Partners Become Parents
What happens after the baby is born? How can couples manage the transition to parenthood in positive ways? When partners become parents, they benefit by understanding the common issues that affect the couple relationship, and when prepared in advance for how they can manage change as a team, they are able to provide a firm foundation for the family to thrive. New parenthood is a profound life change, especially when the first baby is born, and research indicates a vulnerability to relationship breakdown around this pivotal moment – a more common occurrence than most people realise. Having strategies for managing the various stresses that are part of newborn parenting can free up energy to parent positively in supportive and nourishing ways. This workshop is geared for pregnant couples and new parents. Babies are welcome.
Aims/Objectives
- to share the perspectives of professionals on ways to positively enrich the experience of parenthood
- to articulate the common experiences and normal challenges for new parents
- to provide tools for managing stress in the postnatal period and beyond
- to signpost to support services
- to inform delegates of the importance of pre-parenthood preparation
- to explore ways to strengthen the partner relationship in the transition to parenthood
How is this workshop different from others?
- This is the first workshop of its kind to address the value of preparing for parenthood before the baby arrives.
- It offers holistic strategies to reduce the stress that is common during the transition to parenthood.
- It focuses on the couple relationship in ways that strengthens the connection.
Scroll down to see the speakers lined up for this event! To register, click on the orange Eventbrite button below.
Speakers
Diane Speier — 1) Your Baby’s Born: Now What? 
2) Why didn’t someone tell us it would be like this?
Diane S Speier, PhD, has a BA (Psychology) and an MA (Applied Psychology, specialising in The Psychology of Parenthood), and her clinical trainings are in hypnotherapy and Integral Regression (1997). Her PhD in Women’s Studies used her case notes as a birth professional to explore women’s experience of birth. She practices psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, specializing in perinatal psychology, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and recovering from birth trauma. Diane is an international speaker at conferences on a variety of subjects including parenting, perinatal mental health, the postpartum experience, and birth.
Before immigrating to the UK, Diane was the founder/director of The Family Tree Centre for Parents in New York. Diane became a certified childbirth educator and started attending births as a doula in 1978, and taught classes to pregnant and postnatal women for 20 years. Diane is writing a book called The Handbook for the Postnatal Period, and the book has an app attached to it called Digital Doula®, launched in November 2013, and available at the Apple store. www.dianespeier.com
Raja Gangopadhyay — 1) What your Antenatal Classes don’t tell you! 2) Self-care is not being selfish
Raja Gangopadhyay, MBBS MRCOG, DFFP Cert Med Ed, works as a Consultant Obstetrician with a special interest in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) at the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. He is very passionate about providing comprehensive obstetric care (along with his multidisciplinary team) for women (during pregnancy, childbirth and the immediate postpartum period) with all kinds of perinatal mental illnesses, previous traumatic birth experiences, bereavement and complex social issues.
He is also very passionate about training in PMH and has arranged many training sessions for healthcare professionals. Outside clinical care, he is extensively involved in raising awareness on PMH and highlighting the role of the Maternity Services in PMH.
Mark Williams — What about Dad? A Family Approach
Mark Williams is an International Fathers Mental Health campaigner, speaker and founder of International Fathers Mental Health Day. He has appeared on Television and Radio stations talking about the importance of including dads in maternity care, birth trauma and perinatal mental health. Mark suffered depression and had a panic attack in the labour room in 2004 and has since trained in Mental Health. He is also an author and been involved in over 100 publications around Fathers Mental Health. www.reachingoutpmh.co.uk
Melita Walker — The Role of Your Health Visitor: Supporting every parent so that every baby is happy, healthy, safe and valued
Melita Walker, FiHV, BSc (Hons) HV, RMN, PGcert, is an experienced health visitor and practice teacher. Prior to coming into health visiting, Melita has worked in a variety of roles in mental health and public health, across primary, secondary and third sector boundaries. Alongside these roles she was involved in various research projects, practice development, quality assurance and development of pathways of care. Melita is a Pioneer Fellow of the Institute of Health Visiting and currently national lead for perinatal mental health (PMH) with the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV). As iHV lead for PMH, Melita sits on a number of national committees. Melita is also the iHV Professional Development Officer for the North of England. Melita’s experience working with people with mental illness and the links with early life experience, health inequalities and the intergenerational transmission of poor mental health, inspires a passion for championing the importance of perinatal and infant mental health.
Katie Sheen — Mindfulness for Resilience and Insight during Parenthood 
Founder of Soul Nutrition – Katie Sheen has been practicing mindfulness in her own life for over 16 years and studies in the tradition of Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She holds a PGCE, a Masters degree in Education, and is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy.
Katie ran the Postnatal Support Service for NCT Trafford Branch when her sons were young, having experienced a difficult pregnancy and birth with her second child. She has a special interest in helping people to transform anxiety and physical or emotional trauma into happiness through the practice of mindful living. www.soulnutrition.org
Jenni Jones — Breathe – Move – Let go: A Birthlight Yoga Workshop for birth, postnatal healing, and baby delight
Jenni Jones is a Birthlight teacher in Liverpool. She has taught yoga since 2000 and specialised in pregnancy yoga when pregnant with her son Jacob in 2004. His birth inspired her work in Liverpool with Mums to be and she went on to train as a doula, working as a doula for 12 years. Over the last 10 years she has trained with Birthlight as a teacher in fertility, perinatal, baby yoga, postnatal, and is currently training to be a Birthlight Well Woman teacher trainer. She teaches classes in Liverpool Women’s Hospital and is passionate about helping women to prepare for the birth that is right for them. http://yogabumpsandbabies.co.uk/
Kicki Hansard — Beyond Birth – what can a doula do for you? 
Kicki Hansard, BSc, is a certified birth and postnatal doula with experience in all aspects of pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting. She is also a doula course facilitator and has trained over 600 aspiring doulas. In 2015, Kicki published her first book, The Secrets of Birth; what every woman should know about birth and motherhood and she is a chapter contributor to the book The Roar Behind the Silence.
Kicki has studied with the “grandmothers of doulas”, Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus, as well as Dr Michel Odent, Ina May Gaskin, Sheila Kitzinger and Dr Jack Newman. Kicki holds the City & Guild Award in Adult Teaching (PTTLS 7303). www.birthbliss.co.uk www.birthblissdoulacourses.co.uk
For further information and/or questions, please email: diane@dianespeier.com
We look forward to welcoming you to this workshop.
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