About Suzanne
Suzanne Maier, former midwife, now birth doula, and founder of MotherHeal, is passionate about the transformative nature of birth and helping families journey into parenthood with strength, clarity and joy. A mother of four, she believes that women's health is integral to societal health and that women can be empowered through better maternal education, support and healing.
Having initially devoted her career to birth work with NHS Scotland and ensuring that women are well supported throughout their birthing year, Suzanne founded MotherHeal in 2022 to offer birth support and education across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
Suzanne's background
From her experience of attending more than 1000 women as they give birth, Suzanne draws on her understanding both of Scotland's maternity health system and of the range of birth experiences, from operating-theatre deliveries to home births.
She designed the MotherHeal programme of birth preparation classes and workshops to assist women and their partners as they navigate both the health system and their own range of emotions as they approach, experience and heal from one of the most important experiences of their lives: giving birth. You can hear more from Suzanne and her guests on The Mother Podcast.
Suzanne's experience
Suzanne realised midwifery was her path in 1995, while living in Vancouver where midwifery had just become regulated. She moved to Scotland from Canada in 1998 and worked in the NHS maternity system until 2023. She focused on labour care - low and high risk, both in the hospital and birth centre - until 2015 when she began work as a community midwife in East Lothian, where she lives with her family. Suzanne left her community midwifery job in 2021 and for the next 2 years worked alongside paediatric staff carrying out examination of newborns and teaching other midwives to perform this check.
Suzanne is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher and has trained with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa in Kundalini Yoga for Pregnancy. She is a certified Holistic Pelvic Care™ practitioner, trained by Tami Lynn Kent, and Natal Hypnotherapy practitioner, trained by Maggie Howell. She has trained in medical herbalism with Heartwood and intuitive herbalism with Nathaniel Hughes and has completed training in homeopathy for pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
In 2024 she voluntarily left the midwifery register to be able to attend births as a lay person. Suzanne has designed her birth doula services using all of her experience and training, to be able to get to know the family, using any healing modalities to best help prepare for the power of the birth and to heal afterwards.
MotherHeal's approach
Transformation
Connection
Strength
Birth is a transformative experience, and if we as women embrace this transformation into mothers we can use the gifts it brings. Connection with yourself - really knowing who you are - is important during any transformation and much of what Suzanne does helps women connect more deeply with themselves, heal from past trauma and feed their strength as mothers.
A few words from the motherhood
