Meet Hanneke Rota, a midwife with 40 years of experience supporting women and families in the Netherlands and around the world. Based in Haarlem, Hanneke brings together decades of midwifery experience with a holistic approach to pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood.
Through individual coaching and Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP), she helps expectant parents reconnect with their bodies, understand their own patterns and approach birth and parenthood with greater awareness, confidence and trust.
We spoke with Hanneke about how childbirth has changed over her four decades as a midwife, why she believes learning to trust the body matters, and what she hopes parents discover about themselves along the way.
Hanneke, tell us a little about yourself…
My name is Hanneke Rota, and I have been a midwife for 40 years, working in many different countries as well as in the Netherlands. I live in Haarlem and am able to meet with clients and give courses throughout Noord-Holland, as well as in Utrecht and Breda.
Over the years, I have seen childbirth and midwifery change, and it hurts me to see a process that is so natural becoming so complicated. I see women and couples trying to survive within the system, and a care system that does too little to prevent the “panic” and reassure and guide couples to fall back into their bodies and trust… simply trust.
I still feel a strong passion for getting to know the specifics of each pregnant woman or couple and trying to meet what is necessary for that particular client.
Besides individual coaching for specific needs during pregnancy and/or the postpartum period, I offer an evidence-based programme of group sessions for people experiencing insecurity and/or fear of childbirth. It is called MBCP (Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting).
It is a complete group or private pregnancy course, offered as either a nine-weekly or a compressed five-weekly sessions during pregnancy, followed by one postpartum session. As well as learning to understand why and how you have learned to perceive life the way you do, the programme helps you develop greater self-awareness. You also learn how your body and hormones work and how to stimulate your own physiological process.
Daily practices are part of the programme, helping new behaviours become more familiar and supporting you during labour. At the same time, the course can have a longer-term effect, supporting a healthy start for your new or growing family.
The training can be given individually, but there is added value in experiencing it alongside other pregnant women and couples. You can learn from one another and see how something may make one person struggle, while at another moment you may be the person feeling “lost”.
The MBCP programme is a beautiful—and sometimes deep—playground in which to learn, grow and be inspired.
If you have questions or specific wishes, please reach out. I would love to hear from you.
Can you tell us more about what you do and how you support families?
I am a midwife who has learned very thoroughly the whole “landscape” from pregnancy to parenthood.
I work with people individually or in groups, at any time when they meet an obstacle on the path that can sometimes feel like a rollercoaster—from pregnancy and birth through to early parenthood.
This is a period in which it is crucial to be able to fall into your physical body. That can be a challenge for those of us who have learned to dwell mainly in the mind.
It requires careful, patient and loving navigation to face our Western reality and learn, slowly but surely, to drop into the physical and biological body, beyond the observing, critical mind.
What inspired you to work with parents and families?
During my 40 years as a midwife, I have slowly seen things change.
It is painful to see how women find it more and more difficult to relate to such a deep and essential life event, and how often they find themselves disappointed or conflicted about their pregnancy and/or childbirth.
This may be an experience that happens only once or twice in a lifetime, and yet I see the start of parenthood beginning with frustration rather than with peace and confidence.
I feel an urgency to nurture this process holistically from the very beginning, so that the start of parenthood—and childhood—can evolve more smoothly.
Where did your professional journey begin, and how has it evolved over the years?
It started 40 years ago, when I worked abroad in developing countries and encountered ways of approaching pregnancy and birth that were different from those common to us.
This was followed by my own process of becoming a healthier and more whole person through a more holistic approach.
What training and experiences have shaped the practitioner you are today?
Besides my training in Midwifery, I have spent years training and reflecting on my own process of becoming a more whole person.
Meeting my own struggles in life and being guided by trainers who did not get lost in my own created “soup” was an important part of that journey. They invited me to meet my own history and survival strategies and to find my own ways of relating to myself in a more whole way.
This has also helped me to recognise how my clients can lose themselves.
I am also a certified MBCP trainer, trained by the Institute of Mindingeboorte.nl.
What do you love most about what you do?
I love seeing clients’ eyes open as they meet their own created survival mechanisms and are in awe of how simple it can be to pause the mind and just be—with whatever they meet on their path—in a more open way.
It is also beautiful to see that, when a pregnancy or birth goes differently from what they had hoped or expected, they can lovingly relate to “however it went”.
What might parents be surprised to discover through your work?
They may think they already know themselves. And then, all of a sudden, something is uncovered in an unexpected way.
At first, there can be shock. But then they see that it is possible to meet themselves in all their rawness, in a loving way—and recognise how they themselves may have been keeping away from reality.
For me, that is thrilling: when people meet and learn to include all parts of themselves.
How would you like families to feel after working with you?
I would like them to meet their own power and recognise the influence they have on their own process and experience, rather than expecting an external power to be the dominating influence in their lives.
Finally, what’s your golden nugget for expectant or new parents?
Dare to meet yourself, in all your sweetness and rawness… excluding nothing.
And a few quick ones, just for fun…
Tea or coffee?
Hot pure chocolate!
Your favourite way to recharge?
Singing 🎶 and swimming 🏊♀️.
Three words to describe yourself?
Patient. Everything—really, everything—is welcome. Able to be confronting and uncover what prefers to remain hidden.
Would you like to work with Hanneke?
Hanneke supports expectant and new parents through individual coaching and Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP), with sessions and courses available in Haarlem, across Noord-Holland, and in Utrecht and Breda.
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