Tutors

Meet our qualified and experienced coaching team

Baby Sleep Consultant Training is the only registered training provider staffed by a complete team of scientists, teachers, sleep consultants and industry experts. Our friendly and fully qualified in-house team are ready and waiting to help you on your way to your new career.

Our Mentors really know their stuff and have seen a huge variety of cases that have been considered “unfixable” by other experts; but there’s nothing we haven’t seen and successfully resolved! We’ll make our tips and tricks available to you in your training. Our certification in sleep consultancy is industry leading, join us to find out why.

Emma

Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant – Happiest Baby on the Block Educator, BSc – Biology, Dip Ed – Registered Teacher, founder of Baby Sleep Consultant Australia and NZ, Approved Training Provider, lead sleep expert for Little Treasures Magazine.

Starting Baby Sleep Consultant Training was a natural step for me, as a teacher, scientist and sleep consultant I felt a big gap in the industry for Science based sleep consultancy education taught by fully qualified teachers.

I developed the Baby Sleep Consultant Cartification programme in a way that ensures all our graduates leave with the knowledge they need to help families achieve their sleep goals, and the skills to ensure they are evaluating each baby as an individual, digging for a deeper understanding of why the sleep problem exists. This ensures we produce the highest caliber of sleep consultants possible and this is evident through their testimonials.

I have a huge passion for children, sleep and teaching. I love watching consultant trainees work their way through our programme and come out the other side with a real skill they can put into practice immediately. Watching them learn, question their ideas and then applying their knowledge with empathy, understanding and compassion to tired families is what drives me.

I am proud of the fact that all our graduates are individually mentored throughout their learning process as I do not believe this can be taught any other way. The mentor – student relationship builds over the 4-6 months, and having someone to ask those tricky questions to is invaluable.

I love teaching the range of sleep training methods, the experience I have in gentle sleep training, and tricky clients with unusual medical issues or family dynamics is something important to pass onto new consultants.

Marketing and business development is something we also discuss in the training programme and afterwards in our private groups. I am privileged to have been taught by a lot of industry experts, and enjoy passing on information to help new consultants become successful in their local market.

Social media, SEO, print marketing, accounting, system establishment and tax rules all need to be understood to successfully start a business and I can help answer your questions, teach you some tricks and point you in the right direction of experts who can help even more!

I designed the Baby Sleep Consultant Training programme to ensure that all hierarchies of learning are covered.

Knowledge – all of students can recall a huge range of sleep information, sleep science and human physiology. This would not be possible to teach without the background in Biology I have.
Comprehension – all students must be able to organise their ideas and knowledge for later recall and understanding.
Application – the volunteer stage, case studies over tutorials and the mentor relationship ensures that students can take their new information and apply it to a new situation. No two families will be the same! Without one on one mentoring this is very hard to teach.
Analysis – students are taught how to analyse their clients intake forms and break them down identifying reasons, causes and what is motivating the family. We do a lot of this over tutorials, in homework, and with the mentors.
Synthesis – once students are working with volunteer clients they are creating their own plans and producing sleep assessments. This is challenging and involves a lot of knowledge comprehension, application, and analysis. You can see careful teaching is needed to produce quality sleep consultants.
Evaluation – Students are required to evaluate throughout their job, as there is never one right answer for a family, and a successfully trained sleep consultant will see several ways out of the rabbit hole. They will then present these options to a client and help with decision making for the parents based on their experience and knowledge. I feel this is an area a lot of organisations fall down, as CIO is not always the answer and when you are only taught one way you are not able to evaluate successfully.

I would love to hear from you if you are interested in training with us here at Baby Sleep Consultant Training.

Emma can be privately booked for both business and sleep coaching, POA, please email admin@babysleepconsultanttraining.com

Kate

Certified Baby Sleep Consultant – Qualified Teacher

I am a qualified and registered primary school teacher, certified sleep consultant and mother of 3. My passion in teaching is around encouraging, mentoring and watching my student sleep consultants flourish and develop their own sleep philosophy. I believe we all learn in different ways and this is why I fully believe the Baby Sleep Consultant training programme is not only unique but superior to any other options. The lectures, homework, reading, volunteer clients and one on one mentoring means that we produce higher calibre sleep consultants.

I came into sleep consulting as a new mum with a passion for sleep, I understand and respect the physiological importance of sleep and believe every family has the right to restorative sleep. What is most exciting for me is seeing new consultants learning different ways to help different families, as no two families are the same, and everyone deserves to have their parenting style respected. Without this respect a sleep consultant will not flourish in this market. I bring years of sleep consulting and teaching experience to the team, personal experience with allergies including FPIES and dairy intolerances. I really encourage my students to establish a good work life balance and establish healthy work boundaries while studying in order to avoid burning out. I look forward to mentoring you through the best Sleep Consulting Certification programme available.

Michelle

Certified Baby Sleep Consultant – Early Childhood Teacher – Counselor

Prior to being a Mum I worked as an early childhood teacher and nanny so I have lots of experience working with families and understand the struggles that can occur around sleep and how vital sleep is for children’s health and development.

I have also studied counselling and know the pressures that parents face and the emotions they feel while trying to do what is best for their child.

This enables me to support my students and teach them how to be empathetic and understanding of the situations as the parents are experiencing them.

I have helped over 100 students graduate through the certification program, I enjoy taking my students on a journey, the transition they make in the 6 months we work together is amazing.

I feel privileged to be part of what is for so many women, the start of their amazing life changing career.

Sacha

Certified Baby Sleep Consultant – BSc Psychology and Training in Nursing

As a tutor my role is to mentor our newest consultants as they work through their study, and when they begin working with their first clients to ensure that their level of understanding both the science and psychology around infant and child sleep is up to our high standards. For me it’s truly wonderful as a tutor to be able to teach women who have a genuine desire to assist families in enjoying every moment of those first few years with their babies and children, and who are so passionate about good sleep being a part of creating that.

My background is in what I care most about – helping people. I have done studies in Nursing and worked in Adult and Youth Mental Health before beginning my studies in a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology. I firmly believe that maternal and infant/child wellbeing is so important – you can’t be an amazing mum or wife if you’re so exhausted that you can’t even remember when you last ate, and it’s likely your baby won’t be the happiest little cherub they could be if they’re not getting age appropriate amounts of sleep.

Through my role as a Sleep Consultant I have been able to help hundreds of families to achieve more harmony in their lives through better sleep, something I am very proud of. Having seen firsthand the toll that sleep deprivation can take on a family, I feel very lucky that I can help many others through my role as a tutor, working alongside our newest consultants as they begin their careers to accomplish the same. I love being able to provide them with guidance and support so that they can work confidently and produce a great result with any family and any sleep situation. I believe that having a child should be the most amazing time of your life, where you feel supported and empowered, and hope to instil the same philosophy through all the student Sleep Consultants I work with.

Sophie

Certified Baby Sleep Consultant – Qualified Nurse

Hi my name is Sophie and I am married to Tom, with 2 beautiful, but challenging little girls, Elsie and Carys. I have a background in nursing with a post graduate certificate in biological science. I have been a Baby Sleep consultant for 2 years now, and have gained substantial experience in helping parents get their babies and toddlers to sleep better. I have now worked with 100’s of families both in New Zealand and worldwide through home, email, phone and Skype consultations and coffee group sessions. I have successfully assisted families to improve sleep with basic issues, through to very strong feed to sleep associations, reflux, medical difficulties, and postnatal depression.

I am passionate about the biological basis of sleep, and continue to develop new knowledge as it comes to hand through research and experience. I also believe strongly in the holistic side of sleep, and working together with families to find a solution for them, and their own unique situation. I have now extended my passion in sleep consultancy to training and mentoring new consultants to help bring the gift of sleep to families. I love working with trainees to help foster their own passion for sleep, and it is thrilling to see how excited my trainees become when they have their “aha moments” from new found knowledge. Guiding new consultants to thrive with their clients, and gain experience to help spread the Baby Sleep Consultant magic is so rewarding for me.

I look forward to working with new trainees and helping them grow into successful consultants, with many happy babies and families in their wake!

Megan

Nutritionist – Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Psychology

I’m a Nutritionist and Mum to two very busy and energetic young boys. I graduated from Massey University in 2005, and hold a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Psychology, making me a university qualified Nutritionist. I am also a member of the Nutrition Society of New Zealand. My focus has always centred on food, health and feeding our children. At University I was always most interested in maternal and infant health, and becoming a Mother in 2010 only fortified that passion. I have been in private practice since 2011, and began tutoring and mentoring student Sleep Consultants in infant nutrition in 2014. I also work closely with Baby Sleep Consultants and their clients to help provide a holistic approach to sleep training.

What we eat, and what we feed our children can have far reaching consequences on behaviour and mood. For children especially, food plays an important role in sleep. Undiagnosed or poorly managed food allergies and intolerances, nutrient deficiencies, poor energy balance and inappropriate dietary choices can all have significant impact on a child’s sleep and ultimately, their wellbeing. My work with students concentrates on up-to-date research, and providing the basics of feeding babies and young children, to give consultants the confidence of knowing they have considered all factors which may impact a child’s sleep.

I look forward to passing on my knowledge, and hopefully my passion, to future sleep consultant students.

I provide professional development lecture’s for all consultants training through Baby Sleep Consultant Training Ltd, and I am available for one on one mentoring if you need more assistance. Please feel free to contact me megan@nourishednutrition.co.nz if you would like to discuss this option.

Julia

Lactation Consultant – International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)

Julia is an International board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). I am also a Registered Nurse with a postgraduate diploma in Advanced Clinical Nursing specialising in Paediatrics.

I love helping mothers and babies to breastfeed. I speak regularly to parents and health professionals on breastfeeding topics. I really enjoy mentoring sleep consultants who want to upskill in the area of breastfeeding and provide evidence based practice.

I stay up to date with the latest research on lactation, infant nutrition and infant development so that i can provide parents and health professionals with the most current information available.

Dr Sarah

Dr Sarah Bell-Booth Clinical Psychologist BA (Hons), DClinPsych

I am a registered Clinical Psychologist with seven years of training. This training included a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours and a Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University. In addition, I have approximately nine years of experience in both public and private mental health settings.

In my clinical practice, I treat adults with mild-moderate severity:

anxiety (e.g., panic disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, hypochondriasis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder),
depression,
anger and irritability,
perinatal mental health concerns,
difficulty adjusting to new situations/roles such as parenthood, and
relationship difficulties.

I am particularly passionate about prevention, early intervention and treatment of perinatal difficulties such as antenatal anxiety and postnatal distress. I can offer sessions either in person or via Skype.

The evidence-based techniques I use are primarily drawn from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This includes metacognitive therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT; including mindfulness and assertive communication training), and positive psychology (resilience/strengths based work). Research shows that these techniques reduce distress and improve quality of life. My role is to help individuals apply these techniques to specific problems in a practical and collaborative manner. This collaboration empowers people to achieve their goals.

Hannah

Hannah Gentile, Master’s in Human Nutrition and a Registered Nutritionist.

A Registered Nutritionist, Mother, and Creator of

Nourished by Nature.

I help people all over the world create healthy families through scientifically-backed nutrition support.

I have a Master’s in Human Nutrition and am a Registered Nutritionist. Everything I teach is backed by scientific research and is 100% safe for you and your family.

My methods are based around changing behaviour, not strict guidelines. This means my programs work around who you are, not the other way around, making them easy to follow.

I have over a decade of experienceworking with children and families. This has given me a wide range of knowledge to understand your unique situation and how best to provide you with solutions.

More about Hannah HERE.

Louise

Louise Shaw, mother of 3, Certified Sleep Consultant, Mentor

Louise joined the Baby Sleep Consultant team in 2015, it was obvious with her years of nanny service and experience with young children, she was a natural at this.

She quickly built up her experience working with over 1000 families in and across Auckland city.

Louise has worked with multiples families, newborns, toddlers, and babies. Her passion for helping students to develop their understanding of a wide range of family situations is a real asset.

Louise works with students in her mentor role to guide them through the sleep consultancy course and help them to discover their own style, and build confidence.

She has helped over 100 students graduate from across the globe, her experience and love for teaching is a real gift to the team.

Danielle

Danielle Thomson, mother of 2, Certified Sleep Consultant, Experienced Nutritionist and Mentor

Danielle Thomson, mother of two, Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, Certified Sleep Consultant, Mentor

Hi, my name is Danielle and I’m a qualified and experienced Nutritionist and Sleep Consultant. My husband and I have two beautiful little girls, Annabel (three) and Charlotte (19 months) and we are based in the Manawatu, NZ.

I’ve always had a huge passion for helping people through working as a Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, and now a Sleep Consultant. While working as a child nutritionist, I consistently saw a link between poor sleep and poor food intakes in children. This, along with having my own experience of chronic sleep deprivation, ignited my interest in child sleep. Like nutrition, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach that works and I love the challenge this brings to my role as a Sleep Consultant.

My experience and passion in this industry has led me to mentor students through this amazing course. Distance learning is not always easy and I appreciate the challenges this brings. My role as a mentor is to guide, support and motivate you through the course so you can come out the other side as a confident and competent Sleep Consultant! I look forward to helping my student’s work through their intake forms to find the ‘missing pieces of the puzzle’ in order to create a tailored plan for each of their clients. I use a holistic approach to help my clients achieve their sleep goals with support and empathy, and I will be encouraging my students to do the same.

I can’t wait to be a part of my student’s journey to becoming the best Sleep Consultant they can be! It is such a rewarding career and I know you will truly make such a positive difference to young children and their families.

Cara

Cara Popping, mother of 2 , Bachelor of Education, Certified Sleep Consultant, Mentor

Cara is a mum to two girls and has a passion for helping parents and children achieve better sleep.

She has a Bachelor of Education degree and worked in the classroom for 9 years prior to moving into a more full time role as a sleep consultant.

Cara is an experienced consultant, having worked with hundreds of families to improve sleep in their home.

She loves to use the knowledge and understanding from the experience she brings, to help others achieve their goal of becoming a certified sleep consultant.

Karen

Karen Bessone, mother of 2, Qualified Primary School Teacher – Psychology Major, Certified Sleep Consultant, Mentor

Hi, my name is Karen, I am a mum of two little boys Samuel and Joshua. I am a qualified primary school teacher with majors in child psychology. I have been a baby sleep consultant for over two years now and have managed to work with a number of families all around the world to get better sleep.

Having a background in psychology brought me to become a sleep consultant and help families get more sleep. I know all to well how lack of sleep affects households.

Working as a consultant is satisfying in so many ways. Teaching parents that there is science behind sleep and also the huge need for sleep right from your child through to the parents. Sleep is such an important part of our daily lives!

I absolutely love sharing my knowledge, experience and guiding students in my mentoring role. Their success is our success!

Emma

Emma Tweedie, mother of 2, Qualified Teacher, Certified Sleep Consultant, Mentor

As a certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant and a qualified primary school teacher I have a passion for helping and supporting others.

In my job as an Infant and Child Sleep Consultant I have helped many families improve their young ones sleep. Setting goals and guiding parents through making changes so both they and their baby are getting the rest they need to be able to enjoy each day and make the most of the precious early years.

Coupled with my love for teaching, my experience and passion as a sleep consultant has lead me to mentor students through this training course. As a mentor, my role is to support you and motivate you to become the best Sleep Consultant you can be. I work along side you while you develop your understanding of the science behind sleep, develop your own philosophies around sleep and gain the knowledge you need to work with families to help them achieve better sleep in a respectful and supportive way.

Being an Infant and Child Sleep Consultant is such a rewarding career and I am excited to share this journey with you.

Andrea

Andrea, Mother of 2. Certified Sleep Consultant, Mentor

As a Mum of 2 young children, I know all too well just how important sleep is for the whole family’s overall health and wellbeing.

After having my first child in 2013, I quickly realised sleep was in fact, something that had to be taught and found myself riddled with anxiety and extremely overwhelmed due to having a newborn who would only cat nap and wasn’t settling until late at night. Lack of sleep was the trigger for my anxiety and then I found “Baby sleep consultant” online, attended a talk, followed their advice and routines and couldn’t believe the change we had as a result..

I became so empowered that I wanted to help others achieve the same, so it was a no brainer that I should train to become a sleep consultant to help others with their sleep journeys.

Through my own experiences with 2 completely different children, I have learnt that there is no one way of doing things as every child has different needs.

My passion for sleep doesn’t stop with children, and I feel it is something severely under prioritised by most adults in our society.

Through my years of experience helping hundreds of families, I have seen and understand firsthand, the toll sleep deprivation can have and I feel incredibly fortunate that those families have trusted me to assist and support them, as well as being privileged to be a confidant to those who just needed someone to listen with empathy as we know, raising children takes a village.

I pride myself on building a good rapport with my clients and trainee students and try to bring some positive energy to make the process of learning fun.

I will be there to support and encourage you, whilst you develop an understanding of the science behind sleep. I love that I can share my knowledge and passion for sleep, as well as being respectful of everyone’s different philosophies and approaches and I will help you gain the confidence to become the best certified sleep consultant you can be so you too can give the gift of sleep to others.

Professor Ed Mitchell

Dr Ed Mitchell: Professor in Paediatrics, child and youth health, school of medicine. Psychological Medicine, school of medicine.

Dr Ed Mitchell qualified at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London. He has published over 400 papers and specializes in the epidemiology of SUDI.

He has been internationally recognized and awarded for his landmark studies of SIDS. Responsible for the “back to sleep campaign”, Dr Ed Mitchell is literally responsible for saving thousands of babies lives around the world.

“I guess there’s a huge satisfaction in realising that in New Zealand, we’ve probably saved about 3000 babies from dying with the interventions we’ve put in place so far,” he said.

“But there’s also an air of frustration because we believe that, if all of the messages were taken up, then the 50 deaths occurring each year currently would probably drop to only six.”

It is with this knowledge that we are proud to be ensuring all our sleep consultants receive their education about SIDS and SUDI from this world renowned expert.

Lindsey

Lindsey Clark, BA (Hons), QTS, is Founder of Peaceful Sleep Secrets. Based in Hampshire, England

Lindsey Clark has over 20-years’ experience working with babies and young children.

It was after she realised the lack of support available for parents of autistic children, and with her eldest child on the pathway to diagnosis, that she made the decision to train as an Autism and Anxiety Sleep Specialist.

Her expert knowledge and first-hand experience mean she is able to support families using gentle, bespoke approaches so that autistic children get long-lasting quality sleep. She has successfully helped improve sleep for hundreds of families worldwide through her 1-1 packages, group support programs, courses and workshops.

Lindsey also trains other sleep consultants and professionals to become Certified Autism Sleep Specialists. Her work has been published in several international magazines including; Autism Eye, Autism Parenting Magazine and Autism Advocate Parenting Magazine and she regularly works with Autism charities.

Email: lindsey@peacefulsleepsecrets.com

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