Certification Training in the Peterson Method of Prenatal Counseling and Birth Hypnosis
For counselors, therapists, childbirth educators, doulas and other childbirth professionals
Pregnancy and childbirth presents women with an opportunity for profound insight and self-understanding. Gayle Peterson is a pioneer in the field of Perinatal Psychology and has worked with pregnant woman since 1973, to plumb the depth of this transformative period in a woman's life. Dr. Peterson's brief term Perinatal Counseling Model addresses the specific anxieties a woman experiences at the threshold to motherhood. Psychological counseling using this method enables a therapist to effectively transfer the powerful experience of pregnancy and childbirth to her client's core sense of self. The training will also cover advanced applications of hypnosis to premature labor, post-traumatic stress in childbirth, breech positioning, healing traumatic birth and vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).
Participants will learn to identify birth related issues in a woman's personal history and apply principles of hypnosis and counseling to improve both psychological and medical birth outcomes. Primary focus will be on the woman's needs and development in relationship to her developing identity as woman and mother. Family history, past childbirth, present family support, the woman's own birth experience and realistic preparation for giving birth will be covered. Supporting a woman's development through the psychological and physical transition to motherhood will be the goal of this orientation.
