Mongan Method

Marie Mongan – Our Founder

The Woman who started our journey to positive birth experiences, was Marie F. Mongan, M.ed M.Hy (aka Mickey), an award-winning hypnotherapist and counsellor. Her comprehensive birthing education program ‘The Mongan Method’ offers women and their partners opportunities to explore their choices and develop the decision-making skills necessary to achieve their birthing goals. 

“Our philosophy is to teach a woman to know and trust her body; her body will know how to do it,”

Marie Mongan

Marie Mongan HypnoBirthing

Meet Marie “Mickey” Mongan

Life Magazine Marie Mongan HypnoBirthing

Marie F. Mongan, M.ed M.Hy is the extraordinary woman behind HypnoBirthing and the founder/creator of HypnoBirthing, the Mongan method.

She was a former college dean who early in her career, was named one of five outstanding educational leaders in New Hampshire, Marie (known as “Mickey”) was a licensed counselor and certified hypnotherapist, hypnoanesthesiologist, and instructor of hypnotherapy.

She held several awards for distinguished service and achievement in the practice of hypnosis including:

  • The Ford Foundation Fellowship to Harvard University
  • National Guild, Hypnotists President’s Award
  • National Guild, Charles Tebbetts Award
  • National Guild, Rexford L North Award
In 2005 she became the first woman ever to receive the highest award given by the National Guild – the Rexford L. North Award.

Marie Mongan is the mother of four adult children, all born in the late 50s and early 60s. She experienced all four labours without labour medication, using the theories of Dr. Jonathan Dye, of Buffalo, New York, and Grantly Dick-Read, of the UK, two pioneers in natural childbirth.

Marie Mongan Family

Two of her births were entirely free of anesthesia at a time when it was unheard of, and her husband was by her side in both the labour room and the “delivery” room. Mickeys first book HypnoBirthing® a celebration of life was written in 1989; while her latest edition HypnoBirthing® the Mongan Method is available from the HypnoBirthing® Institute and leading book outlets around the world.

She has also featured in the 2012 birth documentary ”Freedom for Birth”.

Mickey sadly passed away in June 2019, and the staff and Educators of HypnoBirthing International are continuing her dream and vision of a positive birth for all birthing families. She continues to be an inspiration in birth education to birth teachers, midwives, women and mum’s around the world.

Mongan Method

Marie Mongan, Ed.M Journal, Developer of HypnoBirthing

HypnoBirthing® (trademarked US) is the work of Marie Mongan, who was an award-winning hypnotherapist and Founder and Director of the HypnoBirthing® Institute.

Marie founded and developed The Mongan Method HypnoBirthing programme over thirty years ago and had over thirty years’ experience in education and counseling, both at a college level and in private sector. 

HypnoBirthing, which uses hypnosis to induce even greater calm during labour, remained in a state of prolonged infancy until the late 1980s, when Mrs. Mongan became certified in hypnotherapy. She established an institute that conducted classes, wrote a book on the practice, and became one of its chief exponents in the United States.

“We are taking the birthing world by calm,” Mrs. Mongan declared in 1999.

Marie Mongan’s HypnoBirthing program, which consists of in-person classes and audio recordings for pregnant women and their partners, includes breathing exercises, visualisations, music and positive affirmations that teach women to drop into a deeply meditative, relaxed state when prompted with cues. The program culminates at childbirth, when the woman channels her preparation to enter into a hyper-focused state of mind, akin to daydreaming, aiming to progress through labour peacefully, reducing the need for pain medication or anaesthesia.

In 2000, she started the HypnoBirthing Institute (now HypnoBirthing International), which certifies doulas, midwives, doctors and laypeople to act as HypnoBirthing educators. Although Marie Mongan believed everyone could be taught to bring themselves into an intensely relaxed state and insisted HypnoBirthing could dramatically reduce — if not eliminate — pain during childbirth.

Mickey’s program is taught at nearly a dozen hospital programs across the United States, and HypnoBirthing International, the practice’s oldest and largest accreditation body, estimated that 250,000 couples take the online and in-person course globally each year. Read some inspiring reviews here.

Marie Mongan saw the practice gain popularity and acceptance. She spent the last 20 years of her life traveling around the world, teaching her program and advocating for the rights of mothers to give birth without excessive medical intervention.

“My Dream Is That Every Woman Everywhere Will Know The Joy Of A Safe, Satisfying Birth, For Both Her Herself And Her Baby”
– Marie F. Mongan (Founder) 1989

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HypnoBirthing Book
Visit the Store to Purchase Marie’s Book – ‘HypnoBirthing. The Mongan Method’

Give birth, free from fear with self hypnosis
& breathing techniques

Since 1989, Marie F. Mongan has been helping women experience a positive birth free from fear.
Read about all the amazing benefits of HypnoBirthing.