Forum theatre

  • This is the Reality and it starts now!

    As you may know if you’ve been following me for a while I had a traumatic birth in 2017. This impacted me massively on a personal level but what a lot of people don’t know is how it impacted me on a professional level too. 

    I had been a qualified midwife for 3 years and had fully prepared for birth and motherhood (or so I thought) but what I had not prepared for was my return to work. I went back part time when Harrison was 10 months old. I returned to the community role I was doing before, so it was familiar and that was nice. What was not nice were the reminders of my experience almost EVERY DAY. 

    I imagine it’s similar to being a chef for a living…the last thing you want to do is cook when you get home in the evening. I had given birth at the hospital trust I worked for and I was caring for pregnant and new mums who were vulnerable and struggling with similar issues to me. I told myself it was normal and that the sleep depravation probably wasn’t helping. My instinct was to avoid all reminders of what happened to me but I couldn’t. I remember actually having a panic attack in the toilet on the labour ward the first time I had to go back there to collect something. I also remember visiting a new mum and listening to her talk about her birth experience and in that moment just wanting to sit and sob with her. I don’t know how I kept it together. 

    These expectant and new mums were looking to me to care for them and their baby, give them information and share my knowledge and ultimately reassure them that everything was going to be ok. Outwardly I was talking the talk and walking the walk (my background in performing arts served me well here!) but inwardly I was anxious and could not get away from the things which were triggering me the most. I felt like a fraud. 

    The reason I share this with you is because it highlights just how hard it can be to do a job like being a midwife, dealing with emotionally charged situations every day when there are personal things that you are still dealing with or underlying emotional health factors such as anxiety. It look me 18 months to realise that these feelings weren’t going away and to start to look at ways to help myself. My family and the women I cared for deserved better and I deserved better. 

    You see I have been on both sides of the same coin – the new mother trying to keep it all together and not show how much she is crumbling and the midwife trying to keep it all together and not show how much she is crumbling. 

    Pregnant and new mothers need support but so too do the midwives and birth workers. We care so deeply for others but who cares for us? 

    When things are constantly changing, our workload increasing in volume and complexity, trying our best but never feeling like it’s good enough, the mounting pressure over fear of missing something or making a mistake and even worse what people will think of us when it all comes crashing down and we burn out…. the guilt, the shame. 

    Never before has our passion, our calling put us under this amount of pressure. Midwives are leaving the profession at an unprecedented rate. We are in the middle of an epidemic, but the babies still keep coming. We keep showing up the best we can and giving so much of ourselves, even though we are struggling with our own emotions . Even though we feel we may be putting ourselves and our loved ones at risk by doing so. 

    If I was returning to work now after maternity leave in the hypervigilant and highly emotional state I was in back then, then I would have floundered. It’s taken me almost 3 years but I now have more clarity than ever before in how I want to help others to overcome similar challenges.

    My support for pregnant and new mammas will always continue as I am a midwife by nature as well as by name…but I also want to help the extraordinary people who serve our communities to not lose sight of the reason they came into the job in the first place and to rediscover that they can be the midwife they want and deserve to be. 

    Imagine…..

    … jumping out of bed in a morning with a spring in your step and the sparkle back in your eyes

    …having the confidence to stand up and pitch your amazing ideas, instigate and lead change

    …being an inspiration and a role model for your peers, students and the women you serve

    …replenising your motivation and resilience to overcome whatever your day brings EVRY DAY 

    … knowing that your effort and persistence is paying off and that self-assurance is guaranteed

    …closing your eyes at night and feeling secure, grounded and peaceful

    And finally…to know that if you do decide to leave your job or the profession altogether…it is a decision based on confidence rather than fear. 

    Think of the sense of relief and the lightness you would feel if you weren’t just showing up for those you cared for, but were showing up for yourself to be the very best that you can be.

    You didn’t come this far to only come this far. 

    Just take a moment to imagine what the midwifery workforce would look like if every member of every maternity team had this mindset. Think of the way we could transform our services and the lives of those we care about – personally and professionally.

    This is not a pipe dream. This can be a reality and it starts with you.

    Are you ready to take the first step? 

  • What a performance! How the arts paved the way for me to midwifery and beyond…

    People often ask me what I did before becoming a Midwife. I can honestly say that I think I’ve always been a midwife. I feel its the type of job that’s coded into your DNA and it takes a certain event or a series of life events to ‘activate’ it. So much so that when I went for my interview at university I couldn’t put into words why she should offer me a place on the course, I just trusted my instinct that this was my calling. Thankfully she must have seen it too!

    But I did do other jobs before I was a midwife – office work, restaurant and bar work, customer service – anything which paid the bills. But if you’d have asked me when I was a little girl what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have probably said an actress or singer. I remember my early experiences of being on stage at age 6 or 7. I loved dressing up, acting out stories and singing. Drama (closely followed by music, english and foreign languages) was my favourite subject at school so it felt natural for me to take drama at GCSE at secondary school and then go on to study performing arts at college. I felt totally at ease in the spot light and continued to love the challenge of becoming different characters – putting myself in their shoes to try and give a realistic performance. I loved being part of the team and working together to put on the show -cast, costume, lighting. This was my happy place. 

    I used to say that preforming was my first love and midwifery was my second – but its likely that I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for those early experiences of being on the stage. Self confidence, discipline, team work and dedication have all served me well in my Midwifery career so far and of course as an Emotional Health Coach helping midwives to overcome anxiety, stress and overthinking, to name a few things, and I feel so lucky that I can combine my two passions through my involvement with Progress Theatre Midwives.

    I’ve been part of Progress Theatre Midwives since I was a second year midwifery student. I luckily found myself being mentored by one of the founding members of the company, Adele Stanley, and after chatting about our shared passion for the arts was offered an audition to join them- I was over the moon!

    So what is Progress Theatre? Our bio says…

    “We are a group of (mostly) midwives who have had experience of working with drama and theatre. 

    We use performance and theatre workshops to explore realistic and familiar situations from the world of midwifery. Our workshops are interactive, illuminating and enjoyable. Participants come away with a feeling that they have learnt something new about themselves and the context within which we work – and enjoyed themselves.

    We develop our material through devising from our own and others’ stories of the culture of maternity care. We perform a series of short scenes depicting every day dilemmas, and then invite the audience to debate and analyse what is going on. Observers also make suggestions about how things could be different – and participants are invited to demonstrate these by entering the ‘scene’ and acting them out. Using theatre in this way is based on the work of South American dramaturge Augusto Boal who wrote Theatre of the Oppressed.

    We have been working together since 1999 following an idea which originated from Professor Mavis Kirkham. 

    “The culture of maternity care in the NHS serves to empower neither midwives nor their clients. To change this culture midwives need to explore how they can change both their behaviour and that of others”. Our theatre aims to do that.”

    I’ve been involved in many shows and performances with Progress Theatre over the last 7 years, travelling all over the country and meeting amazing and inspiring people. This phenomenal group of women are my tribe. Their friendship is such a blessing. They encourage me, positively challenge me and support me – to be the best midwife I can be and to help inspire change in others. 

    I think the little girl standing on the stage would be happy to know that I’m continuing to fan the flames of a fire which she started, which I hope will continue to burn bright enough to light the way for others. 

    Interested in commissioning Progress Theatre Midwives to perform at your conference or local trust? Contact us here https://www.facebook.com/progressmidwives/