I have practised as a professional counsellor, coach and trainer for 18 years, working within the NHS and Adult Education, and maintaining a successful private counselling practice.

In 2009 I was fortunate to be offered the opportunity to establish and run a counselling service within the Rosie Maternity Hospital at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge. The project was an undeniable success: in a two-year period, nearly 3% of patients using the Rosie Maternity Service also attended the counselling service.

In April 2011, the counselling service was closed and my role ended due to the withdrawal of funding through the NHS.
I strongly felt that this valuable service should not be lost but I wrestled with the dilemma of how to provide this support for the women and couples who were unable to fund private counselling. The idea of setting up a charity for this purpose occurred to me.

Some weeks later, after much research and many discussions with others committed to this idea, Petals was formed and registered as a charitable company.

My personal ambition is to ensure that every woman or couple who suffer loss or trauma in pregnancy,  during birth or after birth, has access to Petals Specialist Counselling.   Along with a very supportive Petals Team, I am very determined to achieve this.

After losing children with their partners, Matt Dearsley and Liam Preston both shared another experience, the lack of tailored support for dads after their babies die. Over a casual conversation after football training the pair decided to do something about it. 

Launched during lockdown and from their respective homes, the Dad Still Standing podcast was created to provide the support that is missing for the thousands of fathers who become bereaved each year. Brutal, honest, light-hearted and at times funny, the podcast has gone from two bedrooms in Essex, to a global resource shared by dads on every continent. 

James became involved in patent safety following the loss of his baby son Joshua due to failures in his care at the Morecambe Bay Trust in 2008. 

Formerly a project manager in the nuclear industry, James has since worked as the National Advisor on Patient Safety for the Care Quality Commission and was a member of the advisory group established to set up the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB). More recently, James served as a specialist advisor to the Independent Investigation into East Kent Maternity Services, which published its report in October 2022.

James’s current roles include Policy and Patient Safety consultant for the charity Baby Lifeline, Investigation Science Educator with HSIB, as well working as a freelance patient safety consultant.

James is a Trustee for the charity Patient Safety Watch and has recently worked with Joanne Hughes to help set up the Harmed Patients Alliance, an organisation that aims to promote restorative practice after healthcare harm.

James was awarded an OBE for service to Patient Safety in 2015 and in 2018, completed a PGCert in Patient Safety at Imperial College, London. James’s book, Joshua’s Story was published in 2015.

My background is in nursing and midwifery, working in the NHS, for nearly 40years mostly as a midwife. The last 15 years I specialised in bereavement midwifery prior to retiring in February 2017.

I completed a counselling diploma at Oxford Brookes University in 2004, which supported my role as a specialist bereavement midwife.

Since retiring form midwifery, I have been working as a baby loss counsellor for Petals.

I care passionately about the experience women and their families have surrounding pregnancy and childbirth and the postnatal period.

I am experienced in supporting families through complex and traumatic grief, recognising the impact this so often has on the couple relationship and family dynamics.

My aim both as a midwife and counsellor has always been to ensure a genuine warm , trusting relationship.

I remain interested in bereavement midwifery, the emotional wellbeing of parents going through pregnancy and baby loss, in all circumstances, and the challenges that maternity staff face in providing this type of care.