PeaPods

Free Online Course

PeaPods provides expectant and new parents with up-to-date information about mental health, baby development and the effect these factors could have on your role as a parent. The course aims to help you nurture the bond and attachment between you and your little one during their early years.

Our PeaPods Course is delivered online by qualified clinical practitioners

Are you looking for free antenatal classes in Dorset? 

Are you about to or have you just welcomed a new life into this world? 

We want to offer you congratulations as new parents. 

Have you had a gradual or sudden dawning realisation that your little one is entirely reliant on you? Perhaps you are experiencing lots of different emotions? 

At DorPIP we understand and recognise that new parents, whether it’s your first or third, can experience a roller coaster of emotions, from feelings of pure bliss and unconditional love to moments of exhaustion, doubt, and even feeling you aren’t good enough.  

Becoming a parent takes time, you and your little one need to get to know one another, you may be recovering from a difficult birth or tricky pregnancy.  

Those last few weeks of pregnancy can be a time of calm and peace, making the first few weeks with your new born all the more overwhelming as you struggle to find a new rhythm, get some sleep and physically recover from bringing your baby into the world. 

Peapods Course Overview

  • During this session, Lisa will discuss signs and symptoms of mental health challenges that may occur during pregnancy and after birth. We will also talk about the importance of the first 1001 days.

  • In week 2, we will talk about the differences between bonding and attachment, risk factors that can affect your bond with your little one and ways you can promote bonding even when you may be finding parenthood difficult.

  • We will discuss useful strategies to support you during your parenting journey, from advanced prep to birth plans. We will also talk about sleep and the magic of your babies behavioural states.

  • During this session, we will focus on hot topics that have come up in previous weeks, or cover things you would like to talk about.

Lots of factors will impact how you are feeling, yet all too often mums and dads don’t reach out for support. 

You may feel like people around you, your community or society are placing pressure on you as a new or expectant parent. Perhaps you are trying to meet unrealistic ideals and standards, or have that “Instagram lifestyle”. From the moment you announced your pregnancy, did you feel that you were expected to be ‘glowing’ and handle everything that comes your way?  

If you have recently given birth, are you feeling like you must be on top of everything, keeping house, yourself and little one perfectly presented at all times?  

Are you wondering when your ‘natural instinct’ for parenting your baby will kick in?  

Please don’t worry, as DorPIP we understand that this isn’t what parenting is all about. We recognize that it is natural to have feelings of self-doubt, especially when exhausted. Those feelings of exhaustion and inadequacy are perfectly normal.  

PeaPods can support you to grow and learn effective ways on how to support yourself and your child, enabling your family to flourish.

Lisa Villa - PeaPods creator and facilitator

Lisa Villa is a mother of three and a specialist midwife with a strong emphasis on supporting and caring for vulnerable parents during pregnancy and in the postnatal period. Lisa is also a Newborn Infant Physical Examination and a Newborn Behaviour Observation trained practitioner. Lisa’s personal experience of having severe postnatal depression with her own son, combined with her professional skills and passion for supporting parents makes her a wonderful mentor for parents that need that extra support during the pre and postnatal period.

“I firmly believe that if we can support, help, teach, and create an environment where parents can feel self-confident in their ability to parent then they can feel empowered to do what is right for them and their baby.” - Lisa Villa 

Lisa describes PeaPods as not specifically an antenatal course but rather an educational and life skills course that focuses on the well-being and emotional attachment between parents and their little ones. While regular antenatal courses primarily provide information about the physical changes and challenges of pregnancy, PeaPods sessions take a holistic approach, considering the emotional and psychological aspects of pregnancy and the newborn stages. 

PeaPods creates a confidential space for parents to ask questions they may have never felt comfortable asking before and explore their own thoughts and feelings about motherhood or parenthood in general.

Peapods FAQs

  • This is your Choice. The host will ask questions to the group throughout the sessions, you can reply with your voice or via the chat option. Although to get the most out of the class, we would encourage you to turn on your mic to chat with the host and the other attendees.

  • It is up to you whether you have your camera on or not. It can feel nice and contribute to the ‘community’ feel by turning your camera on, but if you enjoy the privacy or have a busy household and would rather keep the camera off, that is also fine. Please note that if you do have your camera on, spend a few moments finding the best place for it, keep the light or window in front of you or you’ll be a shadow, and position it away from you, so we can see you. 

  • We want to help your family to flourish and payment for services need not be a barrier. Our Peapods online course is free to attend. As we are an independent local charity, we rely on grants and donations to keep our service going, you’ll be asked to complete a Sign-up form for DorPIP services form which will assess if you can access our other services for free as well. 

    You may not find all the questions are relevant to the service you’ve requested however please complete the form as fully as possible as this will give us a good overview of what is currently going on for you and your family.  

  • Our PeaPod sessions are open to both parents, If you would like your partner/baby’s other parent to attend the sessions we ask that they also complete their own sign-up form.

  • We encourage you to attend all the sessions, but we understand that life with a newborn or in the late stages of pregnancy can be difficult. Please let us know at by email to referrals@dorpip.org.uk if you are not going to be attending a session

  • Our live online classes are delivered via Zoom or Microsoft Teams which gives you a 2 way experience with the host and other participants if you choose. You can access these via your Mobile phone, computer or tablet. A DorPIP administrator may also be present during the course incase any technical difficulties arise.

After benefiting from our services families often feel like they want to give back. If this is you, thank you, we appreciate your support.

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