New Safer Beginnings content to enable, educate and support people on maternity journeys

Safer Beginnings is a joint programme of work by Best Beginnings and the White Ribbon Alliance UK, supported by 18 delivery partners. We have co-created new resources for parents and healthcare professionals, to increase their knowledge and access to support to help reduce incidents of violence and harm during maternity care.

There is a great need for maternity care to be trauma-informed – assessing every person as potentially carrying trauma and ensuring that their needs are understood. Trauma-informed care can help ensure people’s physical and emotional safety during pregnancy and birth.

The Safer Beginnings programme aims to enable healthcare workers to deliver trauma-informed care and to educate and support pregnant people to have self-agency in their maternity journeys.

Programme resources

New Baby Buddy content, by Best Beginnings

Specialist co-produced Safer Beginnings content will be embedded into the free, award-winning Baby Buddy app, endorsed by the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The new films and articles for parents will be published in Baby Buddy inside a ‘Safer Beginnings’ section in our Discover library. It will include 15 new short films on the themes of ‘safer care’ and ‘safer relationships’, each around 1 - 5 minutes in length, with additional films from partners, plus written articles and signposting.

The new films and articles offer support, guidance and practical tools for parents and parents-to-be, particularly those who have experienced trauma or harm. Topics include self-advocacy in maternal care, emotional safety, stress responses, FGM/FGC, sexual abuse and domestic abuse.

All content has been created in collaboration with parents, community groups, healthcare professionals and charities, each sharing their expertise and lived experience of trauma, self-advocacy and rights in maternity care.

All Safer Beginnings content can be accessed in the Discover section of the Baby Buddy app. Please download Baby Buddy here.

Emotional Safety Plan, by The For Baby’s Sake Trust

The For Baby’s Sake Trust has created a new tool called an Emotional Safety Plan. The Emotional Safety Plan is a tool that will support the whole family including mums, dads, co-parents, or non-birthing partners to record what they may need to feel emotionally safe before, during and after birth. There are three designs to suit different preferences and learning styles.

Please download the Emotional Safety Plan below.

Safer Beginnings E-learning Practitioner Guide, by All4Maternity

All4Maternity has created a new e-learning module for midwives and healthcare professionals which will help inform and guide those who want to give the best care possible and work in a way that is free from harm.

The E-Learning Practitioner Guide for midwives and healthcare professionals will be available in early 2023 and we will be announcing this on our channels, so please stay tuned.

How to get involved

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use the Safer Beginnings resources, we invite you to attend one of our FREE conferences.

Safer Beginnings conference for people on maternity journeys and charities

3 March 2023 (London). Best Beginnings and The White Ribbon Alliance UK are hosting a conference to introduce new Safer Beginnings resources on the impact of violence and harm in maternity care.

These resources support people on maternity journeys and the people who care for them. Participants will gain a better understanding of how to support their own emotional safety during pregnancy and birth, and get access to a range of tools and resources to support self-agency for themselves or for others.

Find out more and register here.

Safer Beginnings conference for healthcare professionals and educators

10 March 2023 (Manchester). Best Beginnings and The White Ribbon Alliance UK are hosting a conference on reducing violence and harm in maternity care. This will be open to all healthcare professionals working in maternity including midwives, health visitors, obstetricians, gynaecologists, GP’s, consultants and managers.

The conference will raise awareness of the ways in which trauma and harm can show up during maternity and the early years. Healthcare professionals will get access to digital tools and resources to support people to have self-agency in their own maternal safety.

Find out more and register here.

Join the Best Beginnings Parent Panel

Parent voices are key to all our work at Best Beginnings. If you would like to get involved with developing Baby Buddy content, and shaping our work, please get involved here.

Safer Beginnings is led by Best Beginnings and White Ribbon Alliance and co-created with:

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