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3 Step Rewind

Postnatal well-being

“All that matters is a healthy baby? This short-sighted attitude not only ignores the importance of the mother's health and wellbeing, it denies the impact this has on the health of the baby... The same baby which is supposedly the top priority.”

Amy Meister-Stetson

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Perinatal emotional and mental health refers to the health of parents during pregnancy and the first year after childbirth. It can be a time of immense joy, but can also bring significant emotional and psychological challenges.

Challenges are more common than you might think. It’s estimated that up to 1 in 5 experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or in the first year after giving birth, and 1 in 3 experience trauma in childbirth.

My Well-being services acknowledges this, and I am part of a quiet revolution in perinatal mental health after investing in specialist training with Traumatic Birth Recovery, College of Perinatal Emotional Health. I offer:

 

  • 3 Step Rewind program for troublesome trauma symptoms after a difficult or traumatic birth.

  • Support for parents struggling to navigate grief and loss

  • Solution focused sessions to understanding perinatal anxiety and build emotional resilience.

My style is solution focused and active! 

This means there are tools for you to practice in your own time to enhance your wellbeing. With these therapeutic skills and techniques, I aim to appropriately and effectively support you if you have experienced birth trauma and/or baby loss or miscarriage or are struggling with mild to moderate anxiety, with a service that acknowledges and prioritises your needs safely and gently.

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You can be grateful for your baby at the same time as being upset about your baby's birth

Birth Talk

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The symptoms experienced by someone who has gone through a traumatic event can be distressing day to day.

 

Constant replaying, or avoiding the memory, nightmares, panic attacks, hyper vigilance, sadness, anxiety and anger can all wear away at a person’s confidence and resilience after a while.

And it is natural to wonder when will these heavy feelings will leave? 
 

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That's where 3 Step Rewind can help. 

The fight or flight response is one of our most primitive survival systems and is designed for to allow us to act in the face of life threatening danger.

 

The highly aroused emotions of fear and helplessness present during the trauma become inextricably, biologically linked to the memory of the event.

 

From a neurological point of view these symptoms can be compared to a faulty burglar alarm that is triggered and goes off for no reason. A person suffering from PTSD symptoms is triggering their fight or flight response unnecessarily when there is no present danger, constantly reliving what happened and igniting the feelings all over again each time.

 

The rational, thinking part of our brain (pre frontal cortex) can be thought of as the policeman in this scenario. He tries to reassure the owner (the traumatised person) that nothing is wrong but he can’t be heard over the alarm.  

 

This is why sometimes well intentioned advice to ‘move on’ or ‘get over’ what happened is pointless because the connection has been made and so it is extremely difficult to rationalise or to wilfully stop the thoughts or feelings.
 

“Helped me heal”

Taylor

"Anna helped me heal from a traumatic birth experience. I went from feeling full of regret, worry, disappointment, stress and anxiety to a huge amount relief, calmness, acceptance and comfort with my birth experience. Anna is easy to open up to, very understanding and empathetic. highly recommend her services if you had a birth experience that was traumatic for you."

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Private 3 Step Rewind service
$315 per person

Session 1 (approximately 90 minutes)

I will talk through the 3 Step rewind process to ensure you fully understand it works and know what to expect (we will have already talked it through in an initial chat on inquiring).

 

Session 1 is a chance to safely and professionally have your story heard (should you want to tell it). I will then ask you some questions to understand how the memory of your birth is still impacting on your day-to-day life now and how you would like to feel if these feelings/ways of responding were lifted. I will also take you through a short, guided relaxation practice. A link to an audio recording of the relaxation will be provided so you can practice it in the lead up to Session 2.

Session 2 (approximately 60 minutes)

In this session I will gently guide and support you into a deep relaxation and help you remember your birth in a specific way (which I will have explained in stage 1), whilst you are feeling safe and secure. We will use Rewind to re-process the memory of your birth so it no longer holds any emotional charge or anxiety.

 

You remain in control at all times.

Session 3 is an opportunity to follow up, and talk about the changes have taken place.

We can also talk about and imagine coping in the future and how you might respond to triggers differently.

“You will be forever changed”

Kimberley

"I spent 3 years hoping the trauma from my birth would just ‘go away’ or ‘disappear’ but then when the opportunity to try the 3 Step Rewind Technique with Anna Driver came up I took it- even though I was a bit skeptical at first. Anna was so kind and gentle I was soon put at ease and felt completely comfortable sharing my story without judgement even though I didn’t have to share if I didn’t want to. The 3 Step Technique itself is remarkably simple- so much so that I didn’t know if it would work. While working with Anna I came to realise that my birth trauma had touched so many different aspects of my current life and thinking that I didn’t even realise. Within a fortnight after completing the technique I was completely in awe of how different my mindset was- I was no longer controlled by thoughts of fear, pain and failure. I could look at my birth experience without drawing forward all the pain that had plagued me for so long. I can now look forward to the birth of my second child with optimism and enjoy the experience of pregnancy without a shadow hanging over me. I know now that I can walk forward without fear and can instead continue to grow. Thankyou so much, Anna, for the work you do. I never knew something like this existed and want to recommend it to everyone, no matter how small or big your trauma may feel. If it is affecting you in any way, just do it! You will be forever changed."

I am thrilled to be the first person in New Zealand to offer the 3 Step Rewind to kiwi families, and to be expanding my Wellbeing offerings to include anxiety, and loss.

Here you can read a little bit about the difference 3 Step Rewind made to real kiwi families.
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Frequently asked questions
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