𝗪𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐔𝐊 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞
One of the things we’ve been talking about in a group I run is where to get support in midwifery. I have the following suggestions:
As a student, check out student services, the library, your link lecturer, personal tutor, professional midwifery advocates, the hospital chaplaincy team, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, or if you feel you have a mental health condition, your GP.
As a midwife, a lot of that will still apply to you. Your line manager or another approachable manager might be a great help, and you may also have a paid-for counselling line you can access via your hospital website. The Midwives Haven can be found via the Association of Radical Midwives. Joy Horner runs a support group called The Wise Woman Collective.
Quote from my new book (trigger warning for suicidal ideation):
'It’s also important to discuss suicide. Though we don’t have a specific statistic for midwives, nurses were recently found to have a 23% higher risk of taking their own lives compared to the general population (Hughes, 2018). Researcher Carolyn Hastie suggests that a culture of bullying and other work issues can contribute to suicidal thinking and action in midwives (1996).
I commend midwife Amity Reed who has written candidly about her attempt to take her own life (2020). I don’t have the evidence for my next point but I think responsibility and pressure combined with a caring nature and a lack of agency to make changes can create perfect conditions for suicidal ideation. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or want to hurt yourself, please don’t be alone. In the UK and Ireland, a good place to start would be the Samaritans, who are available through phone calls, emails and text messaging. Even if you know you’d never act on your thoughts, it might be sensible and kind to yourself to see a counsellor. I know a lot of brilliant midwives with depression or anxiety who take medication or have ongoing counselling. Honouring mental health needs is perfectly compatible with an amazing life.'
In a mental health crisis, go through NHS 111, option 2.
There is also some information on how to find a psychotherapist below.
Psychotherapy
Counselling tends to be for short-term milder issues. Psychotherapists have a more intensive training process and handle tougher situations, I bet many of us fit into that category. I've had success in getting a discounted rate for psychotherapy as I'm a midwife.
It's always the relationship with the psychotherapist rather than the modality (the treatment style) that makes the difference. So shop around, do lots of initial sessions and see who you like. You will tend to have a mild placebo effect of feeling better after an initial session even if you haven’t got into the really hard stuff yet.
Two governing bodies with search tools for finding psychotherapists are below:
