Childbirth can be a scary and daunting time. Nadine Richardson has developed She Births as a platform to pass on her 20 years of experience as a childbirth educator, labour assistant (doula), and prenatal yoga teacher to help equip expecting parents, and external scientific research says the program works! We spoke to Nadine about her experiences and challenges developing She Births in Australia.
What is your health innovation? What does it aim to do?
She Births® is scientifically verified Childbirth Education that makes birth a beautiful experience, no matter what unfolds. We have been proven via randomised controlled trials to reduce medical interventions and make birth safer; lowering epidural rates by 65%, c-section rates by 44%, and resuscitation of babies by 53% (View British Medical Journal, July 2016).
How do you celebrate and showcase your successes? Who is the first person you tell?
My staff and my team of educators all contributed and so we share in the successes together. And then my mum and son…and then social media and our community.
What challenges have you come up against in developing your health innovation? What motivated you to keep going?
There are far too many challenges to list! There are so many when developing a new form of education, a new style of learning while disrupting inherent beliefs that birth is a horrific and traumatic event. My clients are always my motivation. Happy families and happy babies — they make everything worth doing.
What is one thing the public could do to help your innovation to succeed?
Share She Births® with anyone who is pregnant or thinking of starting a family. Around 60% of our couples come to us via word of mouth. People tell their friends about us because they are so genuinely blown away by how fun, engaging, and effective our courses are! Our couples have better, safer births. They do it as a team, with the men just as empowered and active in the birth room as the women. Imagine how quickly the perception of birth could change if everyone was talking about the She Births® program?
What are the benefits of developing your innovation in Australia?
Australia has been a great, small country in which to pilot a program and gain access to University research and validation. We want to involve indigenous Australians and those in developing countries. We’re looking to create a mobile technology-based technology platform, similar to TotoHealth, the African company we support for with the Social Impact arm of the business.
Nadine and her team are working hard to expand and trial She Births across Australia and the world. Be sure to follow their progress on Health Horizon!
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