Denise Tiran

I've been a midwifery lecturer, specialising in complementary in pregnancy and childbirth, for almost 30 years and am acknowledged as an international authority on the subject. I'm particularly passionate about combining complementary therapies such as aromatherapy, reflexology, hypnosis and acupuncture with conventional maternity care, as a means of easing stress, relieving pain and discomforts and facilitating normal birth. However, I am also concerned that expectant mums, and the professionals working with them, need to understand the risks of inappropriate use of natural remedies, such as the dangers of combining them with medical drugs. I'm campaigning for the subject of "complementary medicine" to be included in midwifery training so that all midwives can advise mums-to-be appropriately and safely. I became involved in complementary medicine in the early 1980s whilst working as a midwifery lecturer at the University of Greenwich, London, and trained in several therapies including reflex zone therapy (a type of reflexology), aromatherapy, massage, hypnosis, moxibustion and the safe use of natural remedies such as herbs, homeopathy and Bach flower remedies. I ran a clinic as part of my university work at a southeast London hospital and have treated over 6000 pregnant mums, mostly women suffering from morning sickness, backache and other discomforts. In 2004, in response to increasing interest amongst mothers and maternity professionals, I left the University to set up Expectancy to raise awareness of the benefits and risks of using complementary therapies and natural remedies in pregnancy and birth. Expectancy provides university-level education for midwives, doctors, birth supporters, complementary practitioners, antenatal teachers and anyone wanting to train as a midwife. We also have a team of Expectancy-trained registered practitioners who provide complementary therapies to expectant mums in their own homes. I work as Educational Director for Expectancy and also continue to do some teaching in various universities. I spend a lot of time teaching complementary therapies to midwives in NHS maternity units, as well as travelling overseas to teach both midwives and therapists, particularly in Japan and China, and to speak at conferences. I've written about ten professional textbooks, over 80 professional journal articles and three books for pregnant women on maternity complementary therapies. I have published some short information leaflets (available on Kindle) on popular subjects such as raspberry leaf tea in pregnancy, ginger for morning sickness and moxibustion for turning breech babies to head-first. I've also conducted several research studies during my university work, including complementary therapies for morning sickness, reflexology to predict stages of the menstrual cycle and an exploration of continuing professional development amongst complementary therapists.