Birth Trauma Awareness Week 2025

This week is Birth Trauma Awareness Week. The theme of this year as chosen by the Birth Trauma Association is ‘inequalities’, with the charity sharing videos and blogposts on how women are affected by inequality in maternity care for reasons such as ethnicity, disability, poverty and neurodivergence.

At Browne Jacobson, we have kick-started our learning on Tuesday with the Shared Insights maternity forum: Birthing outside guidance webinar, which was chaired by Kelly Buckley, Partner and Head of our Maternity Division. We heard from Senior Associate Rachael Bose who gave insight into the legal framework governing ‘birthing outside guidance’, including best practice during planning and decision making. 

We were honoured to hear from guest speakers Floretta Cox, Consultant Midwife at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Elizabeth Swift, Consultant Obstetrician at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. We were humbled to hear directly about the impact of birth trauma from Heather Simmonds-Copete, Research Officer and Peer Support at the Birth Trauma Association, who shared her own story of her daughter’s traumatic birth. 

This fruitful discussion highlighted the need for open and honest communication with women birthing outside of guidance. We became aware of the reasons why birthing outside of guidance is desired by some women, including tokophobia, previous traumatic birth experiences and personal or cultural preferences. We learned of specific challenges to consent discussions, such as language barriers and the need to tailor the approach to these discussions based on the individual mother’s need. 

In our maternity division at Browne Jacobson, we deal with birth injury claims every day, and we strive to remember that the individuals at the heart of these cases have suffered some of the most devastating injuries and psychological traumas that a person can experience. 

For my own part, I am looking to improve my practice in the sensitive handling of these cases through counselling skills training. This training, accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, hones skills in active listening, empathy training and problem-solving through discussion. These skills are essential to some of the most challenging work we do as birth injury specialists, such as meeting with families of profoundly disabled children at pathfinder meetings and when engaging in collaborative work with Claimant solicitors.

At Browne Jacobson, we are committed to supporting NHS Trusts and health care organisations with delivering on their strategy to improve maternity outcomes. In June 2025, Wes Streeting announced his order for a rapid national investigation into NHS maternity services in England. This news will impact many NHS Trusts and healthcare organisations. Browne Jacobson has offered help and continues to extend their support.

Please do get in touch to discuss how our specialist maternity team may be able to help. For more resources and to learn about our specialist team, visit our maternity services hub.