Overview
Despite decades of national reviews, inquiries and improvement programmes, harm during childbirth remains one of the most persistent and reputationally damaging challenges facing maternity services in the UK.
Quality improvement and patient safety programmes have tended to treat this as a reporting and governance problem, improving the mechanics of duty of candour, incident review, and family liaison.
We believe that sustainably closing the gap between good intention and lived experience after maternity harm requires a bespoke and quality informed intervention that brings an evidence-based approach to changing behaviour under conditions of psychological complexity.
Our Maternity Programmes
Our maternity programmes are intensive, designed for small, senior staff groups of under 20 people. Our tutor leads are senior psychologists and maternity clinicians with significant experience in managing and reviewing adverse events, at a local and national level. We are experts in promoting the effectiveness of clinical communication.
Our training programme has been established since 2002. We have been commissioned by Health Improvement Scotland, Scottish Government and NHS England to deliver these programmes in maternity. These programmes have been recommended by the Chief Midwife and Obstetrician for London;
Impact of the Programmes
- Learn strategies and frameworks for trauma-informed communication
- Understand the psychological reactions of patients and staff, and how these interact.
- Build compassionate approaches that support patients and families who are distressed, whether through bereavement or an adverse event
- Practise skills with support and guidance in tailored perinatal healthcare scenarios.
- Optimise a culture of learning following adverse events in maternity services
The numbers
Workshop Satisfaction
92% of course participants highly rated our workshopsRecommendation to Colleagues
93% of course participants said they would recommend our workshops to a colleagueWhat people have said
I found the Maternity Leaders Communication Training course to be an outstanding and highly relevant programme for senior maternity leaders. The course combines evidence-based psychological principles with practical communication frameworks and realistic simulation-based learning, equipping participants to manage challenging conversations with colleagues and families with greater confidence, compassion and clarity. The emphasis on trauma-informed communication, compassionate leadership and psychological safety is particularly valuable in the current maternity landscape. I left the programme with practical skills that I could immediately apply in my leadership role and would strongly recommend it to senior obstetric, midwifery, neonatal and opera-tional leaders seeking to strengthen both their communication skills and organisational culture.
Ruwan Wimalasundera, Chief Obstetrician for London
This training offers clinicians a valuable opportunity to enhance their skills and practise challenging conversation in a genuinely supportive and safe environment, under skilled facilitation. Its impact reaches far beyond the individual clinician, helping to shape the culture, improve safety and ultimately, improve how women and families experience our care.