Anne Watkins

“Is my baby healthy?”
This is usually the first and most important question parents ask after delivery. Answering that question accurately requires careful observation, thorough examination and, if needed, onwards referral for further assessment.
The aim of both the initial examination at birth and the full neonatal examination within the first 72 hours of life is to confirm normality, identify any congenital abnormalities and exclude medical concerns. It also gives the Midwife a precious opp...

Nursing and Midwifery are changing at an ever-faster pace.
Both learners and practitioners alike need to make an effort to keep up to date with new developments. Reflective practice done well, is an easy and effective way to do this.
It’s a concept that, as Jootun and Mcgarry (2014) notes, has been well documented as a strategy for personal and professional growth since the 1980s, and it’s here to stay.
In its simplest form, reflective practice is the ability to reflect on your actions and en...

There are said to be four ages of life, each spanning some 20-25 years. By the third age most people are retiring, or at least thinking of retiring, but that can still leave a lot of life to live.
Which is where retirement coaching comes in.
In days gone by things were much simpler of course. You reached a certain age and retired. These days people are living longer and expecting more and that’s leading to a growing trend in un-retirement. People who retire, discover they have lost their purp...

Did you know that using hypnosis in the field of fertility and maternity care is rapidly gaining credibility within the medical professions?
A steady stream of evidence based research has been coming forward recently to support its use for
unexplained infertility, support for assisted fertility programs such as IVF and of course it’s ever popular use for birth preparation and pain control.
In its simplest form hypnosis is really just a way to help you create a bridge of awareness from your co...

Family Wellness Coaching: Leading the Way to Better Health

Most modern societies have incredibly high rates of lifestyle-related diseases. That means that we can no longer expect our healthcare provider to ‘fix’ us without some effort on our part too.

Good healthcare is about teamwork and it begins at home.

Enter the family wellness coach.

What I’m talking about here, isn’t a paid professional invading your personal space and telling you what to do. No, not at all.

I’m talking about you becom...

​Ever heard of NLP?
NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming. Neuro as in the brain, linguistic as in language, and programming as in computers. In a nutshell, it’s using the power of words to re-program the brain and change behaviour. Not a million miles away from copywriting when you think about it.
I've always been fascinated by the power of language to influence and persuade. So many years ago I decided to train as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and then as an NLP Practitioner and it’s been...

Written by Anne Watkins, The Health Factor is a hands-on self-coaching guide packed full of health coaching tips, techniques and exercises to help you find a better, more vitally-filled, way of living, now and for many years to come.

3 mental strategies for living on the upside of life

The other day my friend Lucy came around for coffee and she was in a foul mood. “What’s up?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“What’s up?” she snorted. “Other people get all the luck, that’s what’ up”. I drew a deep breath, put the kettle on and listened. Her story of feeling hard done by and not getting what she wanted, is a common one. We’ve all been there. The trick is not to stay there.

From my point of view as a therapis...

To embrace your vulnerability isn't always an easy thing to do. But it is worth it.

Published by the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis June 2017

Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse (WHO 2017).
There are, of course, many physical and emotional factors that can cause infertility. It can be caused by problems in either partner and may be primary or secondary in nature.
Primary infertility refers to couples who have not become pregnant after at least one year of having intercourse without using contracep...

5 ways to ease the stress of infertility during the...