The Loal project

Parents eat sour grapes, and children’s teeth are set on edge – Ezekiel

We are shaped by our environment, not just DNA. Our first and most significant environment is our mother’s womb. We carry our experiences in the womb into our adult lives. In the womb is laid the foundation of our health, temperament, drives and the way we view the world at a deep, unconscious level.

The emotions our parents could not process, name, or safely experience do not simply disappear. They are often carried forward into the nervous system of the child. The body remembers, and the unconscious preserves these implicitly until they are understood and integrated.

My work in Preparing for Parenthood brings together birth psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, counselling psychology, and decades of therapeutic experience to help couples become conscious of the legacy they are passing on.

The local project is my dream. It arose from seeing the need of young couples to know how they could give a better foundation and have their next generation at an advantage over the previous one. It’s not about becoming perfect parents. It's simply about being present, emotionally aware, and self-regulated adults. As parents cultivate these capacities within themselves, they naturally become the environment in which their child blossoms.

You are the greatest gift you give your child. Raise yourself before you raise your child.