I found my voice when I became a mother. Before my daughter was born, I never sang, and as a child I always stopped my mother singing in church. Through the early months of my daughter’s life, I struggled with sleep deprivation and the weight of responsibility that motherhood brought.  When the nights were long, singing brought comfort to both my daughter and myself. Through research I discovered that there were proven health benefits to lullabies. Singing to your baby activates the vagus nerve and drops you into your parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn, calms your baby down. A mother’s voice is one of her superpowers, acting as a sound bridge between prenatal and postnatal life.

A new avenue of research opened up when we met Martin Glover who led our research in British Sign Language and the sleep time rituals of parents who are deaf, shining a spotlight on the beautiful art form of Visual Vernacular.

See our response to this research here 

 The phrase ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ is often used, however for many modern parents living away from families, the reality of parenthood is very different. We designed a participatory arts workshop programme to provide a supportive atmosphere to meet and connect with other parents in the area. Hoping to facilitate friendships and nurture an inclusive, safe space through gentle, fun games, and self-care activities, including singing, breathing and writing workshops.