In recent years trauma around birth has been increasingly recognised globally. It is of concern how much women and birthing people are experiencing this trauma and the subsequent increase in postpartum mental health crises. Organisations have been coming together to address this issue, and over the past couple of weeks The Safer Beginnings conference has been taking place, co-delivered by the White Ribbon Alliance and Best Beginnings. Dr Alys Einion, Assistant Professor, Northumbria University and Editor-in-Chief, The Practising Midwife Journal, attended the event for Healthcare Professionals and Educators, and reflects on her experience of the day.
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Safer Beginnings is a joint programme of work by Best Beginnings and the White Ribbon Alliance UK, supported by 18 delivery partners. Over the past couple of weeks, The Safer Beginnings conference has been taking place. The first event was for people on maternity journeys and charities. This conference, for health professionals, which took place both in-person and live-streamed online, was a powerful and very well-targeted collection of resources which focused very much on a women-and-family-centred ethos of supporting women and parents with a range of diverse needs. The opening of the conference was gentle, holistic and very, very caring, setting a clear tone of gentleness and a strong regard for the wellbeing of participants. Recognising the challenging topics and issues to be covered during the conference, the organisers began with the input of a psychologist, Dr Emma Svanberg, who invited the attendees to focus and ground themselves, and to use simple mind-body techniques to help process their feelings. I have never been at a conference with such a clear focus on nurturing participants, and I was moved and inspired by this in a really positive way.
The opening address by Kay King from the White Ribbon Alliance was inspiring, thought-provoking and very apt. Kay drew our attention to key issues in maternity care and highlighted both the challenges of working in the current western context of maternity care, and the opportunities that we need to be reminded of to support women and parents. She reminded us that pregnancy for many women and pregnant people is the first interaction where they can talk about their bodies in a meaningful way with healthcare professionals, and that we have the power to unlock rights-based language. But she also discussed the intersection of violence and harm within maternity care and how we are called upon to address this in every aspect of our work. The first panel echoed these themes, with Sundas Khalid, Fiona Small, Ged Docherty and Abeda Ahmed all discussing their respective perspectives on supporting families through domestic abuse and beyond. This highlighted the work of these organisations in providing real, practical and effective solutions that are responsive to the needs of families. Their discussion prompted for me a reflection on the gaps in maternity care provision within the NHS which are being met by these organisations.
The breakout sessions offered a space for participants to explore the work of some of the organisations involved in greater depth, with a film about Baby Buddy and Safer Beginnings, hosted by Nilushka Perera and Arya Pimprikar from Best Beginnings, a session from the White Ribbon Alliance called Free from Harm, hosted by Amity Reed from the White Ribbon Alliance and Amy Sinacola from the Point of Care foundation, and another session which focused on the Emotional Safety Plan co-hosted by All4Maternity’s Dr Anna Byrom, and Ged Docherty from the For Baby’s Sake charity. The resources on Emotional Safety Planning were very useful and informative, and the break-out sessions were followed by a networking lunch and an opportunity to talk to people who had stalls there about their work. Conversation was rich and deep, in a very positive and supportive space, with everyone showing a genuine interest in each other’s work.
The afternoon session included a panel on Birth Trauma, Perinatal violence and Prevention of Harm, Learnings from Safer Beginnings and a sharing of the Onward Grantees, and a final support message from Dr Emma Svanberg. Overall, this conference highlighted the biggest challenges facing maternity services, for service users and professionals, in terms of obstetric violence and challenging maternity cultures, and in terms of the ongoing impact of violence and trauma on parents. What was so uplifting was seeing the work done by the various organisations, their specialist insights, and their commitment to supporting women, parents and families to enable better experiences at the very start of the lifespan. The sharing of resources and the sense of belonging added to a really valuable learning experience. It certainly taught me many things and inspired me to integrate this knowledge into my future practice and research, and I felt that Kay King in particular was inspirational in reminding us of our own capacity to make a difference through whatever work we do. It was a transformative conference and I only hope to see more events in future take such a caring and supportive approach to knowledge sharing.
Dr Alys Einion
Assistant Professor, Northumbria University and Editor-in-Chief, The Practising Midwife Journal
March 2023