Meet Mumpreneur Sarah Collison

Meet Sarah Collison,

Mumpreneur and Founder of Happy Births

Many mums who have experienced a difficult birth with their first baby are left feeling disappointed or even traumatised by the experience, meaning that subsequent pregnancies are tainted with fear that the coming birth will be equally frightening.

One way to take control and lessen this fear is through learning hypnobirthing techniques before the birth, including understanding what may have contributed to the previous experience in a negative way, gaining knowledge and ensuring support to plan for this birth. Sarah Collison is the founder of Happy Births, which provides hypnobirthing classes online or in the Reading area. She talks to us about herself and her approach to having a happy birth. Please could you tell us a little about yourself and your family. Hi, I'm Sarah! Mum of one little superstar, Noah - in my head he's still a toddler but somehow he is now at school! We live in Reading, and because Noah is so obsessed with it, our life mainly revolves around Lego! We have a lockdown-born kitten, called Green Bean.

What does your business do, and what inspired you to start this business? As a positive birth coach and hypnobirthing instructor, I support parents-to-be in preparing their baby’s birth to be an awesome, positive, calm and empowering experience. I also help mums (and dads) heal from their traumatic birth experiences with a very gentle, safe and effective therapy called Traumatic Birth Recovery (3 Step Rewind). After going through a huge transformation in mindset when I was pregnant thanks to a hypnobirthing course, I couldn't NOT train to share these important skills. What do you particularly love about your work? Joining a family on their journey and knowing the tools and techniques they’ve learnt help make their baby’s arrival calm and positive (their testimonials and birth stories speak for themselves). Over our lifetime a store of messages builds up in our subconscious that ‘birth can be painful/dangerous/is to be avoided’ – my job is to help undo that unhelpful learning and replace it with knowledge of the normal physiology of birth and the positive belief that it can (with the right tools and techniques) be a really great experience!

I love receiving news of baby’s arrival, and hearing how women and their birth partners took full control of achieving the positive birth they wanted. This is less around ‘what happens’ during birth, and more about how they felt – in control, educated, confident, and relaxed.

Dads falling asleep during my relaxations is another highlight. I take it as a compliment that (sometimes a little sceptical at first) men enjoy the relaxation parts of the class so much!

Has anything changed since you set up your business? Yes! Like many of us, the pandemic has brought huge changes in how I work. The positives have been reaching people in need in far-flung destinations - there are some Happy Births hypno-babies in Australia thanks to the magic of Zoom!

I've also become completely addicted to training and learning more about all aspects of birth and beyond, including labour biomechanics, matresence (the transition to motherhood), and breastfeeding.

If you would like to appear in Families Thames Valley West magazine as a local mumpreneur, please get in touch: editor@familiestvw.co.uk. Do you have any tips for people wishing to start their own business? Just start! "Done is better than perfect" is a good motto to live by. We are super fortunate locally that there are supportive networks of people at all stages of running their own business, so it's easier than you think to find friendly help in the areas you're not yet sure about. What do you like to do in your free time? Building in time to rest and to exercise is key for me. Running and pilates are my favourite ways to move for releasing stress and anxieties! I’m not one for traditional, at-home pampering, but I’d never say no to a professional massage or reflexology treatment – heaven!

To find out more about Happy Births: Web: www.HappyBirths.net Instagram: @HappyBirths

An Independent Prep School for Boys & Girls aged 3-13

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