Birth Story Listening is a powerful tool for emotional recovery and self-discovery after childbirth (or through whichever means your personal initiation into motherhood unfolded). The process I will guide you through in our session is called the Birth Story Medicine Process. It was created by renowned childbirth educator, author, former nurse-midwife and counselling psychologist, Pam England. Even years out from a birth experience, women can find a supportive container within this process to reflect on their experiences and find healing and meaning in their birth stories.

Midwives can also deeply benefit from this process -- it is a safe and supportive place where space is given for their unique, personal perspectives and experiences after witnessing a challenging or traumatic birth. This process allows Midwives to work with their own personal, emotional journey separate from the more commonly shared medical story, and in so doing, find space to digest what may be lingering for them.

As a Mother myself who has navigated the ins and outs of struggle in Motherhood, and now as a Birth Story Listener/Mentor trained in Pam England's Birth Story Medicine Process, my eyes, ears and heart have been opened to the possibility that, in the daily quest to find even a sliver of inner spaciousness in the chaos and overwhelm of Motherhood, we are unknowingly holding onto a crucial key to a new layer of meaning and understanding within our stories and our Selves.

Our birth, pregnancy, conception, loss, abortion or postpartum stories -- the traumatic or unresolved stories, the stories that on paper, seemed fine but yet still continue to chew at us, the stories that we've told the same way to friends, family members or medical professionals, and even the stories we've withheld from telling -- carry more weight and hold more power over our present experience than we may realize. (That's probably why you're here reading this!) In Birth Story Listening, you will have the opportunity to be deeply heard and seen in your storylines of Birth, Postpartum, and Motherhood, to unlock new doors of understanding within yourself and to bring new meaning to your experiences as a way of digesting what you've been through. You'll also have the opportunity to identify helpful solutions to better carry the load of Motherhood (and indeed, Human-hood) with a much lighter touch.

Absolutely! Even the most "smooth-sailing" births have treasure to unearth. If you have at least one moment in your birth/postpartum experience that you come back to in your mind for some reason, or you frequently wonder "what was that all about?"-- then a birth story listening session would be a great place to explore this. Quite frequently, we've become so accustomed to defaulting to "everything worked out ok in the end" that we are missing some crucial pieces that come before that hold incredible potential for integration and/or transformation to take place.

I really believe in Postpartum mothers at any stage being able to access support and be able to have their stories heard in a safe, compassionate container. You are welcome to book your session on the back end of your 4th trimester (6+ weeks postpartum), though it can be helpful to get a bit of extra distance from your birth experience before you explore it in a Birth Story Listening session. As far as I've witnessed, any lingering emotional attachment to an experience within your birth journey is actually a sign of a beautiful opportunity to explore what might be ready to shift within you.

If you're a Midwife, I'm here to process your experience with you as soon as you feel ready to do so.

Sessions are typically 1 hour in length and are $100 CAD per session.

Yes! All sessions are online.

I wish it were! If you have access to health spending funds through your work benefits, it might be worth exploring if your sessions would qualify as this is absolutely a great investment towards your personal well-being.

Absolutely. A session to process the loss you've gone through, whether you have hopes of moving forward into a future pregnancy or not, would be very beneficial. I'm here for you. <3

100%YES!

Here's what another open-minded Dad found:

"One doesn’t often think of a dad as part of any birth story aside from chief water-getter and hand-holder. I know I didn’t. I had no idea that there was even any story in it for me. But there was. And it wasn’t just a story, but a lens through which I suddenly learned new truths about what it means to be me. I learned what my subconscious was doing while I watched my spouse do the miraculous—create life. My session with Allison did something incredible and gave me clarity and language for things too deep to recognize on my own. All while I got to remember and relive the extraordinary thing it was to go from dude to dad. I can’t recommend working with her enough. There’s something important there for you, no matter who you are."

~ M, Author, Communications Consultant, Father of 2.

Mom to mom, I completely understand how hard it is to get time to yourself -- especially when your kiddos are very young. It is preferable, however, to have your kids' care covered while we are in our session so that you can really be present and focused on what is unfolding for you.