Resources and training to help prevent, identify, and respond to birth-related trauma
Birth-related trauma is a historically under-recognised health issue in Australia. Research indicates that up to 1 in 3 women* in Australia experience their labour and childbirth as traumatic. Evidence also shows that some women experience lasting impacts to their mental health and wellbeing after their childbirth experiences.
General Practitioners (GPs) are often the first health professionals women and families turn to after birth. However, many women report that birth trauma can go unrecognised in primary care settings, making it difficult to access timely and appropriate support.
—Queensland Mental Health Commission,
Primary healthcare professionals interested in enhancing the trauma-informed perinatal care they provide to their patients can access a range of free and paid learning modules and resources.
Perinatal mental health resources for healthcare professionals
Peach Tree Perinatal Wellness is a community-based perinatal and infant mental health service that support expecting parents and parents of children aged zero to 5 years. Health professionals can refer patients into Peach Tree Perinatal Wellness services online.
Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) provide clinicians and practices with:
Brisbane South HealthPathways provides assessment, management and referral options to support clinical decision-making. View the HealthPathway for:
Join our free event: Perinatal Interprofessional Psychosocial Education for Maternity Clinicians (PIPE-MC)
Brisbane South PHN invites maternity clinicians working in the Brisbane South PHN region to participate in a free training program focused on perinatal mental health.
The PIPE-MC project is a simulation based, interprofessional training program designed to strengthen the capacity of health professionals to care for women* with perinatal mental health concerns.
A key focus of the program is to build skills in interprofessional collaboration. The development and evaluation of PIPE-MC has been funded by the Commonwealth Government Perinatal Mental Health Priority Grants.
The PIPE-MC workshop will be offered as a one-day face-to-face workshop, limited to a maximum of 15 interprofessional participants. A certificate of participation will be issued for CPD requirements.
Learn more and register here.
Access CPD-accredited birth-related trauma training
CPD-accredited education is available through the ThinkNatal Training and Education Hub for primary healthcare professionals who want to build their capability in recognising and responding to birth-related trauma.
Delivered by Birth Trauma Australia (BTA), ThinkNatal provides CPD-accredited training modules designed to support clinicians who work with women, birthing people, partners, and non-birthing parents who have experienced birth-related trauma.
ThinkNatal’s CPD-accredited training modules are designed to provide healthcare professionals with the knowledge and practical skills to help prevent, identify, and respond to birth-related trauma.
The content of the modules draws on both research and lived experience, and has been approved by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) and the Australasian College of Midwives.
Please note, these are paid learning modules.
Through the modules, participants can gain skills in:
early identification
sensitive communication
strategies for improving trauma-informed care
appropriate referral pathways.
Resources for your patients
Birth Trauma Australia have a suite of free resources for parents and families before and after childbirth and well as peer-to-peer support programs.
Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) provides information and support for new and expecting parents and families during pregnancy and throughout the first year of parenthood.
*Brisbane South PHN acknowledges that sex and gender are distinct concepts and that sex-specific health issues like birth-related trauma affects women and gender diverse peoples.
**While ‘motherhood’ is used to describe the social and lived experience of caring, nurturing, and reproductive roles often associated with women, Brisbane South PHN recognise that sex and gender are distinct concepts, and that sex-specific health issues can affect not only cisgender women but also gender diverse peoples.