Frances Findlay BSc., RM,

I embrace the HypnoBirthing philosophy wholeheartedly. When I had my own babies in the eighties (long before I became a midwife) I read “Childbirth without Fear” and it all made so much sense. I went to classes and learned how to breathe and relax, had faith in my body and my babies, and these techniques saw me through my labours. HypnoBirthing takes this further, and as a midwife I have been privileged to have HypnoBirthing couples as clients and have been amazed at how calm and serene the births of their lovely babies were. Both my own experiences and those of my clients inspired me to do the HypnoBirthing Practitioner training and to join other practitioners throughout the world in enabling couples to achieve more relaxed and comfortable births. I am passionate about this!

My work as a registered midwife and pregnancy adviser with Danone Baby Nutrition sees me talking to pregnant women every day, supporting them and giving advice throughout their pregnancies and afterwards.    This is a new role for me as a midwife and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  

I previously practised as an independent midwife, first of all in Scotland after qualifying in 2001, and then when my husband and I came to live in Wiltshire in 2003. I practised all over the South West with my clients coming from Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bath, Bristol, Hampshire and Dorset.   I gave up my clinical practice at the end of 2010 in order to take on my new role.

I loved my years as an independent midwife  and my lovely families.   I found  working in this way deeply rewarding.  It was my privilege to support and enable couples to have choice regarding their care during pregnancy, and to have control over the way their babies are born. I felt honoured to accompany them and their families on their journeys and to be a part of such a special time in their lives. It is not everyone, however, who can afford the luxury of unhurried, one-to-one care throughout their childbearing experience, and sadly our NHS can rarely provide this now. My hope is that as a HypnoBirthing Practitioner, teaching a complete antenatal preparation course and bringing to the teaching my experience and knowledge as a midwife, I will be able to reach a wider audience and help more couples to feel well prepared for a calm and relaxed birth. What I especially love about HypnoBirthing is that it is for couples; fathers, should they want to be involved, have a vitally important role in bringing their babies into the world.

I have two grown-up daughters. Julia was born in Cyprus in 1983 and Claire was born in Egypt in 1984. I was not a midwife then, but that is when the fascination started and the seed was sown so to speak. I think I recognised subliminally at that time how important a rite of passage birth is... and what a profound impact it can have on every area of life.