You have 0 items in your cart
SARAH LOUISE COWPERTHWAITE – Breastfeeding Counsellor
I’m Sarah and I’m an ABM Breastfeeding Counsellor. Here in Wiltshire, I helped to set up and currently run a breastfeeding group with an amazing team of other ABM volunteers.
I’m also a Peer Supporter Mentor with ABM, which means I help those undertaking the Peer Supporter course with ABM and champion them throughout their Peer Supporter journey. I love hearing all the different reasons people come to the course and all the different joys and challenges they’ve had with feeding their own children. It always reminds me that each family is so individual and unique, and that our support should be the same.
In my spare time, alongside digging at our allotment and doing various crafts, I volunteer for our local Maternity Voices Partnership and advocate for local families and their feeding journeys.
RAKSHA RAGHAVAN – Peer Supporter
Hi I’m Raksha and I’m a Peer Supporter. I first trained as a Peer Supporter in 2017 soon after my first daughter turned 1. We had a very difficult start and I succeeded at breastfeeding her only because of the amazing support I got from my local breastfeeding group. My main motivation for training was to be able to pay it forward. I found the Peer Supporter course and role very attractive because I could study and pass the course despite working a full time job with a toddler. Due to my work, I’m very limited in what I can do face to face so I’ve spent majority of my time volunteering online as an admin on a UK based expert led Facebook group.
I started mentoring other Peer Supporters in 2019 and it has been a very rewarding experience to watch them not just complete the course but to go on to supporting other parents. I feel privileged to belong to the ABM and I continue to learn and improve the way I support families and other Peer Supporters.
STEPH RICHARDS – Breastfeeding Counsellor
I have been supporting Breastfeeding parents since 2020 after having a less than ideal Breastfeeding journey with my firstborn. I trained to be a peer supporter in 2020, and a Breastfeeding counsellor in 2021. In 2024 I qualified as an IBCLC and I became an ABM Breastfeeding Counsellor Co-ordinator for the East Region. I love supporting other folks on their own supporting journies and continue to support families in private practise and volunteer roles too.
My supporting journey has taken many forms, from admin duties on a 40k strong facebook breastfeeding support page, volunteering on the postnatal wards, phone support, social media support and In-person support at 2x local groups that I helped to founder. I volunteer on the breastfeeding helpline 3/4 times a week and love how every conversation can be completely different.
HOLLY GREEN – Breastfeeding Counsellor
In 2018 I began my breastfeeding supporter journey after training to be a peer supporter. At the start of 2020 I helped to set up a local breastfeeding group which continued to run virtually throughout the pandemic. During this time I continued my training and became a breastfeeding counsellor.
I am passionate about breastfeeding support having struggled feeding my first child. There was minimal trained support in my area and we had a tough few months going it alone. I am now a mother to 3 children and spend my spare time chasing after them, taking calls on the national breastfeeding helpline, supporting families on social media and continuing to run our local group which has now expanded to two venues.
VICTORIA VENN – Breastfeeding Counsellor
I first trained as a Peer Supporter with a local organisation in January 2019, when my son was 6 months old. We needed lots of support in the early days to establish breastfeeding and whilst I was lucky to find this support through health care teams and local volunteers, I knew other local parents were struggling to access the minimal support around. After a while, I gained a desire to know more, so that I could help more parents, and I joined the ABM in order to train as a Breastfeeding Counsellor. I completed their equivalent Peer Support course and went straight on to complete their Breastfeeding Counsellor course. I now support on the National Breastfeeding Helpline, support at a local group, where we offer feeding support alongside a sling and cloth nappy library, and am part of a small team of volunteers who support the Infant Feeding Team on the post-natal ward at the hospital.
AMBER HANNON – Peer Supporter
I’ve been an ABM Peer Supporter for just under a year and I volunteer on the Breastfeeding Support and Information UK Facebook page. I am a single mum and have been breastfeeding my son for 3 years and 4 months.
I absolutely love my volunteering role on BfSI and to know that I’m helping mothers on their breastfeeding journey always gives me that fuzzy feeling.
ANYA COOK – Peer Supporter
I’m based in Kent. I became a breastfeeding peer supporter because after I had my first child it was a peer supporter who empowered me to continue breastfeeding and gave me the tools and understanding to become confident in breastfeeding my daughter, despite her having a tongue tie and a cows milk allergy. I love being able to help others by giving them the support and encouragement to continue their breastfeeding journey for as long as both mother and baby are happy to do so! It’s the most amazing and rewarding role and I feel so privileged to be able to be part of someone else’s breastfeeding journey
