Birthing Victories: Expanding Midwifery Group Practice
Welcome to Season 10, Episode 3 of the She Births® Podcast. This is our Taboos and Truths season.
And today holds a bit of both, like our previous episodes.
In episode 1 and 2 we covered conversations about our pelvic floor and our boobs. Two essential parts of the body as we birth are often filled with taboo, shame and confusion. So I hope those previous chats have helped bring more awareness, truth, and empowerment about your body and mind into your field.
Today I talk with Sharon Settecasse, a mother and community advocate from Better Births Illawarra @betterbirthsillawarra
Sharon is a space holder whose work is rooted in reclaiming and healing self, community and culture. Her ancestry is Argentinean and her story and responsibilities are now interwoven on Dharawal Country, south of Sydney.
Sharon’s work involves visioning collective liberation, connecting, and dismantling colonial and patriarchal systems while honouring the intergenerational strength and collective resilience of marginalised peoples.
Sharon is the president and co-founder of Better Births Illawarra, a fierce grassroots community advocacy organisation committed to ensuring every mother and birthing parent has access to an empowered birth through respectful, just and humane maternity care.
In my chat today, we get to celebrate something rare yet powerful—triumph in the birthing space. For decades, we’ve seen choices taken away from women and their families, interventions on the rise, and far too much trauma as well. But amidst all this, a group of incredible women from the Wollongong area have been fighting for better births, not just for themselves, but for all of us.
I’m honoured to be joined by one of these trailblazers, Sharon, as she shares with us their recent victory in expanding the Midwifery Group Practice at Wollongong Hospital’s Birth Centre, and how this win is not just a triumph for the Illawarra but represents even more in terms of the power of community, advocacy and the powerful ripple effects of writing to our ministers and recent birth trauma inquiry.
I have spoken about it before, but we’ll dive into the groundbreaking parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma—a victory that’s already igniting action in New Zealand, the UK, and beyond. Truths, when they are spoken and come into the open work like wildfire—each triumph fuels the next. Truths and healing on a collective level is one of the most powerful ways we can help ourselves and our sisters and children. Speaking the truth, breaking taboos, and releasing pain and shame are actually helping us move toward a world where birth is safer, more empowering, and filled with choice.
I hope this conversation inspires you as much as it has inspired me. Let’s celebrate these victories and continue pushing for change together!
I hope that wherever you are on your journey as a parent or birth worker, this podcast helps you have a beautiful birth and create more beautiful births for others.
Please share with a friend, review, and subscribe, as this really helps us deliver more podcasts to more families.
You can find Sharon and her crew @betterbirthsillawarra
Look forward to sharing more with you soon.
Nadine xx
Weekend course dates https://shebirths.com/weekend-birthing-classes/events/
Soul Mama Circle https://shebirths.com/mothers-groups/
The post S10 E3: Taboos and Truths – Advocating for Trauma-Free Birth Experiences appeared first on shebirths.com.