Women and birthing parents will finally get a chance to give evidence about their experience of birth-related trauma in a NSW Senate Inquiry - the first inquiry of its kind. Women in NSW are invited to make a Submission until 11th of August. Whether you birthed 6 weeks ago or 6 years ago, this is your chance to come together with other families to make a difference to this important issue and eliminate preventable birth trauma.
What we hear from women time and again is the reluctance or not feeling like their experience was “serious enough” to be named trauamatic. The word trauma can sometimes feel too “big” and may feel bad to use the word because their baby is healthy, they may not have a severe tear or whatever we have been conditioned to think is a valid definition of the word trauma.
If you felt traumatised, then it was traumatising. We know that women and parents need to feel validated and worthy of being heard on the trauma they experienced in order to recover, heal and parent their children in a healthy way.
Recently, the largest study of is kind in Australia, of 8804 women in Australia surveyed, 1 in 10 women reported "they were made to feel violated, powerless or dehumanised while giving birth”.
“In Australia,1 in 10 women reported “they were made to feel violated, powerless or dehumanised while giving birth. ”
Families around the country are picking up the pieces after what happened in their birth journey rather than experiencing the joy, fulfilment and ease in the days, months and years that they deserve after birth.
On Wedensday 19th of July, we will be discussing the issues highlighted in this article and more at our Birth Trauma Awareness Event which you can register for FREE here
What is birth trauma?
Birth trauma affects many families. It is known to have long-lasting physical, psychological and emotional effects on the mother, birthing parent, babies, family and community.
Birth trauma is experienced differently by each person. What may be traumatic for one person, may not be for another. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women in Australia experience some form of trauma in childbirth. and 1 in 10 of these women experience severe trauma.
Birth trauma is a term used to describe one or many negative experiences during childbirth resulting in distress.
It can be physical, emotional, psychological or all three combined. Physical trauma such as damage or injury to a mum and/or baby, unnecessary interventions, unwanted interventions, inadequate pain relief.
The emotional or psychological trauma can include feeling powerless, not being listened to, not being respected, being coerced or pressuerd, feeling a loss of control, feeling unsupported by partner and/or care provider.
Whilst birth trauma is unique to each individual, a woman-centered and inclusive definition was co-created in 2022:
“A traumatic childbirth experience refers to a woman's experience of interactions and/or events directly related to childbirth that caused overwhelming distressing emotions and reactions; leading to short and/ or long-term negative impacts on a woman’s health and wellbeing.”
What is Perinatal Trauma?
Perinatal trauma describes trauma experienced anytime during the birth journey from conception, pregnancy and the post-partum period. It can nclude difficulties conceiving, early and late pregnancy loss, abortion, pregnancy-related complications such as hyperemesis gravidarum, inability to birth with a chosen care provider or care model such as the MGP, early postpartum issues such as difficulties breastfeeding, lack of sleep, post-natal depletion and more.
Women talk about being spoken to or behaviour towards them by a maternity services practitioner or family that can negatively impact their experience. Our role as a community is to provide loving support and care to new mothers and parents so they feel connected, safe and heard. When this does not occur, the impacts can be subtle or profound. We need to be better equipped as a society to treat women and prents on this journey with the respect they are worthy of. We need to provide space and time to be heard, to debrief their experience and to be kind and empathetic.
what is obstetric violence?
Sometimes referred to as Disrespectful Care, Obstetric Violence is recognised by the United Nations as a form of gendered violence, first coming in Argentina in Venezuela in 2007.
In Australia, research lead of the BEst Study, Dr Hazel Keedle says obstetric violence as “dehumanised treatment or abuse by health professionals towards the body or reproductive process of women. This is not just about obstetricians but can be perpetrated by any health provider involved in the care of women,
“Obstetric violence results in a loss of autonomy and leaves women feeling confused and disempowered at one of the most vulnerable moments in their lives. It can also have a lasting impact on women’s support people and health care professionals.”
Birth trauma in the illawarra Shoalhaven
At a local level, Better Births Illawarra hears stories directly from women and their partners in Wollongong and surrounds about the trauma they have experienced in their birth journey.
We hear all too often the negative impact birth-related and perinatal trauma. Women tell us about living with post-natal depression, of stuggling to bond with their baby, of feeling shame and guilt for not speaking up for themselves.
We hear of relationship breakdowns, we hear of post-traumatic stress disorder, and low self confidence to parent their baby.
All too often we hear of pressure to agree to procedures and interventions that do not take the parent’s individual circumstances into account.
We hear from women who were ot able to access the Midwifery Group Practise (MGP) when they know its the gold standard care and are left seeing many maternity service midwives and doctors at each visit leading them to feel like they are just a number, confused by conflicting advice and being passed around the system having to repeat themselves repeatedly by people they do not know.
We hear of overt racism, we hear of cultural practises being ignored, we hear of vulnerable women being spoken to with disrespect.
We hear of sadness, of deep grief, of self-blame, of confusion with why they weren’t cared for in a way that they deserved.
We hear from the midwives and student midwives who have little to no choice but collude with a system that does not put the woman in the center of decisions being made, where they are not allowed to enable birthing parents the time and space to go into spontaneous labour. Where they have to work in an environment that is chronically understaffed, where they do not have time to recover from one traumatic birth to the next. Midwives and student midwives need compassionate, humane support in a system that is failing the very women that are there to bring their babies into the world.
Local Principal Psychologist at Brave Psychology, Alysha Fameli is also conducting important research, through the University of Sydney to understand how difficult birth experiences can impact mother and baby bond. As the Keynote speaker in BBI’s upcoming Birth Trauma Awareness Event, she has much light to shed on the impact traumatic birth-related events are having on mothers.
It is also no wonder that our original and long-standing goal for more women and families to access the gold-standard maternity care is one of the known factors to prvetn birth trauma. As shared by birth educator and doula Rhea Dempsey “the likelihood of birth trauma – according to some studies– has the potential to decrease when we provide midwifery continuity of care.
This “gold standard” of care has been shown to reduce the need for medical pain relief and the likelihood of consequent interventions.
More importantly, the same study showed that, even when such interventions are necessary, the birthing woman will be less likely to experience them as traumatic.
So on Wednesday 19th July Better Births Illawarra is holding a FREE event during Birth Trauma Awareness Week to increase awareness and enable action on birth-related and perinatal trauma. It will be on Wednesday 19th of July 10am - 12pm.
We are holding a 2-hour LIVE event with powerhouse guest speakers who bring unique perspectives to the important issue of birth trauma. The event aims to raise awareness, explore prevention and treatment of birth-related and perinatal trauma, understand the role of evidence, communication, self-wisdom and agency.
This event is open to the public; mothers, parents, birth professionals, any family, any community member who, like us, would like to make this issue more visible and for more families to walk from their experience without feeling traumatised.
Speakers include:
Alysha Fameli, Mother, Principal Psychologist at Brave Psychology and PhD researcher at the University of Sydney researching Birth Trauma and the mother-infant relationship.
Fiona Reid, practicing Midwife with over 30 years' experience. Established the Formal Debriefing Clinic at The Wollongong Hospital and has debriefed over 500 women with birth trauma.
Aunty Deb Bowman, elder and Manager of Counselling Services Waminda South Coast Womens Health Service
Becca De Souza, Trauma-informed Doula and Birth Educator
Dr Maria Hanneman, Obstetrician
Anna Lanyon, Women’s Health and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist
Associate Professor Christine Catling, Midwife, Researcher on Shared Decision Making
We look forward to seeing you there - whether you are a birthing mother, a birthing person, a family member, a midwife, GP, lactation consultant, massage therapist, counsellor, student doctor, acupuncturist, artist, grandmother or obstetrician, let’s learn and know how to address this serious issue affecting too many families.
There are many national and statewide bodies set up to assist women, birthing folk and famialies recover from birth-related trauma such as PANDA and the Australasian Birth Trauma Association. We also have a list of psychologists and counselors who can help families heal from their birth experience and come away feeling well and whole.
These real-life issues can be sensitive and distressing. Please seek support.
You can find Support
Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) or text 0477 13 11 14. Lifeline is a free 24/7 telephone crisis support service.
Mental Health Line 1800 011 511. Mental Health Line is a NSW 24/7 statewide phone services which links people with NSW mental health services.
PANDA National Helpline (Monday to Saturday) 1300 726 306 or website. PANDA's National Perinatal Mental Health Helpline is Australia's only free national helpline for people affected by changes to their mental health and emotional wellbeing during the perinatal period. Support is available throughout pregnancy up until the baby is 12 months old.
Domestic Violence helpline 1800 737 732 or website. 1800RESPECT is available 24/7 to support people impacted by domestic, family, or sexual violence.