Jolene specialises in trauma as an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker. She shares how trauma effects our body, and how previous trauma can impact birth. Various studies over the years have shown how women who've experienced trauma are more likely to experience birth trauma, but it's never been described in detail; how trauma impacts the body and our births. I invited Jolene on to explain why this link occurs, how a part of the brain called the Amygdala overrides the prefrontal cortex (logical part of our brain) to ensure we survive. Jolene describes how trauma isn't stored in our mind in a narrative memory sense, but felt-senses and patterns of behaviour in certain situations, which can included fight, flight or freeze response. We discuss how women can understand how their trauma can impact their births, how birth companions and care providers can identify and help women during birth who've experienced birth trauma.
In this episode, I share my childhood trauma with having my own mum suffer from Bipolar, Borderline Personality Disorder and multiple suicide attempts. As a child, I learnt that in order to survive, I needed my mum to survive, and a strong sense of self-reliance in order to not "be let down". I describe how this impacted my birth through my need to "control" the situations in order to feel safe and secure.
You can find Jolene here: Child and Family Therapist | Jolene Hutchings | Bli Bli
A recommended reading resource we spoke of is: The Body keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
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