COBHAM MINDFULNESS
WHO I AM
My Foundations
My name is Ann Wood. I have worked within mental health services for the past 17 years; working both in the private sector and NHS. I qualified as a nurse (Bachelor of Nursing, University of Wales, Bangor) in 1999 and early on in my career discovered that mindfulness was helpful for the service users I was working and myself. Ten years later, I embarked on a career change, and in 2009 I graduated with a BSc (Hons) Psychology at Cardiff University. I now work as an assistant psychologist on a low secure mental health unit and hope to train as a Clinical Psychologist when my children are a little older. Over the years, I have had many opportunities to teach and support others to develop mindfulness skills, both in individual sessions and group sessions.
MY TRAINING
Oxford Mindfulness Centre - Oxford University
In 2014, I started my training to become an MBCP facilitator at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (OMC). The OMC is a department within the School of Psychiatry at Oxford University and it is the only UK based provider for MBCP courses. I have completed the 12 month foundations course and taught by many experienced teachers including Marie Johansson, Dr Esther Riggs and Dr Maret Dymond.
Dr Maret Dymond is leading the research on MBCP here in the UK and I am very privileged that she has continued to act as my supervisor.
I am also training to teach 'Finding Peace in a Frantic World' with Chris Cullen at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre.
MINDFUL BIRTHING
My enthusiasm for mindful birthing Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) and commitment to train as a course facilitator is based on my personal experience of using mindfulness whilst pregnant with my daughters. Having practiced mindfulness for 17 years, I was curious to find out whether mindfulness might support me during this new chapter in my life. Whilst the MBCP course was not available here, in the UK when I was pregnant with my first daughter, I found the teachings of many mindfulness teachers including; Jon Kabat-Zinn, Myla Kabat-Zinn and Vidyamala Burch helpful in managing my anxieties, cope with birth and develop mindful parenting skills. However, during my second pregnancy I was very fortunate that ‘Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond’; had just been published.