I've been aiming to parent democratically since 2002, when my daughter was born.

And I've been exploring the issue of power as a woman and as a mother since 2011.

In my earlier parenting years, I didn't claim my true power and at times it led to permissiveness, frustration and resentment. At times I got harsh or used my bigger power to get them to do things.

But as I changed my beliefs about power as a woman and mother, and made changes from within, I saw dramatic changes in my relationships with my children.

I very rarely feel powerless with them nowadays. And it's been a very long time since I used any kind of power over them.

I've found ways to make a difference in the world and be deeply connected with my children, both of which are all about true power for me.

I've been working with mothers and parenting since 2006.

As mothers, our relationship to true power can come up over and over again.

We're wanting to parent democratically, but our child's strong needs for autonomy and self-direction can mean that our own feelings of powerlessness from our childhood years re-emerge.

Often this comes out as power struggles where we either feel powerless and give up, or use power-over our kids.

Powerlessness is really uncomfortable.

And using power-over our kids often leads to guilt and disconnection.

We have so much more power and choice than our children for so many years, but we need to learn how to wield our power with compassion and integrity.

I'm passionate about helping mothers reclaim their true power.

We can become heal our original experiences of powerlessness that come up with our children.

The more we understand powerlessness and how profoundly uncomfortable it is, the more we can compassionately understand our children, who often have less power than those around them.

Claiming our power as women and mothers can have a profound effect on all areas of our lives - in our relationship with our children, partner, friends, and in how we relate to money and making a difference to others and to the world.

I really love sharing what I've learnt with other mothers.

It's my passion to inspire and encourage mothers to claim the beautiful power that is their birthright.

Then you can pass on that knowledge to your child, have harmonious and cooperative relationships with them, and be free to make a difference.

I've been learning about mothers, babies and children for 30 plus years now, and am still passionate about it!

When I was doing my psychology degree, I became fascinated by "the intergenerational transmission of parenting" - in other words, how we were parented affects how we parent.

I spent the whole of my twenties training both in developmental psychology and  psychotherapy.

I did my Ph.D. at Cambridge University, where I researched the effect of postnatal depression on the relationship between mothers and babies. I followed that with a Post-Doctoral Fellowship studying babies' cognitive abilities. And then I was a tutor to M.A. students on the Therapeutic Relationship.

Alongside that, I spent 6 years training and working as a Psychosynthesis Psychotherapist.

In my thirties, I focussed on birth and parenting. I trained and worked as a HypnoBirthing practitioner and calm birth instructor, and used these in the births of my own children.

I transformed my terror of giving birth into incredibly empowering birthing experiences and became passionate about supporting women to claim their power in birthing.

I chose to stop working as a calm birth instructor so I could focus on my work as an Aware Parenting Instructor, which I've been doing for 12 years.

In that time, I've talked with so many mothers who are wanting mutually respectful relationships with their children.

And alongside that I've been a mother, and that has been my greatest learning journey.

My children are 17 and 13 and I've learnt so much about power and powerlessness from my relationships with them!

I combine all I've learnt from my own experiences as a mother, with what I've heard from other mothers, and combined it with my research, academic and therapeutic backgrounds to help mothers claim their birthright of true power.