Health Visitors - About us
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faces behind www.healthvisitors.com |
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Catharine Parker-Littler, midwife and founder of www.midwivesonline.com
With over 20 years experience of working with the UK NHS, Catharine Parker-Littler also has extensive research and training experience in the areas of pregnancy and birth. Her career has also included time spent as a practising midwife in Africa. Catharine initially developed midwivesonline as a midwifery-led, one-stop information portal for midwives and related healthcare professionals to access the latest scientific evidence, job vacancies, courses & conferences, info for 'wannabe midwives' and the latest product innovations, all to support career development. However, concerned at the lack of midwifery-led, quality information for parents on the Internet Catharine used her professional experience to develop the 'For Parents' section of midwivesonline.com inviting parents to access information relevant to their experience during pregnancy, birth and the post-natal period. |
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Teresa Fleming, administrator
Behind the scenes, Teresa, our administrator extraordinaire ensures the smooth running of operations at HQ in Bradford. Her work includes regular contact with advertisers, midwives and parents using the site, as well as keeping our paperwork and accounts up to date. She also oversees projects such as Baby Shows and conferences which the team attend to promote the websites and meet parents. |
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Georgina Crossley Stretch, web development worker
Following the completion of a HND in Spacial Design Georgina moved to the South of France where she lived for six years. During her time in France she developed clientele in Graphic and Web Design, providing services for local Restaurants, Hotels, Mobile Home companies and Bars.
After meeting her husband in France, they moved to Bradford. She is currently finishing a diploma in Web Design and started building healthvisitors.com in May 2005. |
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Syed Zeeshan Ali, Applications Developer
Syed completed his B.E. in Computer Systems from NED University in Pakistan and worked at NED University as IT Manager for around two and half years. He than moved to the UK and has just completed an MSc in Mobile Computing at Leeds Metropolitan University. He has been involved in different types of projects ranging from computer networks to software development. |
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Angela Davy, health visitor and new mum
A qualified Nurse and Midwife before she became a Health Visitor. Angela also teaches Massage, Yoga and Swimming for babies
whilst undertaking an MA in Infant Mental Health. |
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Shirley Sowray, health visitor
Shirley lives on a farm in North Yorkshire with her husband Rob and even though she is a 'towny' at heart, she really loves the rural life. She has been nursing for many years, working mostly with children and their families and qualified as a Midwife in 2001 at the University of York. Because of her interest in healthy living and promoting health, she carried out her University Specialist Degree with 'First Class' Honors at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2002.
Shirley works 4 days a week in a community clinic and utilising her endless energy stores, she provides a wide range of health visiting services to families and the community. Shirley also holds a great interest in teaching and has recently taken on the role of Community Practice Teacher, facilitating and guiding Student Community Specialist Practitioners of the future. Shirley feels honored and proud to join the team and is excited about helping to support other practitioners and their clients. |
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Gill Martin, pre-school educator
Gill trained to be a teacher in London and spent the first 4 years teaching in an upper school in Lancashire. For the past 6 years she has been the Foundation Stage Coordinator managing teachers, nursery nurses and children aged 3 to 5 years in an inner city school in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Gill have been married to Phil for over 30 years and they have two married children. When her children were born Gill happily became a stay at home Mum for 11 years and when she returned to teaching it was in the Primary sector. |
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Sharon Keay, health visitor
Sharon joined the team in 2006 and is delighted to be involved. She returned to nursing after raising her children and undertook a Children's Nursing degree, qualifying with a First in the late 90's. Having a taste for the outdoors, she joined a paediatric team and worked with children and families across a large rural area. She was also the School Health Advisor for children with special needs and followed this with a spell in a Special Care Baby Unit. Leaving to become a Health Visitor, she qualified in Specialist Community Public Health and Health Visiting and joined a city GP practice.
Her interests include general child health, supporting families to make lifestyle changes and breastfeeding. Sharon and a colleague run the local smoking cessation groups to support parents in making these changes. She is also part of a team teaching the breastfeeding peer supporters and is currently the breastfeeding link in her practice. |
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Linda Green, health visitor
Linda is a health visitor with 18 years experience, working part-time for North West Leeds PCT. Her particular interests include supporting breastfeeding mothers and working with the child development programme to empower parents to enjoy parenting to the full. She also helps parents to deal with difficult behaviour using a positive parenting programme.
Within her health visitor role Linda trains other health visitors to detect postnatal depression as she has a special interest in this area. Linda is married with 3 children.
Her interests include running, hill walking and reading. |
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Frances Byatt-Smith, health visitor
Frances is a health visitor with over twenty years experience and is working part-time in an NHS Community Health Partnership in Scotland. She has a particular interest in helping parents to have a positive experience of parenthood and happy children. She does this throughout her work and in delivering positive parenting programmes. Part of her role as a health visitor is a parenting coordinator in her locality. As well as delivering community-parenting programmes, she trains facilitators to deliver the programmes She is also a qualified specialist practice supervisor for public health/health visiting students. Following graduation as a Health Visitor she studied with the Open University and gained an honors degree in psychology in 1993. Frances is married and has a twenty-year-old son. Her interests include cookery, travel, gardening and art. |
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Heidi Wright
Specialist Practitioner in Public Health
/ Health Visitor
Heidi has held various roles since qualifying
as a Specialist Practitioner in Public Health Nursing (Health
Visiting). Her experience within the NHS has mostly been within
the community field working as a District Nurse, Health Visitor,
Public Health Nurse Specialist and held lead Nurse roles. She
has also worked as a Lecturer in Community Nursing, Public/Child
Health at a number of Universities and continues to lecture
with the Open University and the Royal College of Nursing on
various modules. Heidi recently completed her phD, which looked
at the Health and Educational effects of providing drinking
water to children in schools. The government were keen to take
on the findings which Heidi presented to the Health Minister
Rosie Winterton at the House of Commons in July 2004. Heidi
is very excited to be given the opportunity to help and support
parents in this innovative and much needed format. |
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Naomi Smith
Health
Visitor and Children’s Nurse
Naomi has over 20 years experience as a
nurse, paediatric nurse and health visitor. She has considerable
experience working with children and their families, helping
them to successfully navigate the many challenges and pleasures
of parenthood. In addition to working with families, Naomi leads
a paediatric service within the independent sector and regularly
works with childcare and health professionals developing services
and delivering specialist training courses.
As a working mum, Naomi understands that continual balancing
act that helps to keep everything running smoothly. She lives
in the south east of England with her husband and two small
children |
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Mary Goodchild, midwife
Mary has worked as a midwife for 15 years with occasional breaks in her career for children and further study. Over the last 6 years of her midwifery practice, Mary has specialised in fetal medicine in a regional referral unit in the north west of England. Here, she worked closely with consultants to monitor high risk pregnancies, carry out investigations and provide information and support. Her excellent clinical skills as well as her warm sensitive approach and proven academic ability enabled her to provide a very high standard of clinical care for childbearing women. Mary has taken a break from midwifery and has completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy. She has 2 years experience of counselling in a Primary Care Health Centre and she now provides counselling in a hospital setting for women and their partners who have suffered loss or trauma in pregnancy. She is currently undertaking a certificate in body massage and hopes to incorporate this within a stress management programme. Mary is affiliated with the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. She is married with 2 children and enjoys running, dancing and reading. |
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Jackie Charlton
Health
Visitor
Jackie has worked as a health visitor in
London for the past 12 years. Prior to this she was a school
health advisor in inner city schools.
Jackie has a particular interest in facilitating families in
the adjustments to parenthood. Resultantly she works very closely
with mums (and dads too!) in the detection of post natal depression,
and has been a post natal depression counsellor for 8 years.
Having had 2 boys of her own who were terrible sleepers she
has enormous empathy for those families who are sleep deprived.
She has been running a sleep clinic for 2 years offering support
and practical routines for sleep training.
More recently Jackie has undergone extended training in the
detection and treatment of minor ailments, and is running a
clinic for children in the primary care setting. |
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Mandy Sagoo
Health Visitor
Mandy has twenty years experience of working
in the NHS. She has been working as a Health Visitor for the
past thirteen years and as a Community Practice Teacher for
the last eight in the West Midlands. Mandy is a qualified Practice
Educator and has recently obtained her Masters in Education.
In her spare time she works as a Family Planning Nurse. Mandy
has an interest in alternative therapies and is looking forward
to starting a Reflexology course in the autumn. |
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Tash Lawton
Tash is a 31 year old everyday mum of two
kids (3 and 1) with a passion for wellbeing and exercise just
trying to create a balanced life. Along her road to discovery,
she fell upon pilates roughly 7 years ago. Tash says "I
will never forget the day I realized just how beneficial pilates
is for pregnant women. I had been training a woman for her nine
month term and at the end of a drug-free, 18 hour labour, she
managed to give birth naturally to a baby girl born posterior.
Midwives believed pilates had made it possible to avoid intervention.
That baby girl was my daughter."
Tash qualified as an instructor in both mat and studio exercises
after fifteen hard months training with PICP (Pilates International)
in Melbourne. Her specialism was in ante and post-natal pilates
and that led her to present on Australian national television
for Pilates TV as their pregnancy expert. Since then, she has
also appeared and demonstrated at national expos and on the
radio.
Tash broader pilates experience includes training professional
athletes including an AFL footballer suffering from a condition
that he was told would only be cured by surgery. Six weeks later,
he was injury free with no operation necessary.
Over the years of working with pregnant women, Tash realised
that there weren’t any pilates for pregnancy dvds on the
market that featured a pregnant instructor. So when she fell
pregnant with her second child, she decided to make the most
of my situation and filmed four separate trimester specific
pilates workouts. These dvds are now available for sale on her
website: www.pregalates.com
It is Tash's dream to make pilates a regular part of every
pregnant woman’s preparation for birth and their ongoing
recovery. She wants to promote its benefits to as wide an audience
as possible |
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Anne Thysse, midwife
Anne trained as a nurse and midwife in Bristol and Bath and spent some time in the NHS in a variety of areas before setting off with a single suitcase on a supposed “one – year” nursing contract in South Africa. By the time she returned nearly 20 years later she had acquired a husband, 3 children, a container load of household goods and had practised as a midwife and gave independent ante-natal classes in both big city and very rural Botswana. Anne’s broad range of NHS experience now includes working on busy labour wards, setting up and leading a case-loading team, specialising in home births and water-births. To improve her knowledge base Anne gained an MA in Midwifery practice and has recently become a Supervisor of Midwives. In her current role as Practice Development Midwife she runs many different training sessions, including promoting breastfeeding and normality particularly in the high risk setting and drills & skills. |
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Maranda Kerr, Health Visitor
I have been a health visitor for nearly twenty five years now. I enjoy my work especially in the arena of preventing ill health and promoting good health. The main bulk of my work is home visiting and it is a privilege to be invited into someone's home to communicate and support them in their hour of need. My advice is based on research findings. I keep my knowledge up-to-date by attending training and lectures and also reading the relevant government documents and journals. Over the years I have embraced new changes and ideas and I have imparted my knowledge to my colleagues and families. I am approachable, considerate, and non- judgemental. |
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