I love working with entrepreneurs at the start of their journey. I’ve been mentoring start ups with Brave Enterprise for a while now (having started my own business with their help).
I first met Jacquline Harthill earlier this year, having mentored her while launching her new venture The Happy Parents’ Club. Jacqueline is a qualified clinical hypnotherapist who specialises is hypnobirthing and baby massage.
Her enthusiasm and energy are infectious.
Let’s meet Jacqueline…
A Passion Project Interview with Jacqueline Harthill, The Happy Parents’ Club
Helping women to have the best birth experience possible
Why did you decide to do what you’re doing? Tell your ‘Origin Story’
I was originally a journalist and ended up working in marketing and communications for a large local authority in London. During this time, I trained in complementary therapies – massage, aromatherapy, reflexology, baby massage – and ended up teaching adults to train as therapists as well as teaching baby massage in children’s centres.
I developed RSI in my thumbs so had to give up massage; that’s when I decided to retrain as a clinical hypnotherapist and it was through this that I discovered hypnobirthing. I added this to my portfolio of professional development as it fascinated me.
I didn’t have a positive experience of childbirth and the thought that I could help other women have the best birth experience they could make me feel very excited. To be an educator and a facilitator around childbirth, family development and maternal mental health is something I’m passionate about and I do get carried away when talking to other people about it.
I’m now doing more professional development as I want to hone my skills and knowledge around fertility and postnatal support.
Raising a family is incredibly hard, as well as joyous, and parents need all the support they can get.
We live in such a fragmented world these days. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child and most of us don’t have that village support any more so we have to look elsewhere. And that’s where someone like me comes in.
The idea behind The Happy Parents’ Club is that eventually, I will work with parents / families from the very beginning – from pre-conception through pregnancy and into the first years with my clients being part of a club, a tribe, meeting up to share their own experiences.
I also teach baby massage from birth to pre-crawling and this is a natural follow on from hypnobirthing – it’s not just about teaching a massage routine/technique to help your baby’s physiological systems and to help them relax.
It’s more about learning your baby’s early communication cues and cementing the emotional bond.
Babies that experience regular massage from an early age form a very strong attachment to the parent(s) and this has a massive impact on their brain development!
The eye connection, the emotional connection, the loving connection fires up neurons and synapses within the brain and enables positive development!
What would you do with your time if you didn’t have to work?
If I didn’t have to work, I’d go to art college and study/create textile art. I’m really interested in remodelling/reusing fabrics to make not only functional items but works of art – fun, happy pieces of art with a message – save the planet, save Mother Earth!
What really makes you smile from the inside out?
Accidental humour, witty humour – remembering those moments when you’re with people and something sets you or someone else off and you laugh and laugh – to the point that you can’t actually stop and even when you do eventually stop, absolutely anything will set you off again. And most of the time, the thing that started you laughing wasn’t really that funny, it was just one of those moments. I don’t think they happen very often but, when they do, I remember them and they make me smile years later!
What is your proudest achievement?
This may sound corny and clichéd but my proudest achievement is my daughter.
I was a lone parent and it was hard but, from the moment she was born, I have loved her with a force.
She’s transcended all those difficult moments growing up with me and is a wonderful, loving, kind, emotionally intelligent person.
She’s clever (although she doesn’t see herself as others do), she’s talented and she’s a fantastic friend. She is now my best friend but, first and foremost, she is my daughter.
My heart burst with pride when I saw her graduate – I did that! My girl! And then I was amazingly privileged to be with her and husband when my grandson was born…
Where do you want to be in 5 years’ time?
In five years time, I want to be busy running hypnobirthing groups, possibly in my own building. I’d like to be running a successful fertility practice and postnatal support service with regular (post) client meet ups. I’d like to be writing regularly in magazines/supplements, possibly have even written a book (or two!).
Who do you serve? Be specific, think of everyone you impact (not just customers)
The biggest impact of my work is on communities.
Hypnobirthing babies tend to be quite chilled and babies that have been massaged tend to grow up confident in their abilities and themselves because they’ve had a supportive, loving base from birth.
All of this together has an impact in that these loving, caring children grow into loving, caring adults. That impacts on the wider community, so the positive benefits impact more than just the mums and dads that I work with.
The service is targeted towards women who want to have a positive birth and subsequently learn how to emotionally bond with their baby – not just massaging them as babies but continuing the massage and adapting it as the child grows.
So, if you’re pregnant, 20 weeks plus, come along to a hypnobirthing taster session and find out more about it.
If you’ve just had a baby, call me to discuss what baby massage is all about.
I’m not offering fertility services or postnatal at this stage as I’m just starting out in my business and I want my hypnobirthing and baby massage services cemented as my core offer before I add to them. I also want to ensure that my knowledge and skills around fertility and postnatal support are totally current, so I’m working on these in the background.
How do you want the world to see your business?
As a supportive, caring, ethical service for expectant and new parents.
I’m vegan and I try to be as eco-friendly as I can be. I recycle, reuse and all the products that I include in my hypnobirthing goodie bags are all vegan/from sustainable sources/ecologically sound.
I don’t see the point in providing a service that benefits new generations of children if my everyday life impacts negatively on them and I am a part of destroying the planet.
I want to be a part of saving the planet!
What one thing would you do to change the world?
Ban all destruction of rain forests and forest land anywhere in the world.
Trees are vitally important – to the air we breathe to providing food and shelter for a myriad of insects, birds, animals, mammals that all contribute positively to our eco-systems.
If you chop down a tree, you have to plant a new one immediately to take its place!
If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
To be able to open people’s eyes to the negativity of bigotry/racism/misogyny/sexism – these are all rooted in ignorance and often people don’t realise how destructive their thoughts can be as they seep into everyday life. We are all people with good bits and bad bits and, if we don’t like someone, we can just avoid them.
We will never like everyone and not everyone will like us, but we don’t have to be cruel to others.
Dislike someone because you think they aren’t a nice person by all means but don’t dislike someone you don’t know because of their culture or the colour of their skin, or their gender.
What advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
Be proud of your Scottish heritage – you’ve got a wonderful history behind you, savour it and be proud of that beautiful land and your forebears.
Whatever you do, don’t lose your Scottish accent because, if you do, everyone will think you’re English! 🙂
And finally, is there one thing you wish someone had told you before you went into business?
Social media is an absolute pain in the proverbial, but it is absolutely necessary to have a strong SM presence and to post things, not just about your business, but about you!
Thank you to Jacqueline
To connect with The Happy Parents’ Club and learn more about Jacqueline’s work, her website is: http://www.thehappyparentsclub.co.uk
Get to know Jacqueline…
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thehappyparentsclub/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TheHappyParentsClub
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