By Midwife Marley
The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.
Mars and I had a really good chat in this episode and it was fascinating to get a better insight into her work.
Mars is a coach and birth activist. A triple award-winning doula, mentor, educator, coach, and on the RCOG Race Equality Taskforce and on the Birthrights Legal inquiry into Black Maternal Health panel with over 17 years experience. Mars is in high demand, both in the UK and across the world, as a speaker and trainer. Mars created Abuela Doulas, a doula preparation course primarily, but not exclusively, for Black and Brown women, and is the Founder of BLA (Black Lives Abuela) Scholarship. This scholarship is to help Black women who wish to become doulas to train and not be held back by socio-economic disadvantage. She is Inclusion Consultant to several large companies causing them to look deep into their practise to make systemic and structural change. Mars is co-creator of Through The Dark Lens Conference - a conference showcasing Black and brown excellence in the perinatal period.
Social media handles
Instagram: @abueladoula
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abueladoula
Website: https://abueladoulas.co.uk
Upcoming Courses and Training
https://abueladoulas.com/our-courses
Coach
Instagram: @_marslord
Twitter: @_marslord
Kemi Johnson is a birthkeeper midwife who I had the pleasure of chatting to about physiological birth and what it needs to thrive. What can we do to ensure those who want a physiological birth increase their chances of actually having one?
Follow Kemi on Instagram @kemibirthjoyjohnson
Kemi also hosts a physiological birth session every Tuesday evening at 8pm UK time over on clubhouse for anyone who wants to get involved.
Dr Orin is a chartered counselling psychologist with a passion for delivering psychological therapy and workshops on perinatal mental health for mums experiencing a range of emotional and interpersonal challenges during the perinatal period. Having worked in mental health for 9 years in a variety of settings, she brings a wealth of experience to her role as a psychologist specialising in perinatal mental health.
She is the founder of @blackperinatalmentalheath in Instagram, a platform to improve perinatal mental health outcomes for Black women.
In this episode we talk about perinatal mental health in general and how it impacts minority groups.
Hibo Wardere is an FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) Consultant, author, activist, policy advisor and global speaker. In this episode, we talk about FGM, her own experiences and how we can protect girls in the UK.
Imagine for a moment that you are 6-years-old and you are woken in the early hours, bathed and then dressed in rags before being led down to an ominous looking tent at the end of your garden. And there, you are subjected to the cruellest cut, ordered by your own mother. Forced down on a bed, her legs held apart, Hibo Wardere was made to undergo female genital cutting, a process so brutal, she nearly died. As a teenager she moved to London in the shadow of the Somalian Civil War where she quickly learnt the procedure she had undergone in her home country was not 'normal' in the west. She embarked on a journey to understand FGM and its roots, whilst raising her own family and dealing with the devastating consequences of the cutting in her own life. Today Hibo finds herself working in London as an FGM campaigner, helping young girls whose families plan to take them abroad for the procedure. She has vowed to devote herself to the campaign against FGM.
Get Hibo's book here: https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/cut-one-womans-fight-against-fgm-in-britain-today/hibo-wardere/paperback/9781471153983.html
Training for health professionals :
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fgm-awareness-training-with-hibo-wardere-tickets-152393618415
Twitter: @hibowardere
Instagram: hibowardere48
LinkedIn: Hibo Wardere
This weeks episode focuses on maternal mental health week. I had the pleasure of speaking with inspirational mum Ayshen Webbe, mother to a new born, CEO/Founder of the Talent Management Company Webbe Industries and co-host to A Woman’s Journey with Chrissy Brown. She strongly believes in creating a safe place for women to share their experiences of Motherhood while normalising topics such as miscarriages, group B strep , infertility and more.
Joining us was indeed the lovely Chrissy Brown, a mother of two, HR Generalist with 10 years experience, founder of the Motivational Mums Club and author of ‘Mental Soundness at Work’. With a passion for raising awareness in Mental Health within Mothers & Mums to be, she aims to help Mothers by providing Doula Support and free MH sessions with the some to make difference.
We had a wonderful three way chat talking about their experiences of motherhood, mental health and the reasons behind their latest projects and initiatives.
You can follow Chrissy on Instagram @motivationalmumsclub and twitter @mmumsclub
Ayshen can be found on Instagram @ayshenwebbe
Kemi Akinwunmi aka Professional Aunty talks with me about postnatal care and the needs of mums and birthing people from diverse backgrounds.
Kemi is a qualified Midwife, specialist in public health, first aid trainer and best of all a Mother.
On her unique journey of parenting, she realised the gaps in support she felt parents so needed. Her service Professional Aunty was born to make the parenthood journey as smooth as possible by having someone who can do some of the hard work for you.
Kemi says:
"Our Mission is to Support, Assist and Guide you along your journey, by providing you with products and flexible services made fun!
Professional Aunty allows you to PEAK in your parenting (Prepared, Equipped with skills you require, Assisted on your journey and given the Knowledge you need).
I want all parents to get off to the best start in their parenting journey! "
Contact Professional Aunty:
website: www.professionalaunty.co.uk
Instagram: @professionalaunty
email: [email protected]
Welcome to the first episode of series 3! Its been a while and I'm so excited for the new episodes. Keep checking back as I will be dropping new episodes regularly.
I had a chat with Leanne Jeffery, an old colleague of mine who worked for may years as a midwifery assistant and now as an infant feeding support worker. Leanne is passionate about educating women and birthing people about breastfeeding, and supporting them, regardless of their backgrounds.
Here we talk about how she helped to educate women in the UK Traveller & Gypsy communities, who generally have a much lower than average breastfeeding rate. In many areas, the breastfeeding rate is zero. We also talk about how a trip to the local mosque opened up conversations surrounding breastfeeding and support that many new mothers were unaware existed.
Jeena Wilder is a mother of 4 from Texas, US. She lives with her husband and they have a beautiful blended family of 3 girls and one boy, with one of her daughters being adopted.
During this episode we talk about her family, adoption and her most recent birth experience
You can follow Jeena on Instagram @jeenawilder
Coping with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Louise shares her story of severe sickness in her pregnancy
Louise is a social worker and mother of one from London, England. We connected after she left a comment on one of my Instagram posts about Hyperemesis Gravidarum (severe sickness and vomiting in pregnancy) and was happy to share her story.
Hyperemesis is NOT just typical morning sickness and it's emotional and physical devastation cannot be understood by anyone who has not suffered from it.
For more advice and support about HG check out the following links:
Pregnancy Sickness Support - support organisation in the UK for HG sufferers
HG information
Stefanies Story
This weeks episode I have a special guest talking to me about the very different births of her two children Levi and Remi. Jodi Stewart Henriques (Also known as Jodi Jinx) is a Jamaican TV presenter & host, costume designer, Youtuber and also worked as an early years teacher.
She also has a very musical dancehall star husband Sean Paul. This episode is a short one, mainly due to the fact that Jodi and Sean were mid vacation on a beach and the signal wasn't too great! We recorded this episode whilst Jodi was on holiday with her family, sitting on the beach which is where I really would love to be right now!
Follow Jodi:
Instagram
Youtube
The podcast currently has 19 episodes available.