As we wrap up season six of the podcast, we have shared so many incredible conversations over the last 11 episodes as we dove into what community means in birthcare. There is so much breadth of thought and energy these folks bring through their ability to see what could be, despite the ways that our systems fail us now. And so in this episode, I share these visions for the future of community birth care from the 11 guests that we had on this season. I invite you to take in, digest,...

In this week's episode, we're diving into a conversation around perinatal mental health, and how we screen for and provide better support to parents as they continue to navigate early parenthood.   Our expert this week, Dr. Erin Sadler is a psychologist at Children's National in their NICU who has focused her work around supporting infant mental health with starts with pregnancy and parents. She will be sharing a little bit of the process that her hospital has used to implement a universal...

In this episode we invite you to think more about what it means to create community spaces that are powered by culturally responsive care.   How do we build trust within them, and how we build trust within ourselves, as we contemplate the changes that happen in our bodies, through pregnancy and postpartum, how we connect with what we want and need.  How do we understand our feeding choices, how we think about food for our babies and ourselves? And why it is so important to tune in and be...

We are diving into another heavy and intense conversation here, as we talk about the family policing system, sometimes also referred to as the child protective system.  We are confronting what it means for us, as healthcare workers, as birth workers, to be tied up in this system that is involved in family separation, and ultimately, the policing of families.  When I was thinking through all of the different angles to take throughout the season, as we figure out what it means to be in...

In this episode, we are sharing with you a conversation with Kayden Coleman. Many of you may already know Kayden through his incredible advocacy and storytelling about his experiences as a transgender dad, a seahorse dad who gave birth to two daughters. Through this podcast he shares why he was called to be vocal about his experiences as a Black transgender dad and the prevalence of anti-Blackness in society.  He brings education and insights into how we can improve birthcare, healthcare,...

In this episode of podcast, we are continuing our examination of community. Joined by guest Emily Edwards of The Good Birth Co, who is a nurse, birth worker and all around advocate for thinking and changing how we talk about birth, and how we address & prevent birth trauma.  This episode will be really impactful or those of you who are also out here trying to figure out how we shift power in the birth space. How do we call out issues when we see care, that is not care? When we see...

In this episode we explore how we connect more deeply past the complicated power dynamics and the hierarchy in health care. How can health care providers really set themselves up to be in community with those who they care for? How do we shift the way we deliver insights and education and information to ensure that it continues to center the patient? What are some of the ways that we need to reconsider how we have been trained to share information with patients to speak to folks about the...

As we are examining community throughout the season, thinking more deeply about what it means to be joining into this community of birth. How does it feel to be coming into something that is in some ways already established, but also something that is constantly growing and changing? I am very excited to have one of our original listeners to the podcast who has been with us through our whole journey.  Erin Heacock is a passionate birth advocate who recently started as a nurse in the...

As we continue our season around centering community in our birth work, I am really excited to be having a return guest, one of the very first people who truly made me feel welcomed into a community of other birth workers is Pansay Tayo of Sacred Butterfly Births & the Sacred Pause Red Room.  Pansay back to share some of her wisdom as she has come to define her birth work is something that must be rooted in community. For those of you who are feeling overwhelmed by all that needs to...

As we continue our exploration of what it means to come together as a community in birthcare, we will be diving into some of the reasons that we often find ourselves not connecting in community. What are some of the cultural and societal beliefs around worthiness and value and perfectionism that set us up to be in competition with each other, rather than in community? In particular, what are things those of us who have been socialized as white need to uncover about white supremacy?  How have...

I am really delighted to be just diving deep into some of the issues around community, collaborative relationships, and navigating the medical hierarchy. I am so excited to share our guests with you this week, Dr. Cody Pyke is trained as both a physician and as an attorney, and has some incredible insights to share with you.   How do we craft our messaging to connect with legislators and folks who really work on systems, policy levels?   Have you been thinking about understanding your...

We are so thrilled to be coming for Season SIX of the podcast! As we delve into our new season theme of centering community, it feels fitting that our very first episode at the podcast was about community, it is very much at the heart of the work we do here at your birth partners. And so often when this work is more challenging, there needs to be when things are not going smoothly. It is because we are not rooted in community. We need folks who are here with us doing this work, ones who are...

As we wrap up season five around change-making in perinatal care, I am excited to share with you some takeaways from the season as I have reflected on what our guests have shared and pulled together some themes so that as you figure out the way you want to create change in the perinatal care system, you will have some inspiration from those who are walking this path along with you.  Themes: ~Changing individuals => systems change ~Community with accountability as basis for change ~Taking...

So in this episode we are diving into the future of Queer Reproductive Justice, and what does it mean to show up for queer, trans, non binary, and other folks who have been marginalized within the perinatal care system.  To lead us in that conversation, I am delighted to have king yaa on to share their wisdom and their work as they have delved into this throughout their career. And as they speak, and educate on this topic in so many different platforms. Learning from king yaa has truthfully...

In this episode, we are going to be diving into the topic of debriefing: what debriefing is, how it can benefit folks in the immediate postpartum period as they start to reflect on their birth story, on their journey on the feelings that they have as they reflect on what happened during their birth, whether those were, you know, overwhelmingly positive or negative experiences. Together with Emily and Mandy we have created a resource for Debriefing at the Bedside, that we are really eager to...

In this episode, we are diving back into the topic of birth trauma. And this is something that we have revisited over and over throughout the podcast, because this issue is growing. These statistics around birth trauma, they are only worsening and this is something that needs to be addressed by so many different angles. We have a new perspective to share with you today as Teela Tomassetti of The Tea on Birth Trauma joins us to talk through why she has devoted her advocacy as a therapist to...

We are diving into the world of postpartum again in this episode.  Because, frankly, we don't tend to give it the attention it deserves in the perinatal care space. There are so many ways that we are failing folks throughout the postpartum period. Our guest, Kayla Bitten, also known as The Southern Midwife, is a wealth of information about how will we make shifts in the cultural narrative around postpartum healing. How will we address the stigma that is so often present as folks make this...

This week on the show, we are excited to be changing up our format a little bit and talking directly to a parent to be.  We are all in this work to care for people, but so often our education is not centered on parents themselves and we don't get feedback about how that care impacts them. Our guest this week is Jessica Lorion, who is the host of another podcast called Mama's In Training.  She speaks to folks who have had their babies and other birthing professionals so that people like her...

In this episode of the podcast, we are honored to share a Q&A with Erika Cohn filmmaker of Belly of the Beast.   Belly of the Beast is an incredibly powerful film-from their trailer: It is about when a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal sterilizations in California's women's prisons. They wage a near impossible battle against the department of corrections. With the growing team of investigators inside prison, working with colleagues on the outside,...

In this episode, we are diving deep into the way that trauma shows up in birth and in the perinatal period.  We are discussing a lot of the complicated dynamics that exists when someone experiences trauma during their birth. This is something that impacts certainly birthing people, their families, and their other support.  It also impacts those of us who work in birth. Our guest today. Kayleigh Summers of The Birth Trauma Mama is a therapist and birth trauma survivor herself. As she shares...

In this episode of the podcast, we are diving into another heavy topic as we explore structural racism. How do we define it? How do we recognize it? And most importantly, how do we take action, when we see its impacts as they show up in our personal practices, in our organization, in our policies? This conversation is so important.  There are horrific racism-driven disparities in perinatal health care. And all of us as birthworkers, as clinicians have a role in changing the way that the...

This week we are examining maybe one of the more uncomfortable conversations that we have when we talk about creating change and striving for trauma-informed patient-centered care: folks concerned about their level of risk. What does it mean if we truly trust patients? If we really embrace folks making autonomous decisions about their health, where does that leave us in our role as healthcare workers? How do we think about the risks associated with poor or unexpected outcomes? What have we...

In this episode we are diving deep into HOW we can ask for the support we need during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. And on the flip side, how do we show up as the support that others NEED rather than the way we *think* we should? As we've talked through the last few seasons of the podcast, we recognize that for so many birthing people, there is a tremendous lack of support, both personally and professionally, as they navigate the transition into parenthood. What's so important about this...

This time on the show, we'll be joined in conversation by Meredith Strayhorn of The Walking Stick Midwifery Care.  Meredith been a huge inspiration and source of collaboration and insight in growing Your BIRTH Partners.  As we've discussed over and over the last few years, I've been incredibly inspired by her journey as a birthworker, as she is growing and learning as a doula and now a student midwife.  I'm excited for you to hear her story, understand what motivates her to keep going, how...