Becoming a parent can be exciting and scary. My aim is to help you think about your baby, the birth, your new expanding family, and to talk about it with your partner and others who are on the same journey. To experience the changes as they happen, whilst staying calm in the face of this mega life event, is the challenge we address in classes.

Monika has practiced as a psychotherapist and a movement therapist for 25 years. She is accredited with the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists and the Association of Dance Movement Psychotherapists UK. She has worked in psychiatric institutions in Austria, Israel and the UK, at the Shelter for Women suffering from Domestic Violence in Haifa and taught movement therapy at the University of Hertfordshire and the University of Sussex. She trained as antenatal Yoga teacher with the British Wheel of Yoga and with the National Childbirth Trust as antenatal teacher 10 years ago, and she completed the Peter Walker baby massage instructor training.

Monika has a private psychotherapy practice in Buckinghamshire and specialises in pregnancy, birth consultations and working with new parents and babies in parent - infant psychotherapy. She also works with the Oxford Parent Infant Project, which aims to support new parents to help strengthen their attachment with their babies. She supervises and trains health professionals on subjects such as postnatal depression, attachment, parent and baby groups and therapeutic touch.

Monika's birth preparation course takes place on Fridays and on weekends. It consists of four 4 hour units:

		Unit one is for couples and focuses on active birth and on medical interventions.
		Unit two is for mothers, when we observe mums' bodies, how to be comfortable now and during labour. Yoga positions, breathing, relaxation and meditation are an important aspect of this day.
		Unit three is for couples, and dedicated to the transition to becoming parents, with special emphasis on baby's capacities to interact with her/his parents.
		The fourth unit is made up of two shorter sessions after the birth of the babies, when we hear the birth stories and learn some baby massage.

When not working, Monika is most likely to be…

negotiating her life with her two teenage children, her partner, one dog and one cat in Chalfont St Peter. She likes Yoga, meditation, dancing, walking and reading.

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