The Birth Matters Service is overseen and facilitated by Specialist Midwife Jo Stubbs. Jo is a clinically experienced midwife who also works in the Maternity Risk and Governance Team at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
What is the Birth Matters Service for?
The Birth Matters Service is for exploring options, care planning and/or discussing previous experiences.
The service can help if you have specific concerns, needs or wishes that you feel would benefit from further discussion. You may have had a previous traumatic experience or be anxious about something in particular. The service helps to explore the options for your birth, the choices available to you and help to provide an individualised care plan.
Pregnancy, birth and postnatal experiences can sometimes result in unexpected events that you may not have been prepared for or experiences that you may be struggling to understand or resolve. Whatever your experience is, it is not uncommon to be unable to recall the details of the events, particularly if you experienced complications, an emergency or anything else you felt unprepared for or had a negative experience. Birth Matters provides a listening service and an opportunity to reflect on your experience, resolve unanswered questions and help to understand why events may have happened or why decisions were made. Plans for a current or future pregnancy and birth can also be discussed.
The aim of the Birth Matters Service is to support choices and closure; offer shared understanding following difficult experiences and reduce anxiety moving forward.
Some women may experience symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is an anxiety disorder. This may resolve for some individuals but other women would benefit from psychological therapy, such as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). These therapies are designed to help treat PTSD. The Birth Matters Service does not provide these psychological therapies but you can be signposted to services or talk to your G.P. who can discuss your options.
How do I get referred to the Birth Matters Service?
You can be referred to Birth Matters by your midwife, obstetrician, health visitor or GP.