Our Peer Supporters
Our team of peer supporters have all experienced traumatic births and been through a process of recovery. The easiest way to get in touch with them is via email.
Most of our peer supporters are mums, but we do have two dads, so if you’re a father or partner who would like support after witnessing a traumatic birth, please do ask for Steve or Dan when you email.
If you prefer support over the phone, please call 0203 621 6338.
Meet our peer supporters
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I’m Dan, a proud father to Isaac and Heidi.
Each of their births were extremely difficult for both my wife and me, albeit for different reasons.
Heidi’s birth had the most profound and detrimental impact on my mental health, resulting in depression, anxiety and PTSD.
Heidi’s umbilical cord detached from the placenta during labour. This resulted in an emergency delivery, where I was left alone in the maternity room for several hours. The only update I received during that time was to be told to prepare for the worst, as it looked likely that Heidi would not survive.
By the grace of God, following three days in therapeutic hypothermia, and two weeks in Neonatal intensive care, she did survive.
I was witness to and felt every raw second of that bittersweet ordeal. It will stay with me forever.
I hope to turn my trauma into a force for good by using my experiences to help others.
Throughout the entire natal process, the emphasis of care and compassion is on Mother and Child, for good reason and rightly so. However, I am proof that the impact of birth trauma can potentially effect anyone involved, and it can hit the father, or partner just as hard as it can the mother.
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Hi, my name is Emma. I have two daughters, one born in March 2021 and one born in January 2024. Both pregnancies had their complications with gestational diabetes, pre eclampsia and both were born via C Section - one emergency and one planned. I’m training to become a psychotherapist and feel drawn to helping women and their families with their postpartum struggles once I qualify. For now, I’d love to use the skills I have learned (and continue to learn) to listen to your birth stories and be a support to you.
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My name is Emma. I gave birth to my son at the start of 2022 and sustained a 3c tear followed by a haemorrhage, leaving my husband and baby whilst been taking to theatre for a general anaesthetic for surgery that took over two hours. My baby boy was healthy, however, I feared for my own life and was worried about what my physical recovery would look like. Unhelpful comments and incorrect facts from staff and an examination without consent also contributed to my birth trauma and postnatal depression. I then struggled with breastfeeding and bonding with my baby. I had talking therapy and found the BTA Facebook group which both helped me on my path to healing. I have always loved and cared for my baby but after a year I finally got a rush of love and felt that I had fully recovered. I now want to turn my experience into a positive by helping and supporting others.
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I'm Kate (KJR), mum of two, living fairly close to London. I had a traumatic birth with my first about five years ago. Since volunteering for BTA, it has struck me how many people's birth trauma has been exacerbated by the feeling that they were not respected, listened to or heard during childbirth. The same was true for me. I want people to know that they are heard, we are listening now, and wanting to help if we can.
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I’m a mum of two from Northumberland. I’ve experienced miscarriage trauma and birth trauma. The recovery from the birth of my eldest in 2018 turned out bitter-sweet to me. As I worked towards recovering from my birthing injuries, I also realized how long I’d wasted pretending to be fine after my miscarriage. My dreamt about beautiful son arrived and I began a journey of recovery from a buried miscarriage trauma and complicated forceps delivery which has left me with injuries I’ve learned to live with. I have the unshakeable belief that we can all find a way back to feeling comfortable in our own skin again.
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I’m Charlotte. I am mum of one, to my beautiful daughter Amelia. It was with Amelia I suffered my own birth trauma. A gruelling three-day induced labour, failed epidural, my girl became stuck & back-to-back, with me feeling every bit of it, resulting in a failed forceps and an emergency caesarean. Something that I never considered I might go through, nor considered that those next years ahead would be crucial to my PTSD and anxieties.
And some years down the line, in time, with CBT therapy and a good support network I felt somewhat better. I became a maternity care assistant on the very ward I suffered my trauma and finally gained closure. The main thing I took from this in volumes was the trauma that parents were suffering from their new experience. I found myself leaning to these families. What can I do? How can I help? I had a huge urge to help in some way – and then I thought of the BTA and how much they helped me with my own trauma. This led to me becoming a peer supporter and finally reaching out my hand to those who need it. I am here, with hope, to make a difference, and to show that on the other side of this birth trauma, you really do find hope, peace, and yourself again.
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My name is Gemma, I am a Covid mum, having had my son in May 2020. The lockdown restrictions really impacted me, whether through labouring in the hospital alone or not being allowed family or friends to help me or even hold my hand as a first-time mum.
I know how isolating and overwhelming being a mum can be – it can feel like a big mistake at times and I want to be there for you to talk to when it gets like that.
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I’m Kathryn and I underwent a difficult instrumental delivery, followed by a stay of several days on a ward where my daughter and I experienced a lack of compassionate and safe care. Prior to the birth, I had had a traumatic miscarriage, and suffered a close bereavement in the immediate postpartum period, which heightened the emotional struggles I experienced in the months following. My wish is for you to know that if you have experienced birth trauma, your experience matters and we are here to offer the support and empathy you deserve.
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I’m Sophie. I'm a mummy to two children following fertility treatment and one big child (AKA my husband). I have a huge passion for mental health blogging and motherhood, and I aim to raise awareness on navigating motherhood whilst dealing with ill mental health. One day I hope to leave my mark on NHS policy and postnatal mental health, so no other family feels alone. I was pregnant during the first Covid-19 lockdown and gave birth alone to my son. I found birth to be emotionally traumatic and I developed PND and postpartum psychosis. My son and I spent four months in our local mother and baby psychiatric unit. Since then, I have been on a journey in learning to love my son and finding myself again. I want to support other parents in their journey, giving them the empowerment to know that with support things can and will get better.
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I’m a logistics manager from Sheffield where I live with my wife and two boys. The youngest, who was born in January 2021 with Hirschsprung’s disease, was also his family’s traumatic birth.
I was motivated to join as a peer supporter for the Birth Trauma Association after my experience as a partner navigating the traumatic delivery of my second child. That involved supporting my wife – but I also became aware of the lack of direct support, or signposting of support, available to partners as they pick up the day-to-day running of family life.
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My birth trauma was a long 24 years ago but it resurfaced (in the form of new, but accurate, memories) during the pandemic. Long story short, I found the BTA and love this organisation’s work and now enjoy being a peer support volunteer for them. I’m passionate about helping other women find support after a traumatic birth and I am equally keen to figure out ways to prevent birth trauma.
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I’m Heather, and I’m mum to an amazing daughter who has a hypoxic brain injury. I had PTSD after my birth and my daughter’s NICU stay and now I want to help other women and parents who need support.
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I’m Emma! I went through a traumatic birth at the birth of my first daughter where I sustained birth injuries. I felt ignored and alone for too long and want others to feel listened to because every story matters.
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My name is Hana, I am a Covid mum, and had my daughter in December 2020. The lockdown restrictions had a huge impact on my pregnancy and birth experience, it was a very lonely and isolating place. My pregnancy was affected by HG, I had questionable leaking at 36 weeks, suffered abnormal and heavy bleeding at 38 weeks, was induced with a balloon catheter, endured excruciating pain, and ended up having an emergency C-section due to fetal distress. I was in a state of shock following the birth, my sense of self had gone, and I could not comprehend how I was still alive. I wasn’t acknowledged with much kindness from some staff on the wards, I wasn’t listened to, and I felt completely out of control.
It took me a year to accept I was suffering with PTSD as a result of birth trauma. I started to read other people’s birth stories back in 2021-2022 on BTA, this was extremely helpful and made me feel not so alone. Healing was a journey that did not happen overnight, I underwent CBT followed by counselling, and started to prioritise and practice self-care and self-compassion. After receiving support and been on this difficult, yet transformative healing journey, I now feel I am in the best place to support others. Your feelings and experiences are valid, and I aim to create a safe place where you have a voice, feel supported and empowered.
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I have three children and my last we call baby number surprise. I had a completely different experience the first two times I was pregnant, and with my third (and last) pregnancy I was hospitalised at 20 weeks with sepsis. I spent some time in intensive care before the discovery of an abscess on my kidney, which meant a hospital stay of five weeks. I often wonder how I would’ve healed from that mentally if I didn’t then go on to deliver at 42 weeks but with baby’s cord round his neck. I first realised I had postnatal depression four months after that but it took a further year before I reached out and was, gently, told I had PTSD. I went through five therapists in the next few years but credit EMDR therapy with saving my life. That and the BTA, who provided a space for me to tell my story, and feel validated. It was incredibly healing to (virtually) sit with other people who knew a little of the landscape I was navigating.
I’ve moved on from those debilitating flashbacks, panic attacks, dissociative episodes, nightmares and the numbness and I want to help create a space for others to feel less alone and tell their story. There’s power in taking back our stories and it’s not easy, we have to start and stop many times before we find what works for us but healing is possible. And it starts with our voice.
