be like as a parent.
You may have had previous experiences of pregnancy that are influencing your feelings around your current journey, such as pregnancy after loss, pregnancy after birth trauma, navigating infertility, previous mental health difficulties, or navigating conception through surrogacy or donor.

As part of your pregnancy journey we can offer psychological therapy for pregnancy planning to help you to make sense of your worries and learn strategies for managing your anxiety. In addition I am a qualified Hypnobirthing Teacher and offer psychologically informed Hypnobirthing courses.

A fear of childbirth is known as tokophobia. During your pregnancy you may experience fears and worries related to your birth experience. For some individuals, this fear can be so strong that it prevents them from having children, or leaves them feeling unable to plan or enjoy the pregnancy or birth that they would like. These fears are often related to pain, losing control, or something bad happening. Primary Tokophobia occurs in women who have not given birth before, perhaps related to previous medical trauma, previous traumatic events or a lack of support during pregnancy. Secondary Tokophobia occurs in women who have previously given birth, often as a result of previous birth trauma.

You may also come across unexpected challenges during your pregnancy, such as medical or genetic complications, fears relating to pregnancy loss, ‘high risk’ pregnancies, distressing pain, difficulties with bodily changes, gender disappointment or struggles bonding with your unborn baby.

As part of your pregnancy journey we can offer you psychological therapy for tokophobia to help you to make sense of these fears and challenges. Therapy can help you to learn strategies to cope with the anxiety, allowing your feelings to become less distressing.

We recognise that the journey to parenthood can be overwhelming, and sadly for many parents the experience of childbirth may be traumatic. Birth trauma can be experienced by any birthing person, mum, dad, birth partner or others involved. Birth trauma can result from
many situations including extended labour, blood loss, medical intervention, emergency surgery, witnessing a baby in distress, post birth complications or feeling out of control, unheard or not informed. However, birth trauma can also result from a birth that may not be medically
seen as outside of the norm, depending on how the individual was made to feel at the time.
Birth trauma can be an isolating experience when the birth resulted in a ‘healthy baby’ with many individuals left feeling invalidated in their trauma. Birth trauma can impact on a wide range of areas including bond with baby, bond with partner, wider relationships, fears about baby’s wellbeing, impacting overall emotional well-being, sleep, anxiety, low mood and many more.

Nurture Parenthood was born through a compassionate understanding of birth trauma, and the impact that an individuals experiences within the wider maternity system can have. We can offer psychological therapy for birth trauma, to help you to make sense of your experiences and learn strategies for managing your symptoms. We draw on trauma focused therapeutic approaches including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness Approaches. We can offer this support to any individual affected by a birth including the birthing person, mums, dads, partners, carers and wider family and networks.

The loss of a baby is both traumatic and heartbreaking. You may have experienced a miscarriage, a missed miscarriage or a termination of pregnancy for medical reasons. Perhaps you have experienced a stillbirth or the loss of your infant child. Whatever your experience,
it is devastating. The grief and trauma can feel very intense, and you may be experiencing a wide range of emotions. You may be struggling to make sense of your loss, or feel as though you are constantly faced with reminders of the baby and the hopes and dreams that you
had for them. You may be struggling with thoughts around navigating a pregnancy after loss, or parenting your older children after the loss of a baby.

Whatever your experience, we can offer psychological therapy for loss, to help you to process your loss and manage the trauma and grief that you may be left with. We draw on specialist trauma focused therapeutic approaches including EMDR, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TFCBT), Compassion Focused Therapy and Mindfulness Approaches.

The journey to parenthood can be exciting, challenging and overwhelming. A new baby can bring a range of emotions, as well as a significant change to life as we know it.
The experiences that we have had in the journey to the birth of our child can impact on the way we perceive ourselves, others and the world around us. It can impact on our bond with our baby, and our relationships with partners, other children, wider family and friends. The transition can bring up issues relating to our own experiences of being parented, and navigating our own role as parent. You may be struggling with routines, feeding, sleep and societal expectations.
As baby grows you may worry about developmental milestones, and transitions such as returning to work.

For some individuals the transition to parenthood may be so overwhelming that it can trigger postnatal mental health difficulties, including anxiety and depression.

If you are experiencing any of the above concerns, we can offer therapeutic support to help you to make sense of your experience and navigate your adjustment to parenthood. We draw on therapeutic approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness Based Approaches and Attachment/Systemic Based Approaches.

Your initial assessment will last approximately one hour. Prior to the assessment we will send you our consent and terms and conditions form, and request basic demographic information from you. We will also send you the Zoom link to your session if it is online.

During the assessment itself, we will talk to you about your current situation and past experiences. This may cover things such as your childhood and experiences of being parented, as well as your own journey to parenthood. We may complete some questionnaires to help us to make sense of your current symptoms, and will work together to develop a collaborative treatment plan. This may include specific therapy such as Trauma-Focused CBT, EMDR, Compassionate Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness or Attachment Based Approaches.

Clinical Psychology Assessment and Therapy sessions cost £110 per session. This includes the session time and all related administrative duties. Couples sessions are available at a rate of £130.

Discounted therapy sessions are available to individuals on maternity/paternity/adoption leave at a rate of £90 per session. Couples sessions for those in this situation are £110.

Sessions typically last 50 minutes, although we may agree a different session length depending on your individual needs. Assessment sessions may last slightly longer.

The number of sessions can be guided by you. With regards to therapy sessions, during your assessment session we may suggest an approximate number of sessions for treatment depending on your symptoms. This recommendation will be based on National Guidelines for the treatment of difficulties such a PTSD, anxiety disorders and low mood. On average we tend to meet with our clients for approximately 8-16 therapy sessions, however we are happy to review this regularly with you and finish treatment when you are feeling ready.