Dear Friends,

Last week, I spoke at the Doula UK conference — my first ever paid speaking gig. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

Not just because of my complicated feelings around the organisation as a whole but also with imposter syndrome… Seeing my name alongside such huge names in the birth-world as Katie James and Lyndsey Hookway. This had me questioning whether I belonged there.

My presentation didn’t come with lots of heavy references or information - it was based on community connection and quite simple, often devalued ideas. What if it wasn’t professional enough? What if my words didn’t land?

Hi love 🌸,

_{A little housekeeping before we get into it — as part of moving the newsletter from Substack over to Buttondown, everything (including paid subscriptions) has come with us. So, if you're already a supporter, nothing changes for you. If you need to adjust your payment details, you can do that via your Stripe account, but just give me a shout if you need help ❤️.}

_{And if you’ve been thinking about upgrading to a paid subscription, you can do that here. It’s £3.50 a month (the price of a coffee) or £36 for the year (which covers two days' rent for Women’s Health Hartlepool, our free community space). Every single penny makes such a difference — thank you.}

Hello, friend!

For those of you reading this via email, you probably haven’t noticed much of a change. But for those who have followed us on Substack over the past year and a half, you’ll know we’ve made some significant shifts.

Over the last 12 months, the direction and ethos of Substack as a platform haven’t aligned with the vision of Postpartum Matters. As individuals, I believe we have a responsibility to understand where our money goes and which companies we engage with. It’s a nuanced topic, touching on issues of price, class, disability, and more— but, where possible, I feel it’s our duty to make conscious choices about where we place our money and energy.

For me personally, this has meant moving my bank account from NatWest, a bank notorious for investing in fracking and fossil fuels, to a building society that aligns with my environmental values. I’ve also been making an effort to reduce my reliance on Amazon—though, let’s be honest, that’s a tough one!

we got a new rug at The Women’s Health Hub and the photograph can never explain to you how soft it feels under your socks 🥰

Welcome to your final installment of Mindful Bookbinding!

You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started.

So far this year we have learnt how to make signatures and we’ve gone deep on our preferred ways of journaling into them. We’ve made our own book press out of repurposed materials and we’ve made our own book cloth and book covers😍.

We’re coming to the end of our year together and so, to finish off, this turn of the wheel we will begin bringing it all together. Finally, after twelve beautiful months of connection, you will have your final book to hold in your hands - a celebration of the past year.

I have tried writing this multiple times this week and have really struggled to find any words.

The news is so heavy. Life is so full and loud and full of the million holiday season things we’re all meant to do at this time of year. I have new doula clients to welcome, get to know and hold. I have a real life community struggling with isolation and loneliness, magnified by the capitalist image of connection splashed all over every single TV, media platform, bus. So, I’m choosing to start my yearly break from newsletter writing after this one.

Paid subscribers will still get their final installment of Mindful Bookbinding, complete with a video tutorial showing you how to complete your journal, with lots of Yuletide prompts and activities. But everything else will have to wait for 2025.

Don’t forget that our next Community Connection Circle is this Sunday, at 7pm. Catch the Zoom link here.

Thank you for joining me in this space where we come together to share and honour the powerful stories of postpartum experiences. I’m Sophie, and I work closely with Zoe - the founder and director of Postpartum Matters CIC - and together we’re passionate advocates for women’s health and well-being. In this monthly segment, I’m privileged to share the voices of women who have opened up about their journeys— their stories are filled with pain, resilience, and strength.

🌟 Exclusive Benefits for Paid Subscribers! 🌟

Before we begin, I’m thrilled to remind you of the wonderful perks available to you as a paid subscriber! 💖

Hi team,

So this week I am meant to send out our ‘What’s On in November’ post but, honestly, I just can’t bring myself to write it. Not because there isn’t wonderful things happening - including a brand new group for local BME parents to build community and for those new to the area to receive culturally sensitive support with settling in - but because I myself just feel done.

Welcome to your next installment of Mindful Bookbinding. You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started.

So far this year we have learnt how to make signatures and we’ve gone deep on our preferred ways of journaling into them. We’ve made our own book press out of repurposed materials and we’ve made our own book cloth and book covers😍.

We’re coming to the end of our year together and so, to finish off, this turn of the wheel we will begin bringing it all together. Finally, after ten beautiful months of connection, you will start to see your final piece come together.

Just me and the cat working on our business success together, in our ideal environment - at home, with the cool autumn air keeping us calm, with no other sensory stuff to pile up on us and overwhelm us 😍

✨ Unlock Your Full Experience as a Paid Subscriber! ✨

Thank you for joining me in this space where we come together to share and honour the powerful stories of postpartum experiences. I’m Sophie, and I work closely with Zoe - the founder and director of Postpartum Matters CIC - and together we’re passionate advocates for women’s health and well-being. In this monthly segment, I’m privileged to share the voices of women who have opened up about their journeys— their stories are filled with pain, resilience, and strength.

Today I want to share with you the seed of an idea 🌱

I hope you’ll join me in helping it grow?

Running our local community space is a full family affair, it has literally taken over my entire life 😅

Hello 🌸,

This is your monthly newsletter showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, and if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

We are a non-profit and most of the work we do is free to access, if you are able, we would so appreciate you supporting us financially by becoming a paid subscriber, you can also make a one off payment of support here.

Paid subscribers get access to a couple special thank you offerings too.

We have bi-monthly Community Connection Circles - which is an hour and a half to have space held just for you. In the comfort of your own home, screen on or off, I will guide you through some personal reflection prompts, we’ll have space (for those who wish to) to share and I’ll end with a guided meditation to leave you feeling refreshed and relaxed.

You also get access to our Mindful Bookbinding course which is a gentle invitation to connect with the seasons, to slow down and to mindfully hand-sew your very own keepsake journal 😍🌸. There are eight workbooks and video tutorials in total and you are guided through these over a 12 month period to reconnect with yourself away from your phone.

Hi Friends,

This is your bi-monthlyish Community Connection post, where we come together to connect around a shared theme. We met online on last night and it was lovely, as always✨ I know not everyone can make or wants to participate in online groups though and so I always also want to offer it up as a written invitation too.

Below I share a poem, alongside some related journal prompts and invite you to share your thoughts here on Substack ❤️. So we can witness one another, so we can see our shared experiences, so we can feel less alone. There is also a guided meditation to connect you to your inner love & gratitude. It is the perfect invitation to turn off your notifications, make yourself your favourite soothing drink and sit with yourself for 30 minutes, an hour, as long as you like.

For those who have attended a Community Connection Circle before, I’d be so grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill in this quick feedback form - to help me continue to grow & improve & better serve you 🙏🏻 and also to let others know what it’s all about, so they can decide if it is for them 😊

Gentle reminder that we have our Community Connection Circle this evening at 7pm London time - it is online, via Zoom and you can find all the information & the Zoom link below ✨ come along and take 90 minutes just for yourself ❤️

Come sit in circle with us?

Welcome to your next installment of Mindful Bookbinding. You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started.

So far this year we have learnt how to make signatures and we’ve gone deep on our preferred ways of journaling into them. We’ve made our own book press out of repurposed materials and we’ve made our own book cloth and book covers😍.

We’re coming into the final quarter of the year now and so, to finish off, we will begin slowly bringing our final book together. This turn of the wheel I shall be showing you how to make envelopes to stitch into your book, to keep all of the odds and ends and magic pieces of paper, stickers, receipts or whatever found objects which can’t make it onto your final journal pages ❤️. This is ahead of our October installment where we will begin sewing everything together ✨.

Before we dive in, I’d love to share all the amazing things we have coming up this month for our paid subscribers ✨

Next week I will be releasing installment 6 of my Mindful Bookbinding course, just in time for the autumn equinox. There will be seasonal journal prompts and a video tutorial guiding you through how to make your own envelopes 😊🌸

And on September 25th, we are gathering for our next Community Connection Circle - it’s held over Zoom and is 90 lovely minutes to reset, relax and connect with others ❤️ we’ll journal, we’ll share, and I’ll end it with a lovely meditation just for you 🥰.

Paid subscriptions are £6 a month or £60 for the year and all of your money goes directly into the non-profit bank account and helps pay for all of the free-to-access support we provide daily at The Women’s Health Hub.

Hello 🌸,

This is your monthly newsletter showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

We are a non-profit and most of the work we do is free to access, if you are able, we would so appreciate you supporting us financially by becoming a paid subscriber, you can also make a one off payment of support here.

Subscribe now

Thank you for joining me in this space where we come together to share and honour the powerful stories of postpartum experiences. I’m Sophie, and I work closely with Zoe - the founder and director of Postpartum Matters CIC - and together we’re passionate advocates for women’s health and well-being. In this monthly segment, I’m privileged to share the voices of women who have opened up about their journeys— their stories are filled with pain, resilience, and strength.

Hello love,

How are you doing?

I’m at that point in the summer holidays where I’m just no longer quite sure what day of the week it is and I’m just blindly following my each page of my diary that tells me what I need to do that day.

The juggle is so so so real

Hello!

I hope you’re having a lovely summer ☀️

I’m popping in today with a free gift and an offer, scroll down to the bottom for both ✨

Hello 🌸,

This is your monthly newsletter showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

We are a non-profit and most of the work we do is free to access, if you are able, we would so appreciate you supporting us financially by becoming a paid subscriber, you can also make a one off payment of support here.

Subscribe now

Welcome to your next installment of Mindful Bookbinding. You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started.

So far this year we have learnt how to make signatures and we’ve gone deep on our preferred ways of journaling into them. We’ve made our own book press out of repurposed materials and we’ve made our own book cloth 😍.

Today, we will bring a few of those elements together to make our very own book covers! All ready for preparing to sew everything together into your very own book - we will begin this process in October ❤️.

This is a reader supported newsletter. If you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps fund my writing here but also all of the free-to-access support we provide daily at The Women’s Health Hub.

You can also make a one off payment of support here.

I am so hugely grateful to you for being here.

Subscribe now

I’m going to level with you here.

I am not okay.

Like really.

Hello! I’m Zoe, Founder of Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in Hartlepool, UK. We are a not-for-profit created to support women+ in the perinatal period and beyond. We offer a range of workshops and support, both online and in person, as well as bespoke, in person doula support. 

Most of the work we do is free to access, and we rely entirely on the support of our incredible volunteers, as well as financial support from our generous community & peers. We would so appreciate you supporting us financially by becoming a paid subscriber, you can also make a one off payment of support here.

If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below. Thank you x

This is your monthly catch-up email showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

We are a non-profit and most of the work we do is free to access, if you are able, we would so appreciate you supporting us financially by becoming a paid subscriber, you can also make a one off payment of support here.

Subscribe now

Firstly, happy Pride month 😆 I hope you’ve all had a wonderful time at the parades and the stalls and with all the music and celebration.

Hi loves,

Welcome to your next installment of Mindful Bookbinding. You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started. As a reminder, so far, we have been gathering our tools, making signatures to journal into & exploring our favourite ways of journaling - I’d love to hear how you’ve got on? Did you get the power tools out last month to make your own book press?

Leave a comment

This is a reader supported newsletter. If you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber - I would be so grateful. Your support helps fund our writing here but also all of the free-to-access support we provide weekly at The Women’s Health Hub.

As a paid subscriber you also gain access to our Mindful Bookbinding course - the next installment is being released next week, where I will be showing you how to make your own book cloth! Come join us & learn how to hand-sew a beautiful journal whilst connecting to yourself and the seasons.

Subscribe now

Hi loves,

Super quick email just to remind you that it is our Community Connection Circle on Sunday, 6pm London time.

These circles are super open - come when you like, leave when you need, mic and camera on or off - make it your own ❤️

The invitation will be a poem and some journaling, with a lovely meditation and some time for you to share/ connect/ offload/ whatever you need really. You can read more about it here.

This is your monthly catch-up email showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

Subscribe now

Hello ☀️,

This is a reader supported newsletter. If you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps fund my writing here but also all of the free-to-access support we provide daily at The Women’s Health Hub.

You can also make a one off payment of support here.

I am so hugely grateful to you for being here.

Subscribe now

This is a reader supported newsletter. If you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps fund our writing here but also all of the free-to-access support we provide weekly at The Women’s Health Hub.

I am so hugely grateful to you for being here.

Subscribe now

This is your monthly catch-up email showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

Subscribe now

Hello!

Hi loves,

Welcome to your next installment of Mindful Bookbinding. You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started. As a reminder, so far, we have been gathering our tools, making signatures to journal into & exploring our favourite ways of journaling - I’d love to hear how you’ve got on?

Leave a comment

The Women’s Health Hub in Hartlepool turned one whole years old this past weekend 🤩 and I hope you will grant me five minutes of your time - to celebrate, to share how it went & to hopefully show you what is possible when you just keep showing up, putting one foot in front of the other, one tiny step forward at a time ❤️.

Dear you,

I want to start by saying that I wish we lived closer.

This is a super personal one today, it’s a personal essay but also a part of my continued postpartum story. If you’re new here, for context, you may wish to read about my postpartum experience here.

A lot of this essay is about my physical recovery and about exercise. There is a lot of ‘stuff’ online about taking it slow and not bouncing back postnatally and I have had lots of well meaning people, over the last few years, suggest that I just stick to low impact movement, like yoga. I do explain more in the main essay but I want to state here, too, that it is not a safe or practical thing for me to just do low impact exercise. In order for me to be well and to be regulated, I really do need to move my body in more intense ways. This is very personal to me and is in no way an opinion on what others should do to recover post-birth.

Sending love ❤️

This is your monthly catch-up email showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

Subscribe now

Welcome,

Hello my loves,

How are you all doing?

Welcome to your next installment of Mindful Bookbinding. You can find all of the previous letters at this link here, as well as your tutorial showing you how to get started. As a reminder, so far, we have been gathering our tools and making signatures to journal into - I’d love to hear how you’ve got on?

Leave a comment

This turn of the wheel, we will connect with and celebrate Ostara, the Spring Equinox and the workbook has lots of seasonal prompts and activities for you to explore and enjoy. In this seasons video tutorial, I am also sharing my creative journaling process - my favourite tools and ways of building up my pages - as well as encouraging you to explore what works best for you.

I am going a little off-piste today, inspired by to begin seeing Substack as my own, personal mini-press, and by my time learning from on their ‘Writing the Personal’ course, I wanted to share a personal essay with you today. I hope it serves you, but please do tread carefully.

I need to consciously grow the income of my non-profit this year and so, if you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber here. Your support helps fund my writing on Substack but also all of the free-to-access support we provide weekly at The Women’s Health Hub.

Our Mindful Bookbinding course begins on February 1st for paid subscribers too - you can read more about it here, it’s a beautiful course designed to support you in your mental wellbeing whilst showing you how to hand sew your own 2024 journal.

You can also make a one off payment of support here.

This is a reader supported newsletter. If you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps fund our writing here but also all of the free-to-access support we provide weekly at The Women’s Health Hub.

As a paid subscriber you also gain access to our Mindful Bookbinding course - the next installment is being released this month, with the first installment being ready to access now. Come join us & learn how to hand-sew a beautiful journal whilst connecting to yourself and the seasons.

I am so hugely grateful to you for being here.

Subscribe now

This is your monthly catch-up email showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

Subscribe now

Welcome, how are you?

Before we begin, I’d love to invite you to our next Community Connection Circle

We’re meeting on Sunday, March 3rd - 6pm GMT | 10am PST | 1pm EST

You can head here to read more about it and find the Zoom link but, if you’ve been looking for more connection, for an invitation to pause and connect with yourself and others, then this space is for you!

This is a reader supported newsletter. If you are able, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. Your support helps fund my writing here but also all of the free-to-access support we provide daily at The Women’s Health Hub.

You can also make a one off payment of support here.

I am so hugely grateful to you for being here.

Subscribe now

Hi my loves!

Surprise Sunday post for you here - I just wanted to remind you that our next Community Connection Circle is this coming Sunday March 3rd - 6pm GMT| 10am PST| 1pm EST. Scroll to the bottom for the Zoom link!

You can read more about what to expect here. But, in short, I offer up some suggested activities and we all choose our own adventure. There is poetry, grounding exercises, journaling and space to share with the circle - should you wish it! Some folks come along and keep their screen and mic off and just enjoy the invitations in their own space, some come along half way through bedtime with the kids and listen and join in when they can, others have candles and warm drinks and all the coloured pens for the journaling. It is all so welcome ❤️.

Our last one was all the way back in October but it was so beautiful. Here is what one of the attendees said about it ~