From Childminder to Mood Stars: A Conversation with Wendy White
Two Hypnotherapists Talking — with special guest Wendy White Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH & Les Roberts ACH
Listen to the Full Episode
Welcome back to Two Hypnotherapists Talking, the weekly podcast for anyone curious about the fascinating world of hypnosis and the benefits it offers. Your hosts are Denise Billen-Mejia, a retired medical doctor and consultant hypnotist based in Delaware, USA, and Les Roberts, a clinical hypnotherapist in St Helens, United Kingdom, who specializes in working with children.
This episode's guest is the delightful Wendy White, joining Denise and Les fresh off a sunny vacation abroad — a welcome break, given the notoriously grim weather she left behind in the UK. True to form, the episode opens with a bit of classic British small talk about the weather, from high winds in St Helens to a sudden swing from 75-degree warmth to an incoming forecast of snow.
22 Years as a Childminder
Once introductions settle, Denise asks Wendy to explain her background for listeners, since — unlike the show's usual guests — Wendy isn't a hypnotist. Wendy shares that she spent 22 years as a childminder in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in the UK, registering in 2000 and working under the regulatory oversight of Ofsted, the UK's education standards body.
In 2014, the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework changed the role significantly. Childminders like Wendy were no longer simply providing care — they became responsible for implementing structured areas of learning and, crucially, evidencing that learning and development for Ofsted inspections.
Documenting Development, From Babies to Nine-Year-Olds
Wendy cared for children ranging from just one year old up to nine, with the older children typically attending as part of after-school care. Denise finds it striking that the same rigorous documentation requirements applied even to the very youngest children — where milestones might be as simple as whether a child can stand up unaided. Regardless of age, Wendy explains, every child's growth had to be observed, noted, and recorded, with individual files tracking each child's steps, progress, and milestones like first words.
In the early days of her career, all of this was done entirely by hand — a stark contrast to today's childminding landscape, where software applications now handle much of the observation and reporting process (Wendy notes a rough parallel with systems used in the United States, sometimes referred to as "Huckleberry").
This conversation continues in the full episode, including how Wendy's background eventually led her to create Mood Stars.
Tune in to hear the complete conversation with Wendy White on her decades in early years childcare and the journey that followed.
Connect with everyone from this episode:
Denise Billen-Mejia MD CH — www.healandberadiant.com | [email protected]
Les Roberts ACH — www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk | [email protected]
Wendy White — Mood Stars | LinkedIn
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