This week our host Theo Clarke is joined by Sandra Igwe, founder of The Motherhood Group, and Neya Joshi, peer supporter for the Birth Trauma Association, to discuss inequalities in maternal health and birth trauma.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: racial disparities in maternal health outcomes; black maternal health and wellbeing; the power of community and culturally safe support; mental health being a taboo in Asian culture; how to access psychological support post birth; advice on navigating pregnancy and motherhood; and ways to improve postnatal care for new mothers.
Sandra Igwe is a maternal health advocate, author, and founder of The Motherhood Group, a social enterprise supporting Black mothers through culturally safe peer support, events, and community engagement. She is also the creator of the BlackMums App — a femtech innovation designed to connect and empower Black mothers through AI-powered community tools. Sandra leads the annual Black Maternal Health Conference UK, founded Black Maternal Mental Health Week, and regularly works with the NHS, government bodies, and international partners to drive policy and practice change in maternal care. Her work has been featured in Vogue, BBC, Channel 4, and The Guardian.
Neya Joshi is mum to a 5 year old son and 2.5 year old daughter. In May 2020, after the birth of her son by emergency c-section she was abandoned on the postnatal ward. Covid visiting restrictions meant her husband wasn’t allowed to visit at all, and she was unsupported for the first 30 hours after major surgery. The ordeal left her with PTSD and she found adjusting to life as a new mum difficult. She recovered with therapy and is now passionate about raising awareness of birth/postnatal ward trauma to help others feel less alone. She is currently training to be a postnatal doula so she can be a source of support and comfort to mothers during such a transformative time in their lives. She also volunteers as a peer supporter for the Birth Trauma Association.
Birth Trauma Association: https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org/
The Motherhood Group: https://themotherhoodgroup.org/
Instagram: @sandeeigwe @themotherhoodgroup @birth_trauma_association_uk
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice please seek advice from a GP or Doctor.
Website: http://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Instagram: @theoclarkemp
Breaking The Taboo production team:
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin and Elliott Malik
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social media: Bella Carter
Studio manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55 part of Wolfe Power Club
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S2 Ep6: Everywoman Festival on changing landscape in women's health
This week in a special episode our host Theo Clarke takes the podcast on the road to the Everywoman Festival in Cardiff. She joins the panel on the changing landscape in women's health which was recorded live in the main tent.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: changing the narrative and how women’s health is portrayed in the media; lessons from the UK Birth Trauma Inquiry and the perspective of a clinician in the House of Lords.
Rosie Taylor is an award-winning freelance journalist, specialising in women’s health. She write for publications including The Times, the Independent, the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Daily Mail and the i paper, and is the host of Mother Bodies, the podcast about postnatal health and why it matters.
Baroness Finlay is a Deputy Speaker and Crossbench Peer, was on the Assisted Dying Bill Select Committee and co-edited “The Reality of Assisted Dying: understanding the issues”. A palliative medicine doctor, she established Marie Curie’s Penarth Hospice and is Vice-President of Cardiff’s City Hospice.
Theo Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Stafford. She chaired the first parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in British history and previously set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. She won 'Political Speech of the Year' at the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and was included in the Top 100 Women in Westminster in 2024. Theo is the author of a bestselling memoir 'Breaking the Taboo: why we need to talk about birth trauma'.
Diane Danzebrink (Chair) is a personal and corporate consultant, speaker, educator and the author of Making Menopause Matter. She founded the purpose over profit organisation Menopause Support in 2015 and has led the call for better menopause care and support in the U.K. with her national #MakeMenopauseMatter campaign since 2018
Don’t suffer in silence! Listen in and let’s break the final taboo in women’s health #breakingthetaboo.
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice please seek advice from a GP or Doctor.
Everywoman Festival: Offering education, empowerment and support for women's health across generations https://www.everywomanfest.com/aboutus
Website: http://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Read 'Breaking the Taboo' here.
Instagram: @theoclarkemp @rosietaylorjournalism @dianedanzebrink
Breaking The Taboo production team:
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin and Elliott Malik
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social media: Bella Carter
Studio manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55 part of Wolfe Power Club
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S2 Ep6: Maternity care: what difference will an investigation make? Special podcast with Rosie Duffield MP
This week in a special episode our host Theo Clarke is joined by Rosie Duffield MP, the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma in the UK Parliament. We discuss the Health Secretary’s recent announcement of a rapid national maternity investigation.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: the Government’s approach to maternity care; lessons and recommendations from the Birth Trauma Inquiry; the work of the cross party APPG for birth trauma; campaigning to improve postnatal care and why women’s heath is often ignored in Government policy.
Rosie Duffield is the Member of Parliament for Canterbury, Whitstable and the Villages and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma. She co-chaired the Birth Trauma Inquiry in Parliament with Theo in 2024 which resulted in changes to NHS policy and improvements to maternity care announced by the then UK Government.
UK Birth Trauma Inquiry Report
https://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/birth-trauma-report
Birth Trauma Association
https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org
Don’t suffer in silence! Listen in and let’s break the final taboo in women’s health #breakingthetaboo.
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice please seek advice from a GP or Doctor.
Website: http://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Instagram: @theoclarkemp
Breaking The Taboo production team:
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin and Elliott Malik
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social media: Bella Carter
Studio manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55 part of Wolfe Power Club
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S2 Ep5: Black maternal health and birth trauma
This week our host Theo Clarke is joined by Tinuke Awe and Clo Abe, co-founders of Five X More, to break the taboo on black maternal health and birth trauma in the UK. They reflect on the experiences that led them to campaign on this issue; discuss data about inequalities in healthcare, and explain how their work is helping affected families with some practical tools for parents.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: ending racial disparities in maternity care; rights in childbirth; maternity safety; the importance of peer support; mental health support for black mothers; and ways the UK Government can end inequalities in healthcare.
Tinuke Awe is the co-founder of Five X More CIC – an award-winning organisation campaigning to improve Black maternal health outcomes in the UK. She is also the founder of Mums & Tea, a social platform aimed at connecting Black mums and building supportive communities. Black motherhood and parenthood are central to Tinuke’s work, and she is passionate about creating accessible resources and spaces for the advancement and empowerment of Black families.
Clo Abe is co-founder of Five X More, an organisation founded in 2019 in response to the MBRRACE reports highlighting that Black women were five times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than white women (current figures show it is still four times more likely). She has worked in maternity units in hospitals across London and was an Expert by Experience for NHS England/Improvement contributing to the Ockenden Report. She helped develop the Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate role and is founder of Prosperitys, a maternal wellbeing social enterprise supporting Black and Ethnic Minority parents with a focus on early intervention, perinatal mental health awareness, and tackling social isolation.
Don’t suffer in silence! Listen in and let’s break the final taboo in women’s health #breakingthetaboo.
Five X More: https://www.fivexmore.com/
Six Steps to Safer Care (Five X More): https://fivexmore.org/6steps
Tommy’s Midwife Video Call Service: https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/about-tommys-pregnancy-information/video-call-service
Your Basic Birth Rights (translated): https://birthrights.org.uk/factsheets/your-basic-birth-rights-translated/
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice please seek advice from a GP or Doctor.
Website: http://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Instagram: @theoclarkemp
Breaking The Taboo production team:
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin and Elliott Malik
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social media: Bella Carter
Studio manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55 part of Wolfe Power Club
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S2 Ep4: Ask me anything on birth trauma
This week our host Theo is joined by Dr Kim Thomas, CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, and campaigner and affected mum Gill Castle to answer listener questions on birth trauma. They share information for expectant mothers and families who've experienced a traumatic birth, including recovery from mental and physical health issues after childbirth, and provide some practical advice to help affected families.
Topics that we discuss on the show include: birth plans; advocating for yourself and rights in childbirth; what is a prolapse; challenges with breastfeeding after a traumatic birth; accessing maternal mental health services; dads support for mothers with birth trauma and impact on wider family; postpartum psychosis; babies suffering from brain damage; medical negligence; contraception post birth; premature babies in NICU and difficulties with bonding.
Dr Kim Thomas is CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, a charity that supports parents experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after birth. She was also the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) inquiry into birth trauma, and wrote the inquiry report, published in May 2024. She has published two books about birth trauma: Birth Trauma: A Guide for You, Your Friends and Family to Coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Birth; and Postnatal PTSD: a Guide for Health Professionals. Her book Broadmoor Women looked at the lives of women committed to Broadmoor in the nineteenth century. She also worked as a freelance journalist for more than 20 years, writing for national newspapers and magazines, with a specialist focus on health and medicine.
Gill Castle is Chief Executive of Chameleon Buddies and a former police officer who suffered a missed 4th degree tear, recto-vaginal fistula and perineal abcess during the birth of her only child in 2011. This led to a permanent colostomy, and medical retirement from the police force due to extensive mental health problems resulting from the birth, including PTSD and severe anxiety. Gill has campaigned for changes to the maternity system in the UK for many years, and has featured extensively in the national media for her work. In 2022 Gill set up an international charity, Chameleon Buddies, to support women in Kenya and the UK to adjust to life with an ostomy after fistula. In 2023 Gill became the first person to swim the English Channel solo with a stoma.
Don't suffer in silence! Listen in and let's break the final taboo in women's health #breakingthetaboo.
Birth Trauma Association: https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org/
Chameleon Buddies:
https://chameleonbuddies.org.uk/
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DISCLAIMER: This show is not intended to be medical advice please seek advice from a GP or Doctor.
Website: http://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/podcast
Instagram: @theoclarkemp
Breaking The Taboo production team:
Producer: Natasha Feroze
Researcher: Max Austin and Elliott Malik
Designer: Emily Ryder
Social media: Bella Carter
Studio manager: Adam Woodward
Studio: Studio 55 part of Wolfe Power Club
'Breaking the Taboo' is my new podcast on women’s health. In series one, I’ll be looking at the issue of birth trauma by speaking to affected mothers, families, healthcare professionals and campaigners for practical advice.
Like many women - my daughter's birth was not straightforward and this led me to chairing the UK Birth Trauma Inquiry as an MP in Parliament. So listen in and let’s break the taboo!
This podcast is sponsored by the law firm Irwin Mitchell.
UK