Birth Trauma Association - UK

You can read our article on what birth trauma is, and how you can find help, in the current issue of Toddle About magazine.

Toddle About Oxfordshire: Autumn 2024 Join the Toddle About VIP Member Club for just £2 and get the magazine delivered to your door hot off the press - plus lots of other great bonuses! www.toddle.fun/subscribe Also in this issue read all about our upcoming Baby Show on 9th November in Oxford! www.toddleabout.co.uk/baby-show/oxfords...

Yesterday (Sunday 3 November) we had the first in-person meeting of parents who had been harmed by poor maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals. Their stories were absolutely devastating.

We are planning to campaign for better care at the John Radcliffe and other local hospitals. Send us a message over Facebook if you have similar experience of poor maternity care in Oxfordshire and are interested in getting involved.

Just a reminder that our next Zoom drop-in for dads, hosted by Scott Mair of Fatherhood Solutions, will be on Wednesday 6 November at 7.30pm. You can book a ticket here.

Birth Trauma Peer Support For Dads Join our online event for dads seeking support and understanding after experiencing birth trauma.

We've received a research request for women be part of a project team looking at Black women's experience of birth trauma. More details from the researcher:

"The project will look at Black women's experiences of clinical care during and following a birth trauma through photovoice who live in the UK. It will explore this topic through photography and group discussion.

"The person would be someone who identifies as a black woman and preferably has had some experience of birth trauma in the last 4 years and minimum last 4 months. They will be part of the research team that meets 3 times a year minimum or can attend more meetings if they want to. They will form part of the research and recruitment planning if possible."

If you're interested, please contact Grace Sowande at [email protected]

Thank you so much for your support, Sam.

https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org/news-campaigns/bta-birthday

A ‘bittersweet milestone’: tributes paid to the world’s first birth trauma charity as it marks its 20th birthday — Birth Trauma Association The world’s first charity to support women who have had traumatic birth experiences is marking its 20 th anniversary – something that Made in Chelsea star Louise Thompson describes as a “bittersweet milestone”.

It’s 20 years since we launched The Birth Trauma Association. Last night we marked the Anniversary with a party at the House of Commons, attended by a wonderful group of people including BTA peer supporters, MPs, fundraisers, health professionals, lawyers and many others.

A special thanks to Rosie Duffield, the official MP sponsor, law firm Irwin Mitchell who provided sponsorship, and Theo Clarke and Victoria Atkins who were kind enough to speak at the event.

We were delighted too to welcome Louise Thompson who has done so much to raise awareness of birth trauma after her own traumatic birth. Thank you 🤍

Here’s to the future where we will continue to do all we can to make a difference for Women’s health pre & post birth. Better together & stronger together ❤️

Thank you all as always, for your continued support.

The BTA team 🫶🏻

Theo Clarke Hudgell Solicitors Human Rights in Childbirth The MASIC Foundation Fatherhood Solutions Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance Bolt Burdon Kemp Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists RCOG The Royal College of Midwives Hodge Jones & Allen Russell-Cooke Solicitors Leigh Day Solicitors Irwin Mitchell Wellbeing of Women Kim Thomas Rachael McGrath Jessica Pinder

We've been contacted by a researcher looking for people to take part in her research on autistic people's experience of mental health support during pregnancy.

If you're interested, please contact the researcher at [email protected]

An artist has created an exhibition to depict the experience of a traumatic birth.

Phoebe Wingrove, from Brighton, East Sussex, said she hoped her photography would help raise awareness and “create safe spaces for art to aid important conversations”.

The exhibition – In the Dark: Birth – is on show at Jules Emporium, in Brighton, until 27 October as part of Photo Fringehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cglkw0rngjjo

Brighton: Artist creates exhibition depicting traumatic birth The exhibition features abstract photographs representing a woman’s experience of traumatic birth.

The BTA is quoted in an article on birth photography. Content warning: you may find some of the images in this article triggering. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/oct/20/its-natural-its-real-its-raw-the-rise-of-birth-photography

It’s exactly one year since Theo Clarke stood up in parliament and talked about her traumatic birth.

It was a historic moment – never before, in its 1,000-year history, had there been a discussion in parliament about birth trauma. Theo, rightly, won awards for her speech, but other MPs such as Rosie Duffield made important contributions to the debate, offering moving accounts about their constituents’ experiences of poor care in the maternity system.

Lots of women who had experienced traumatic birth watched the debate from the public gallery. After Theo had finished speaking, many stood up and applauded – but had to be shushed by the House of Commons officials, because clapping is not allowed in the public gallery. As campaigner Gill Castle said afterwards, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

A year on, much has changed. We’ve had the birth trauma inquiry, the first this country has ever had, led by Theo Clarke and Rosie Duffield, with the secretariat role provided by the Birth Trauma Association. Although the last government promised to implement the report’s recommendations, we now have a new government, and we are not sure what its plans are for improving maternity care – though health secretary Wes Streeting has said that maternity is one of the things that keeps him awake at night.

Whatever happens, we will continue to do our best to support parents with birth trauma and to campaign for change.

Our chair Rachael McGrath has had a busy week. After talking to University of Cambridge medical students on Wednesday, she travelled up to York to speak at Hudgell Solicitors annual clinical negligence conference.

Rachael spoke about the work of the BTA and the lifelong impact of traumatic birth; her talk was very well received.

On Wednesday BTA Chair Rachael McGrath returned to the University of Cambridge as guest speaker for the first lecture of the medical students’ Social and Ethical Context of Health and Illness course module.

300 students heard Rachael speak about the importance of delivering trauma-informed, person-centered care throughout their careers as future doctors.

Remembering those precious babies who are no longer with us ❤️ and sending love to all those parents who have suffered loss. We are here for you ✨

“I felt completely out of control, unheard, and unimportant.”

Women respond to a survey on traumatic birth experiences.

https://www.higgsllp.co.uk/news/the-harrowing-reality-of-britain-s-traumatic-birth-epidemic

This research project is looking at how climate change affects the health of pregnant women and their babies, and they would like people to join their public engagement group. Details below if you're interested.

Baby Loss Awareness Week 2024 💜

A call for participants in a new research study. Please contact Sarah directly if you're interested. Email is [email protected]

Media request: Please only read on if you feel comfortable sharing your story on television.

Edited Monday 7 October to say they are still looking for women in South Yorkshire or North Nottinghamshire to speak to. Please email [email protected] if you're interested.

ITV Calendar are working on a story about midwife shortages and would like to speak to women who have been unhappy with the care they received during the birth of their child in South Yorkshire or North Nottinghamshire.

SYNOPSIS:
The Royal College of Midwives have warned of a midwife shortage, with the shortage causing more midwives to consider leaving. This means that some expectant mothers feel like they are not receiving the care they wanted, continuity of care, or being unable to deliver their baby in the way they wanted. This has led to a rise of women turning to private midwives.
ITV Calendar are hoping the film with a woman who was unhappy with her healthcare during pregnancy and/or birth in the last four years.

They'd ask the following:
1) Tell us about your birth and pregnancy experience and what aspects of your care you were unhappy with.
2) Given your experience would you consider a private midwife service?
3) What do you think needs to be done to help expectant mothers? Do you think that these issues could be resolved by addressing a shortage in midwives?

They are hoping to do the filming this week. It would be pre-recorded not live.

If you're interested, please email the journalist at [email protected]

(If you prefer, you can email me at [email protected] and I'll pass your details on.
Do think carefully before agreeing to share your story, as you may find it re-traumatising if you're not ready.)

Five years ago, NHS England began rolling out specialist maternal mental health services offering dedicated support for women experiencing baby loss or birth trauma.

Today the Maternal Mental Health Alliance showing that progress since then has been patchy: one MMHS has already closed due to funding issues, while waiting times for assessment ranged from 0-26 weeks and, for those who met the criteria, waiting times for treatment ranged from 0-52 weeks.

As a member of the , we join the call to further invest in Maternal Mental Health Services,
end the postcode lottery and provide vital support to all women, babies, and families. It’s time to act:
maternalmentalhealthalliance.org/MMHS

A HUGE thank you to Molly Goodall, who's just run a half marathon for us and raised £430, helping us to continue our work of supporting parents with birth trauma.

Here is Molly with her little girl Arabella, who's very proud of her mum - and quite rightly so!

If you feel the urge to run a half marathon for us (or even just hold a coffee morning), let us know, and we'll make sure you have a BTA running vest like Molly's, or a BTA t-shirt if you're doing something less energetic.

Content warning: This is a story from New Zealand about a woman who had severe physical injuries as a result of traumatic birth.

There was no physiotherapy or other medical support available for her after the birth, and no psychotherapy or other emotional support.

‘It was pretty horrific’: Why don’t we better support new mums? Melissa Smith’s post-birth was so bad she forgot she’d had a baby when she woke from surgery. But mental injuries from trauma births still aren’t automatically covered by ACC.

“It was so horrendous – it left me debilitated for a whole year of my life. I had no relationship with my family, my son. I was unable to work. It tore everything good from me.”

Louise Thompson on traumatic birth, recovery and the importance of better antenatal education to inform women about what can happen during birth.

Louise Thompson says education around birth is 'inadequate' Louise Thompson says birth trauma 'tore everything good' from her, adding that she is 'taking giant leaps every month' in her recovery.

Don’t forget the next drop-in for dads on 2 October .

Join us on the first Wednesday of the month for our peer support group for dads.

Birth Trauma Association - UK