- 3 minutes 42 secondsMy new Mum as You Are podcast
I wanted to stop by and say thanks for supporting this podcast, and to introduce my new one- Mum As You Are. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/mum-as-you-are/id1577282849
This new podcast is unpolished and unfancy. A 10 minute or so convo each week to explore ways to work with parental burnout and depletion and isolation and guilt that are really practical, focussed on radical self-compassion and really having fun.
This less of a here’s the A-Z on parenting topics and more about Motherhood as an identity and an institution and where mental health fits within that.
Earlier this year I stopped using social media for my business and personally as well. It’s been one of the most rebellious things I could do and it’s been life changing. It has really brought me to question the ways in which I have used numbing and what you might call shadow comforts as replacement for real proper fun and real proper support.
This is not about saying don’t use social media – if you are a mum in business and genuinely seen results from it more power to you sister, however, I do come from the standpoint that this is our generation’s addiction. I think mothers are settling for substandard, faux-fun and while we are familiar with the old ‘do self care” I think a huge part of what’s missing in the motherhood mental health conversation is the idea of fun – like real, belly laugh I feel like myself not just someone’s mother or a worker – fun. That’s the crux of what I’m interested in exploring here.
If you want to follow me over there, new episodes come out weekly https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/mum-as-you-are/id1577282849
You can reach me: [email protected]
Books:
More Than a Healthy Baby: Finding Strength & Growth After After Birth Trauma
https://amzn.to/3PbdohA
Birth Trauma: Tools to Cope
https://amzn.to/3Ri67i8
Courses:
Birth trauma training for birth workers the online course has over 2700 students from 42 countries
https://doctorerin.com.au/btt-full-sales-page
More Than a Healthy Baby: How to Cope With Birth Trauma is perfect for people who are navigating their own trauma.
It’s an a la carte menu of some of my best tools and strategies. It’s not a replacement for therapy but it’s a starting point.
Course Creation for the Caring Professions - how to make your own online course!
https://doctorerin.com.au/course-creation-full-sales-page
12 September 2021, 11:29 pm - 14 minutes 28 secondsHIGHLIGHTS of Remembering Amber Rose Isaac with Bruce McIntyre - conversations about racism in maternal health
*note* this is a very condensed version of my conversation with Bruce for those with short attention spans. It's an edited down version of a video so it will sound a little choppy. It's better viewed as a video - you can watch in both short https://youtu.be/iX0tSWeYdkU and long form on my Youtube channel https://youtu.be/XpkjS1AER4Q
It was really important to me to have this conversation with my guest today. I’ve interviewed him as part of my second book I’m writing – parents of the pandemic but it also just made so much sense to turn our conversation into a podcast
Some of you may remember the story of Amber Rose Isaac. A beautiful soul who died a really unnecessary death. Amber had HELLP syndrome which results in low platelet counts which is treatable, except Amber was continually ignored. She knew her body. She knew she didn’t feel right and yet she kept being dismissed and ignored. It wasn’t until she decided she’d switch to a midwife and homebirth model that they discovered how high risk she was. Doctors were signing off on her bloodwork and yet by the time she went to be induced her blood was like water. Induction resulted in an emergency c-section.
Instead of being with her partner Bruce and her mum, she bled out in a hospital room alone. She didn’t even get to met her baby boy, Elias. I just don’t believe it wouldn’t have happened if she were white.
In my first book, more than a healthy baby I talk about how in the Bronx in New York City black women are 12 times more likely to die than white women. Not just statistics. I don’t want us to forget and just say “oh well, that’s sad” I want things to change. This is in 2021, not 1821.
Since I first her of her story, it has haunted me. Maybe it’s because like me, Amber had a psychology degree and was getting her masters. Maybe it’s because my parents are Glaswegian and Amber’s partner Bruce McIntyre has one of the most Scottish sounding names you can have.
Maybe because I know a little of what it’s like to lie on a hospital bed, terrified while knowing I was losing a lot of blood.
3 days before she died Amber tweeted about how she wanted to write a tell all book about the negligence. Her partner Bruce has channelled his grief into activism. It was such an honour to be able to speak with him. This episode is a little longer. It is a beautiful love story with such a tragic ending.
As you listen to Bruce and Amber’s story – I ask you to channel your sadness and anger into action. Go to the Save a Rose foundation
@savearosefoundation
More than a healthy baby: Finding strength & Growth After Birth Trauma
https://doctorerin.com.au/more-than-a-healthy-baby-birth-trauma-book/
Join over 1500 people in my Birth Trauma Training for Birth Workers
There’s also my Supporting Birth Partners After birth Trauma masterclass
2 March 2021, 2:41 am - 1 hour 41 minutesRemembering Amber Rose Isaac with Bruce McIntyre - conversations about racism in maternal health (FULL INTERVIEW)
*note* both the full version of this interview & a 15 minute highlights reel can be found on YouTube & wherever you listen to podcasts
It was really important to me to have this conversation with my guest today. I’ve interviewed him as part of my second book I’m writing – parents of the pandemic but it also just made so much sense to turn our conversation into a podcast
Some of you may remember the story of Amber Rose Isaac. A beautiful soul who died a really unnecessary death. Amber had HELLP syndrome which results in low platelet counts which is treatable, except Amber was continually ignored. She knew her body. She knew she didn’t feel right and yet she kept being dismissed and ignored. It wasn’t until she decided she’d switch to a midwife and homebirth model that they discovered how high risk she was. Doctors were signing off on her bloodwork and yet by the time she went to be induced her blood was like water. Induction resulted in an emergency c-section.
Instead of being with her partner Bruce and her mum, she bled out in a hospital room alone. She didn’t even get to met her baby boy, Elias. I just don’t believe it wouldn’t have happened if she were white.
In my first book, more than a healthy baby I talk about how in the Bronx in New York City black women are 12 times more likely to die than white women. Not just statistics. I don’t want us to forget and just say “oh well, that’s sad” I want things to change. This is in 2021, not 1821.
Since I first her of her story, it has haunted me. Maybe it’s because like me, Amber had a psychology degree and was getting her masters. Maybe it’s because my parents are Glaswegian and Amber’s partner Bruce McIntyre has one of the most Scottish sounding names you can have.
Maybe because I know a little of what it’s like to lie on a hospital bed, terrified while knowing I was losing a lot of blood.
3 days before she died Amber tweeted about how she wanted to write a tell all book about the negligence. Her partner Bruce has channelled his grief into activism. It was such an honour to be able to speak with him. This episode is a little longer. It is a beautiful love story with such a tragic ending.
As you listen to Bruce and Amber’s story – I ask you to channel your sadness and anger into action. Go to the Save a Rose foundation
@savearosefoundation
More than a healthy baby: Finding strength & Growth After Birth Trauma
https://doctorerin.com.au/more-than-a-healthy-baby-birth-trauma-book/
Join over 1500 people in my Birth Trauma Training for Birth Workers
There’s also my Supporting Birth Partners After birth Trauma masterclass
2 March 2021, 12:53 am - 1 hour 2 minutesEpisode 38: Parenting through Birth Trauma with Mama Manon Depre
The interview with my guest today took about a year to coordinate! This happens a lot on this podcast because babies get born, we get sick, there’s the whole parenting and home schooling in a pandemic thing. There are times when I feel like I can barely run a bath let alone run a podcast, so if you’re feeling frazzled, know you are not alone! If you are interested in trauma informed parenting, then you may have heard of the lovely Mama Manon. No matter how much we cognitively know how we want to parent our kids, and we read books, and we take courses, we still get triggered. We still struggle with feeling resentment, rage, numbness and depletion. As a parent, I personally find Manon’s videos and resources so helpful. When she posted a video last year about using somatic experiencing with her own traumatic birth, I knew we would get on like a house on fire. Self-compassion for our traumas is something we are all working on. Manon has a voice that makes you feel like you’re being wrapped in a warm blanket. She combines Aware Parenting and somatic experiencing to offer deep, gentle and empowering support. She chats to me today about her birth, her healing and growth and the lessons that come with working alongside your child in that process.
Manon offers 1-1 sessions online and in person. She also has online programs and workshops all around Australia. You can find her at https://mamamanon.com/
You can reach me: [email protected]
Books:
More Than a Healthy Baby: Finding Strength & Growth After After Birth Trauma
https://amzn.to/3PbdohA
Birth Trauma: Tools to Cope
https://amzn.to/3Ri67i8
Courses:
Birth trauma training for birth workers the online course has over 2700 students from 42 countries
https://doctorerin.com.au/btt-full-sales-page
More Than a Healthy Baby: How to Cope With Birth Trauma is perfect for people who are navigating their own trauma.
It’s an a la carte menu of some of my best tools and strategies. It’s not a replacement for therapy but it’s a starting point.
Course Creation for the Caring Professions - how to make your own online course!
https://doctorerin.com.au/course-creation-full-sales-page
14 July 2020, 12:57 am - 56 minutes 11 secondsEpisode 37: The Embodiment of Trauma with Erin Underwood
Erin Underwood is a movement therapist from Oregon that specializes in prenatal and postnatal health. She is passionate about education around pelvic floor and core strength and function. She has studied extensively and certified and trained with the top minds in the country connected to pelvic floor and core wellness. She currently is focusing on her local community by serving through workshops to the prenatal and postnatal community as well as local birth workers, providing them with the most up to date science broken down into practical and helpful tools. She also has four beautiful boys and, post deliveries, has personally healed from a grade 2 uterine and grade 2 rectocele prolapses and a four finger Diastasis Recti using all the tools she teaches in her movement therapy, which further fuels her passion for seeing women fully functional and getting all the information necessary to heal.
Erin Underwood: https://www.erinunderwoodmovement.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinunderwoodmovement
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinunderwoodmovement/
Free Workout Videos for Upper Body and Back Care: https://www.erinunderwoodmovement.com/pl/142602
Psoas Release Video: https://youtu.be/dMsYwy1Uolo
Pelvic Floor and Core 4 Week Class Online Series: https://www.erinunderwoodmovement.com/core-pelvic-class-lf-standard
Thriving Birth Worker Movement Method: https://www.erinunderwoodmovement.com/pl/125595
Thriving Birth Worker Podcast: https://www.erinunderwoodmovement.com/blog?tag=podcast
You can reach me @doctorerinbowe on instagram or [email protected]
Birth trauma training for birth workers the online course now has over 670 enrolments. Most people who have never bought a course on Udemy before are able to snap it up for $14 or less.
My other course, More Than a Healthy Baby: How to Cope With Birth Trauma is perfect for people who are navigating their own trauma. It’s an a la carte menu of some of my best tools and strategies. It’s not a replacement for therapy but it’s a starting point. Again, it’s under $100 (usually way less).
30 June 2020, 12:16 am - 37 minutes 36 secondsEpisode 36 Black Lives Matter in Birth With Hawk & Chivon Newsome
How we birth is a political statement. Birth trauma is a political issue because it’s a human rights issue.
Imagine you’re pregnant and with kids and you’re sending your partner out for food or nappies and wondering if they’re going to be harassed, arrested or shot at?
Imagine going to the hospital to birth your baby and being told that your pain isn’t real? That you’re being too dramatic, that your health problems are your own fault. Imagine wondering if you’re even going to make it out of the hospital alive to see your family again?
In order to even begin to work on trauma, we need mothers to be alive
Black women are three to four times more likely to die in birth than white women.
Again, we’re not talking about the third world here. This is current daily life in New York City, and some stats are indicating that for new York, black women are even 12 times more likely to die than white women. This is in the Bronx, where my guests today grew up and are doing lifechanging humanitarian leadership on the ground. Brother and sister goals – the amazing Hawk and Chivona Newsome from Black Lives Matter New York chapter took time out to speak with me. We had a chat in the car while they were on their way back from delivering food to over 200 people. The Bronx is the global epicentre for covid-19. Hawk, Chivona and their team work and work and work so that people can have access to proper food, healthcare, housing and an end to oppression. I could see the see the exhaustion on their faces, and yet there’s a fire in there that can felt from oceans and oceans away.
Their parents met at a civil rights rally in the 1960’s, so you can say that they were born into this fight. They have both pledged their lives to bringing justice to this unjust system. If you can donate to the people’s food program, please do.
https://au.gofundme.com/f/PEOPLES-FOOD-PROGRAM
Donate to Save a Rose foundation, set up by Bruce, partner of Amber Rose Isaac to raise awareness of the disparities in the maternal mortality rate amongst women of colour.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/25fr1s6epc?member=5876644&rcid=21691913083746949a8aff83d145f184&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=sms&utm_source=customer
You can watch the video version of the podcast on my IGTV @doctorerinbowe or on YouTube
Follow Hawk: @hawk.newsome
Follow Chevona: @newyorkvonni
You can reach me @doctorerinbowe on instagram or www.doctorerin.com.au
Birth trauma training for birth workers the online course now has over 1400 students from 36 countries and 12 languages. https://www.udemy.com/course/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/?referralCode=ABA1D879884EBBF44BA4
My other course, More Than a Healthy Baby: How to Cope With Birth Trauma is perfect for parents and birth workers who are navigating their own trauma. It’s an a la carte menu of some of my best tools and strategies. It’s not a replacement for therapy but it’s a starting point.
Udemy also supports affiliates. This means that if you qualify, you can use a unique code for either of my courses to add to your website, socials or to give clients and you will receive a percentage of the course fee. It’s free to register, it’s just a bit of work to get yourself signed up https://www.udemy.com/affiliate/
28 May 2020, 2:00 am - 35 minutes 22 secondsEpisode 35 Midwives Rising #6: Researching Birth Trauma with Kristy Watson
Let’s talk about flashbacks. When I saw midwife Kristy Watson’s ad for birth trauma research popping up on my social media feed I instantly had a flashbulb memory of being 20 and knee deep in my honours year of research. Truthfully, my memories of my honours year was that it was one of the most difficult years of my life. I was ever aware that I probably didn’t really deserve to be there. My year was a bigger intake than normal. The anxiety levels and competitiveness were high. Online research was not really viewed favourably back then, so I really felt like I was scraping together whatever research participants I could find for my project on PTSD. I did a comparison of people who were injured during trauma versus people who were not injured and found that people who sustained a physical injury had more severe PTSD symptoms. Most of those research participants were my friends and that research never saw the light of day!
So, fast forward to seeing a mum who is trying to get participants in an area I’m super passionate about, and she’s a midwife who is juggling all of this with covid-19, home schooling and 3 kids. Of course I felt pulled to help her. And, after listening to Kristy’s passion, I’m sure that anyone who can help her will want to do what they can. Ultimately, research is what leads to policies. Policies is what leads to organizations being convinced to spend money and make changes. If you can help a sister out, this could actually lead to phenomenal changes in birth trauma research.
Participant criteria:
Live in Victoria and have had a vaginal birth that was traumatic between August 2018 -August 2020 (roughly)
You can get in touch with Kristy at: [email protected]
You can reach me @doctorerinbowe on instagram or [email protected]
I support birthing people and birth workers in a range of ways. I do 1:1 work, supervision and mentoring, and I have a couple of online courses.
Birth trauma training for birth workers the online course now has over 500 enrolments. Most people who are new to Udemy have snapped it up for $14 or less. The price fluctuates according to sales the platform is running, but rest assured it will remain under $99 for the foreseeable future. https://www.udemy.com/course/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/?referralCode=ABA1D879884EBBF44BA4
My other course, More Than a Healthy Baby: How to Cope With Birth Trauma is perfect for parents and birth workers who are navigating their own trauma. It’s an a la carte menu of some of my best tools and strategies. It’s not a replacement for therapy but it’s a starting point. Again, it’s under $100 (usually way less).
https://www.udemy.com/course/more-than-a-healthy-baby-how-to-cope-with-birth-trauma/?referralCode=092FFCAF4E5C01984978
Udemy also supports affiliates. This means that if you qualify, you can use a unique code for either of my courses to add to your website, socials or to give clients and you will receive a percentage of the course fee. It’s free to register, it’s just a bit of work to get yourself signed up https://www.udemy.com/affiliate/
9 May 2020, 2:09 am - 28 minutes 26 secondsEpisode 34 Back to Basics Coping
I’ve been really mindful about what messages I want to put out about overwhelm and anxiety. Now is not the time for adding more stuff. A distressed brain cannot learn or retain new information well. That’s true for adults and kids.
Instead, work towards meeting basic needs each day with constants. Things that your great, great, great granny would have done. Things that will stay constant so long as the earth turns.
These are some my go to strategies, bringing in the elements:
Earth - I put my bare feet on the ground. I garden. If that’s not possible try a sensory tub with sand, dried beans, salt or anything you can sink your hands into. Maybe you have a shell, pebbles, a feather, a leaf in your apartment somewhere? Make some connection to touching something from the earth each day.
A lot of us will be struggling with unconscious inner child stuff at the moment. Out subconscious taking us back to times when we felt scared and uncertain.
Also consider that some of our reactions are not ours. Trauma is in your DNA from your ancestors. Those genes are being triggered right now. Scarcity, fear, anger. Some if those reactions are from your ancestors. Touching things from the earth will help with feeling alive and present to now.
Fire - drink or eat something warm. Sit with a warm drink that you like and take a full minute or two to notice the warmth in your hands, watch the steam rise
Water - drink, bath/shower or cry
Wind - breath is the one coping constant so long as you are alive. Take one deep breath a day. Preferably more but pair it with something you already do - like every time you touch a door handle, take a deep breath
+ heart (yup a Captain Planet reference for all my 90s peeps) - have gratitude and compassion for yourself for simply getting through the day
Focus on the constants - the sun will rise, and it will set. The wind, water and fire will continue to exist.
The birds and bugs outside don’t know there’s a pandemic, they’re just going about their business. Watch them. If you can’t get outside watch some nature videos.
Keep it so simple and so over achievable that there’s no room for failure.
A glass of water with vitamins
Finding 1 thing to be grateful for
A deep breath
That’s enoughIf you want 1:1 support for counselling or coaching, reach out :)
I work with birthing people and birth workers 1:1. You can reach me @doctorerinbowe on instagram or [email protected]
Birth trauma training for birthworkers the online course is now more accessible than ever! Over 350 birth workers have snapped it up for less than $14.00AU! The price fluctuates according to sales the platform is running, but rest assured it will remain under $99 for the foreseeable future. https://www.udemy.com/course/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/?referralCode=ABA1D879884EBBF44BA4
28 March 2020, 11:41 pm - 31 minutes 44 secondsEpisode 33 My Experience of Breath Work with Theo2awakening
A few weeks ago I went to a 2 day Breath work workshop with Theo2awakening. I share my personal and professional insights into this technique. There are SO many parallels with the psychophysiological techniques I've researched and used, and with hypnobirthing and just the altered consciousness state of birth itself.
you can also find the video of this podcast on my youTube channel https://youtu.be/3DFXt0x3WWg
I work with birthing people and birth workers 1:1. You can reach me @doctorerinbowe on instagram or [email protected]
Birth trauma training for birthworkers the online course is now more accessible than ever! Over 350 birth workers have snapped it up for less than $14.00AU! The price fluctuates according to sales the platform is running, but rest assured it will remain under $99 for the foreseeable future. https://www.udemy.com/course/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/?referralCode=ABA1D879884EBBF44BA4
10 March 2020, 4:54 am - 1 hour 7 minutesEpisode 32 Top 10 Most Downloaded episodes of 2019
I run through the 10 most downloaded episodes of the birth trauma training for birthworkers podcast of 2019.
you can reach me @doctorerinbowe on instagram or [email protected]
Birth trauma training for birthworkers the online course is now more accessible than ever! Over 350 birth workers have snapped it up for less than $14.00AU! The price fluctuates according to sales the platform is running, but rest assured it will remain under $99 for the foreseeable future. https://www.udemy.com/course/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/?referralCode=ABA1D879884EBBF44BA4
4 February 2020, 2:49 am - 48 minutes 57 secondsEpisode 31 Privilege in Birth Work with Sabia Wade
Could you even count on one hand the people in your life who are willing to challenge your ego and call you out on your desire to just stay comfortable in your life? To draw your attention to things that you take for granted? Who make a point of saying “ok here’s this thing you say you don’t agree with – what are you doing to put that belief into action?”
My guest today began our interview by asking me lots of questions. Questions about the climate of racism in Australia and what’s happening in terms of activism for maternal mortality for marginalised groups, and it was clear that I really don’t know a lot. I don’t claim to know much, but it is really easy as a white woman who birthed in a private hospital in Australia to forget about my privilege and not have to think about these things too much. And that’s good to acknowledge because growth is not a comfortable process, and we don’t make changes by just appealing to each others’ egos, right?
Sabia Wade is someone who can encourage us all to be less quiet about privilege in birth. Sabia is a Radical Doula, Educator, Coach, Reproductive Justice Advocate & the founder of For The Village and Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings. For The Village provides doula services to under served families in San Diego with an emphasis on marginalized groups, such as people of colour, LGBTQIA and low income families.
So we start our conversation with me referencing the so-called flora and fauna act. I was under the impression that up until the 1967 referendum, aboriginal people in Australia were classified as animals rather than human beings. In researching this topic, it may appear that this is inaccurate information. As in, the idea of Aboriginal people being classified as fauna was not part of a formal act, but refers to a speech in the seventies given by Aboriginal filmmaker Lester Bostock.
However, can we sit in collective agreement that historically, and currently, Aboriginal people have indeed been treated like animals.
Sabia and I have a cross-cultural chat about birth and privilege and then we end up with a conversation about koalas and chlamydia. You’ll love it.
You can find Sabia at www.theblackdoula.com and on Instagram @theblackdoula
You are more powerful than you know. If birth workers and the people they serve remember that they are powerful, then we will change the world.
Birth trauma training for birthworkers the online course is now more accessible than ever! Over 350 birth workers have snapped it up for less than $14.00AU! The price fluctuates according to sales the platform is running, but rest assured it will remain under $99 for the foreseeable future. https://www.udemy.com/course/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/?referralCode=ABA1D879884EBBF44BA4
30 December 2019, 11:02 pm - More Episodes? Get the App