I qualified as a Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist in 2011 which enables me to offer a package to help with birth trauma.
A non-invasive and gentle way of lifting traumatic postnatal feelings after a difficult birth or postnatal period.
The medical intervention and hospitalised end to my first pregnancy proved to be a rather traumatic experience where important birthing choices were taken out of my control. At the time, I was working as a sonographer whilst completing my Masters in medical ultrasound. Three days after the arrival of my beautiful baby boy, I returned home suffering from insomnia and anxiety. Hypnotherapy release work and guided tracks helped me process events and to go on to have a very empowering second birth and a much better postnatal period.
I remain passionate about offering the gifts I learned during that period for processing and releasing difficult experiences at such a pivotal moment and transitioning into the demands of parenthood. This has led to offering the 3 Step Rewind technique as a registered Traumatic Birth Recovery practitioner to the many hypnobirthing and doula couples I've been blessed to support over the years. The guide gently moves through your experiences so you can look ahead with confidence to a calmer, more centred future. What is birth trauma?
Birth trauma can arise from a single event, or a combination of events during pregnancy, birth or postnatally. Feeling out of control, unheard or fearful for your or your baby's welfare. Feeling you're not being treated kindly. These feelings can all contribute to making your experience feel traumatic to you, leading you to replay events in your head, and reinforcing the negative associations with that event.
Your birth might appear positive to someone else, but to you, it may feel very different. What matters most is your experience. It's completely normal to be badly affected by such issues. In many cases, it is possible to process what happened and move on without leaving a deeper impact. But sometimes this doesn't happen and feelings of anxiety, hyper-vigilance and other symptoms of trauma remain. Symptoms can include:
Now you're faced with a choice: you can try to simply forget what happened and move on, but what happens when those feelings erupt again or you're faced with similar circumstances? Or, you can try to sort through your thoughts and feelings, like pieces of a puzzle, with the help of a trained practitioner who has walked that very same path. As you begin to understand why you reacted the way you did, you can train your default reaction so you respond differently next time through a process of self-reflection. How does 3 Step Rewind work?
It's a proven, gentle way of lifting traumatic postnatal feelings after a difficult birth or postnatal period where you are experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTSD). Together:
Step 1: We'll gently uncover your story if you're able to tell it (or you can recall it yourself without retelling if it's uncomfortable for you), and visualise what your life without those overwhelming 'fight or flight' feelings would look like, gradually relieving and releasing those PTSD symptoms.
Step 2. We'll use deep relaxation and calming to remember and reframe the traumatic event positively, using the feelings of safety and security we've created to make a 'safe space' in which to revisit those feelings without fear.
Step 3. We'll imagine the future and how we'll be able to respond differently without those old negative associations.
Sessions take place in a calm, safe environment to promote your feeling of relaxation and wellbeing. I've found Zoom sessions perfect for this but if you're local to Reigate and the surrounding area I am very happy to come to your home so you are at your most comfortable.This 3-session treatment will help reduce your symptoms and profoundly change your life; helping to calm your mind and relax your body, enabling you to process the trauma and be present in the moment. Let me help you take the first step.
"Leila is such a thoughtful and intuitive healer who helped me process and heal some long- held and very unhelpful patterns in my family life. I had been carrying such heavy feelings of guilt and shame since my first pregnancy 13 years ago and yet it was continuing to influence how I felt about myself as a mother and how I responded to each of my children too. It feels amazing to be free of those feelings and to have created space in my mind for a new way of thinking and feeling about that time 13 years ago. None of this would have been possible without Leila's patience and skill as a therapist to guide me towards this new perspective. It has now been a few months since the initial treatment and I can look back and really notice the difference in how I feel and how I respond to my family. It's great. Thank you so much, Leila."
Mum of two London Testimony for online 3 step rewind
