Our Power Lies in Our Wounds

My name is Anne Barratt of Empowering Health and I specialize in helping people with fertility issues, and those who are childless by circumstance. I teach them to take charge of their emotions, body, and life. I educate others about the body’s innate ability to heal itself.

Anne Barratt, founder of Empowering Health

When we are faced with fertility issues and childlessness many feel powerless... like a victim. When we are in a position of control again through learning, and choosing a better way to be (whatever that may be for you), then we may start to heal and be ‘re-empowered’.

"Re-Empowering You" is the name of my webinar for the We Are Worthy Summit. Together we will look at the mind-body connection, and external influences such as endocrine system disrupters which may have affected your fertility.

I’m based in Australia, in the beautiful Blue Mountains near Sydney. I work with people face-to-face and via the internet. People can connect with me either by email or Facebook private message to arrange a time to connect. Then we can meet by Skype or Zoom.

Email: info@empoweringhealth.clinic

Facebook: EmpoweringHealthAU

Skype: Anne.M.Barratt

The 3-Sisters Blue Mountains, Australia. Heaven on Earth!

I Am a Planner

I realized that becoming a parent was important to me when I met my first husband. I was about 30 years old and ready to settle down, after having achieved a lot of my personal goals. I was happy I'd met the right person to raise a family with.

I thought I was healthy. I’d established myself financially and had saved enough money to have a year off for maternity leave. I’d done a lot of the travel I’d wanted to do. We bought a house with a yard and we had family support if we needed it. I even went as far as to buy clothes with a little room to allow for a baby bump, and handbags big enough to carry baby "nappies" and baby accessories. This sounds a little silly, but I was working on the theory of the "power of positive thinking" and the learning from the book “The Secret” (which didn’t help me to have a child.)

I’d always thought I’d have no problems, even in my 30's as no one had ever indicated I would have any troubles. My specialist had told me even though I had endometriosis that this would not stop me from falling pregnant. Doctors had even found that pregnancy sometimes helped to “cure” endometriosis.

... But Life Doesn't Always Go As Planned

Because of my age, if I had not conceived after a year of trying, I qualified to start IVF. We gave it a go, but after a while my body started to physically react negatively to all the injections and I had to stop. We then sought the help of a naturopath who specialized in fertility. She identified that my husband had as many health limiting factors as me.

It does generally take two to make a baby, and my husband at the time wasn’t strong willed enough to make the health changes needed. Over time I guess the strain took it’s toll on our relationship and it ended.

I knew now that my biological clock was ticking fast. Due to the endometriosis becoming more extensive, the only way I’d fall pregnant was through IVF. I met someone new who I was open and honest with about my situation and my desire to have for children. He said he wanted the same and I believed him.

My doctor advised me to schedule my next laparoscopy to remove further endometriosis right away and suggested we started the IVF as soon as possible afterwards. IVF would be my last chance. My partner and I agreed to go ahead with the surgery, which I had. Next, we had to sign an IVF contract. However, my partner was late on the day we needed to sign to paperwork. That was the first sign there was something wrong. When he eventually arrived, he asked,

“Why are we here?” “Why do I need to sign a contract?”

We had previously discussed all of this! We had read all the information booklets we’d been given together. I couldn’t understand what was going on. It wasn’t until we sat in front of the doctor, my partner admitted he never wanted kids. He had hoped I’d change my mind by now. I was devastated!

I wasn’t going to let him stop me, so I was determined to have a child on my own. However, I was three months too late. The prime minister at the time had all the sperm in the bank destroyed after a change in the privacy laws. There were only 6 vials from two donors available, and I didn’t qualify as I was too old, and not damaged enough.

Having hit another hurdle, I did a lot of reflecting and decided that I didn’t want to do this on my own. I met my current husband who was willing to support my want for a child. Unfortunately my endometriosis spread further, causing an obstruction in my bowel (for the second time). I had to have surgery asap. Bowel surgery was considered too risky, so my ovaries and uterus were removed instead.

And this is the brief version of how I ended up CNBC.

Purpose After Childlessness

I was fortunate to have Nicci Fletcher reach out to me to consider contributing to the We Are Worthy Summit, after I had previously written for her CNBC Magazine on my experience of finding purpose after childlessness.

For the summit I have recorded a webinar. My intention for this event is to educate people about how their body works through a basic scientific understanding of the Mind-Body connection, and through the ancient Chinese understanding of how energy flows. One learns to identify different influences in your life may be affecting your overall health and fertility.

Chinese Five-Element Theory: The Flow of Life

This understanding is also important for those who are Childless By Circumstance. If you’re like me you’d like to understand what lead you to your fertility issues. Finding the underlying contributing factors can facilitate the whole body healing process.

Our bodies are inter-related mentally, emotionally, physically and biochemically. Emotional grief or loss must be dealt with or it may later manifest as disease.

Everybody’s life journey and experiences are unique so it’s less than easy to incorporate everything into one webinar. I’ve created something that I hope will help as many people as possible. The webinar is a combination of light theory and practical exercises, including a "self-sabotage clearing exercise" and healing meditation.

I’ll also provide downloadable resources from the webinar after the event.

Although my event will be running at 4am Sydney time, people are still welcome to email me any questions: anne@empoweringhealth.clinic.

The Why Behind What I Do

I decided to dedicate myself to supporting people who are childless by circumstance at a time when I’d lost purpose for life and living, and I couldn’t find anyone to help me who had personally experienced childlessness. I saw there was a big hole and no-one to dig me out except myself.

Statistics show 1 in 4 women of child bearing age will be childless. This is a huge number! I don’t want others to experience the helplessness that I felt.

From here I went on to learning the true reasons behind my health problems, the answers no medical professional had been able to provide. A lot of the “solutions” I’d been given were all band-aids just to cover up the symptoms but I wanted to know WHY was I having these symptoms. After much research and practice, I understand what happened to me and now help others to achieve an optimal state of balance and well being. I have an overwhelming need to nurture, and I fulfill this need by nurturing the people I work with.

My Message to the CNBC Community

There are so many important things to share:

Where there is stress there is no wellness
Identify what is the one key personal need you’re missing by not having a child. Then brainstorm other ways of fulfilling this need. Take action to do these things.
You need to keep taking steps forward in your life, to keep the energy moving.
You’re not alone, and there is support
Although the loss may never leave you, it does get easier
It’s important to feel emotions. It’s part of the body’s way to allow you to heal. If not felt and released through tears, or screaming, or running for example, they become suppressed and maybe buried under other emotions, and then manifest as some form of pain or disease later in life. (Tune in to the webinar for actual exercises.)
You have the answers within you, and you’re body was designed to heal itself. You just need to identify where your blocks are and learn how to shift them and together we may do this.