I’ve been a Midwife for 25 years now and a Calmbirth® practitioner for 16 of those years.

 I studied midwifery in Scotland which meant that I developed a different cultural understanding of birth. There was a lot more community midwifery in the UK, the training was longer and midwifery had more prestige in that cultural context. Midwife means with women so their prestige rolls onto the choices that women have in birth including increased access to birth in different environments.

After I returned from the UK. I began a Masters in Midwifery at UTS.  In my studies, I was particularly fascinated with how the discussion around birth was so disconnected from the way a woman experiences it. It was not explored like it was something that happened within women’s bodies. It was discussed in a mechanised way.

I knew this was a medicalised view however through studying, I came to understand why this was so in a philosophical and particularly cultural context.

After I completed my Masters, I could see there was a real need to offer women an antenatal program that worked with the mind as well as the body and realised that was the path I wanted to take. One which would  talk to the whole woman as well as her partner.

I had already been teaching birth classes for some time in a  hospital setting but I wanted to expand that education. I wanted to discuss how we think about birth and how that might impact our body. How the fear of birth might close us down a little.

This led me to calmbirth. I was first introduced to calmbirth by a male friend who had recently attended the course. In 2008 calmbirth was a new idea. It has now become mainstream course as the mind/body information that was once contemporary filters down and becomes relevant in all our work places and lives.

This led me to calmbirth where I found an antenatel model which resonated with me. I was first introduced to calmbirth by a male friend who had attended a calmbirth course with his partner.

In 2008 calmbirth was a new idea, however it has now become a mainstream course as the mind/body connection that was once disparaged filters down and becomes relevant in all our work places and lives.

I have been teaching Calmbirth for 16 years now in various locations and through differing cultural change. Every time I teach and engage with a new class I learn something more about myself, the teachings, women and their partners. I believe calmbirth is a very good way of not only learning about birth but accessing your inner self.

As it is taught over the whole weekend, Calmbirth gives you a chance to look inside yourself and see what you have to offer the process of birth. How can you help yourself in birth. How can your partner or birth support help you in birth?

The gift of Calmbirth is that not only will you gain all the information you need, by taking part you will move  deeper into your body, which is where you need to go for birth. It is our mammalian self that needs to be accessed which is not always easy to find in our superficial world.

My aim as your Calmbirth facilitator is to gently guide you in this process by giving you tools to help access that part of yourself as well as to show your partner how to help you. This is the key to a supportive and confident birth experience, however it plays out.

Having worked in the Australian health system for so long.  I understand the importance of medicine in birth but also the importance of women’s participation in such a primal and sacred time. It can be difficult to separate these two models of care. That which “saves” woman and that with asks for their deeper selves to participate in. We will explore the nuances of birth in an uncomplicated way that can help you move forward.

It was a very calm and stress-free birth which I definitely attribute in part to your incredible advice and the CalmBirth Course
— Laura and Joe