Birth Trauma Resolution Therapy and FAQs

BTR therapy is specially designed to offer quick and effective relief from the hugely debilitating symptoms of fear of childbirth, birth trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relating to childbirth.  It is available to women, birth partners and health professionals who have experienced or witnessed a difficult birth or birth related trauma, such as miscarriage, termination of pregnancy or stillbirth.

My experience as a Health Visitor has led me to recognise that unfortunately women and their partners don’t always get the experience they want or expect during labour.  Sometimes this is ok and other times it can have a hugely negative impact on different aspects of life. The experience may lead to issues such as postnatal depression, anxiety, difficulties in bonding with their new baby, problems in a couple’s relationship and withdrawal from family and friends causing isolation.

BTR therapy is solution-focused and designed to provide fast and effective treatment for:

  • symptoms of a difficult or traumatic birth, including symptoms of PTSD
  • a birth related experience including stillbirth, miscarriage, termination of pregnancy
  • extreme fear of childbirth (tokophobia).

People often see positive result in as few as 1-4 sessions and each session is 90 minutes long. The therapy is flexible and will be adapted to each individual. Sessions may include the following:

  • Listening to your experience without judgement so you feel truly heard. Clients can share as much or as little of their experience as they want to. This in itself can be extremely therapeutic, however it can also be emotionally difficult so it is not necessary for the therapy to be effective to share more than you feel able to.
  • Teaching relaxation and breathing techniques to use to help you feel calmer, reduce anxiety or prevent panic attacks
  • Being guided into a deep state of relaxation with unique and personalised visualisations
  • Use of the ‘Rewind’ technique – which is a safe, fast and effective method of neutralising strong emotions attached to the difficult memory. By doing this, a memory which once caused panic, fear and anxiety, can be changed into a memory that no longer has these negative emotions attached.
  • Rebuilding confidence following trauma
  • Building confident about a future pregnancy or giving birth again

Treatment for anyone with a diagnosis of epilepsy or bipolar disorder would need to be done in discussion with the client’s GP. Treatment is contraindicated for those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis.

Women: Treatment is available to women suffering with tokophobia (extreme fear of childbirth), women who have experienced a termination of pregnancy, miscarriage or stillbirth, as well as those who have had a difficult or traumatic birth.

Fathers or Birth Partners: Fathers and birth partners can also experience trauma from witnessing birth. They may have experienced an intense fear of harm to the mother or baby, felt angry, helpless or excluded from decision making. They may feel traumatised for the same or different reasons as the mother.

Healthcare professionals: Such as midwives, obstetricians, support workers, theatre staff and students. Similar to fathers and birth partners, healthcare professionals can also experience trauma due to witnessing events at work. The trauma may come from being involved in a life threatening or emergency birth situation, feeling responsible in some way for an adverse outcome or being under investigation at work.

I offer a free 15-minute telephone consultation to discuss the therapy and to see if it is right for you.  Alternatively, you are welcome to get in touch via email and I will answer any queries you have.

Each session is 90 minutes long and costs £70.  Treatment is usually complete within 1-4 sessions.  I feel this treatment should be open to everyone so I offer discounted rates to those who are under difficult financial constraints.  Please contact me for more information.

Sessions are run at:
Unity Clinic
113 Lower Church Road
Burgess Hill
West Sussex
RH15 9AA

 
 

Please be advised that once an appointment has been made, I require 48 hours advance notice for any cancellations.  If the appointment is missed or cancelled within 48 hours the full price of the appointment will be charged. This is due to the costs I incur for the appointment such as room hire, however if the appointment can be filled a full refund will be given minus admin costs.   

 
 
LEARN MORE ABOUT BIRTH TRAUMA RESOLUTION THERAPY
"Every session felt like magic to me.  It wasn’t just birth trauma that had changed my life, it was the after care too…..Nicola was able to open doors in my self esteem and help close doors to the past.  I could not have done that on my own and Nicola was on the end of the phone for every question I had…..I’m well on my way to dealing with the next birth with much more positive thoughts.  Honestly, I couldn’t recommend her enough for anyone suffering. She’s amazing and I wish there were more services available like hers."
LT
Sussex