Our Patrons
We are extremely proud to be working alongside the fabulous:
Donna Ockenden
Donna Ockenden has more than 35 years’ experience of working within a variety of health settings, both in the UK and internationally. Her most notable work has been as Chair of the Independent Review of Maternity Services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust; Chair of the Review into the Tawel Fan Ward Older Persons mental health at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd; and Chair of the Review of Governance in Older Persons Mental Health at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales. In May 2022, Donna was appointed as the Chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Review will publish its final report in June 2026.
Donna believes passionately in safe maternity and perinatal care, raising awareness and striving to improve and endorse initiatives which allow babies to arrive more safely. An advocate of best practice, Donna has led numerous projects including a toolkit which provides practical methods for gathering feedback from families whose baby or babies have died during pregnancy or shortly after birth. The Immediate and Essential Actions (or IEA’s) arising from the final Shrewsbury and Telford report were a ‘blue print’ or roadmap towards greater maternity safety. Whilst much more needs to be done, some progress was made.
Donna is delighted to become an Ambassador for MAMA Academy and says “wonderful progress is being made by the dedicated team at MAMA Academy by empowering expectant parents with safer pregnancy information. By helping them feel in control of their pregnancy and confident in reporting any problematic symptoms to their maternity team, this work is commendable and makes a real difference”.
Marie Louise, The Modern Midwife
Marie Louise is an experienced Midwife, known as The Modern Midwife online. She is the author of the best selling pregnancy book “The Modern Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy Birth and Beyond”.
Marie is also a PTLLS adult educator and hypnobirthing teacher. She has travelled extensively to learn about midwifery in different cultures and has also practised in Australia.
Marie Louise is a sought after expert called upon by the press and has been invited to Parliament to discuss maternal mental health and maternity discrimination. She runs an Instagram account where she shares up to date evidence based information and her very honest account of motherhood and runs online antenatal and hypnobirthing courses via her website.
Sue Atkins, The Parenting Expert
Sue Atkins is an internationally recognised Parenting Expert, Broadcaster, Speaker, Freelance Writer & Agony Aunt and Author of the Amazon best-selling books “Parenting Made Easy – How to Raise Happy Children” & “Raising Happy Children for Dummies” one in the famous black and yellow series as well as author of the highly acclaimed Parenting Made Easy resources.
She regularly appears on the award-winning flagship ITV show ‘This Morning,’ Good Morning Britain, The Jeremy Vine Show, The Vanessa Feltz Show & is the parenting expert for numerous BBC Radio Stations around the UK.
Sue regularly works with Fortune 500 companies, brands, and celebrities.
Sue is the Parenting Expert for Disney Family and records monthly podcasts, videos and Facebook Live Tea Parties around ‘Parenting Hacks’ writing articles, sharing her parenting tips as well as heading up The Disney Gift of Play Campaign, the ‘Time to Shine’ Self Esteem Campaign and The Parenting Hacks YouTube Campaign.
Check out her videos and tips on the new Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel website around the Gift of Play
https://www.disneymagicmoments.co.uk/the-gift-of-play
Her highly acclaimed ‘Can Do Kid’s Journal: Discover your Confidence Superpower’ gives children the gift of self-esteem and empowers them to become creative, innovative, independent, resourceful, resilient & confident in their own abilities to try new things & able to bounce back after setbacks.
She has created The Sue Atkins ‘Toddler Roadmap,’ which is bursting with over 40 Quick Win Videos, Audios and eModules. around raising happy confident, resilient toddlers. It is bursting with exclusive content for parents around toddler tantrums, picky eating, potty training, bedtimes & sleep, and covers the ‘Why’ and ‘No’ Stages and much, much more and is bursting with fresh ideas, tried and tested strategies and lots of practical tips to raise toddlers with strong self-esteem and good mental health – not damaged by living through a pandemic.
Sue produces ‘The Sue Atkins Parenting Show’ a free weekly podcast which is bursting with Sue’s practical ideas, techniques, and down to earth strategies for raising happy, confident, resilient children with strong self-esteem.
Sue has also created the ‘Parentverse’ her exclusive platform for her podcast interviews with global Experts from around the world in her ‘Sue in Conversation With …’ series.
Sue also has created The Sue Atkins Book Club showcasing the very best in parenting and children’s books.
Sue is also the global spokesperson for World Digital Detox Day and is the host of their ‘Unplugged’: The Digital Detox Podcast
Sue offers practical guidance for bringing up happy, confident, resilient children and helps parents create happy childhoods, free from finger pointing or judgement.
Sue also specialises in supporting families through divorce & created the Award Winning ‘Divorce Journal for Kids’ is designed to help children express, explore and understand some of the strong emotions that they may be feeling and to help them process the divorce for themselves. She has also created a series of Divorce Conversational Cards for parents to help start the difficult conversations about the changes that families face when they are going through divorce.
Sue has created a number of CPD Courses for professionals working with parents, children and families around ‘Navigating Family Transitions: A CPD COURSE for Professionals Supporting Children, Parents & Families through Divorce, Separation, or Family Break Up’ and ‘Igniting Parental Engagement: A Dynamic CPD Approach COURSE’
Sue’s parenting articles are published all over the world & to receive her free eBooks bursting with practical tips and helpful advice from toddler to teen log on here and download them instantly today.
Sophie Price, Social Media Ambassador
Sophie Price is an internationally recognised influencer, podcaster and mum. Sophie is an interior designer known for her stylish and accessible approach to home decor. She shares her design insights and inspirations primarily on social media where she has a significant following. She became an ambassador for MAMA Academy while she was pregnant with her second child and has been passionately sharing the message around stillbirth prevention and education ever since.