Trauma and Birth

Sheila Broderick qualified as a Social Worker in 1977. She initially worked at a therapeutic community for people with drug addiction. She then worked for Greenwich Mind, mental health charity, before she left to work at University Lewisham Hospital as a Women’s Health Counsellor. Her work at the hospital was always woman-centred, with kindness, support and an acknowledgement of each person’s uniqueness at its heart. When she retired in 2013 she was Senior Women’s Health Counsellor. Ruth Cochrane has been a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist since 1997. She is a busy generalist and is regularly to be found on the labour ward. She is particularly interested in high-risk obstetrics, major benign gynaecological surgery, the management of perinatal loss and undergraduate education. She runs a postnatal debrief clinic for women and their partners who have had traumatic births.

1.The experience of traumatic birth 2.Person-centred care 3.Birth plans 4.Prolonged labour and shoulder dystocia 5.Instrumental delivery 6.Perineal, anal sphincter and bladder injury 7.Surgical considerations including haemorrhage and blood transfusion 8.ICU and anaesthesia 9.Mental health 10.Debriefing and serious incident reporting 11.Managing the next pregnancy and delivery 12.Trauma to staff