How to Heal a Bad Birth is a straightforward guide for women who have experienced a difficult, disappointing or traumatic birth, and want to gain understanding and clarity about ‘what happened’ and why they feel so bad…and move on.  
 Written by the founders of Birthtalk.org™, this book works double-time as an indispensable resource for partners, family and health professionals, enabling them to offer meaningful support for a woman in this situation.

Do people keep saying ‘you should be grateful’?   

Often women are told to ‘just get over it’, or ‘healthy mother, healthy baby…  that’s all that matters.’   We know it’s not that simple, and that your emotional health matters too.

 This book offers ideas and tools to :

• * explore & process the emotional impact of your birth
• * strengthen your relationship with your partner
• * reconnect with your child
• * deal with feelings such as failure, guilt, sadness, or anger
• * begin to plan for a better birth next time

Join the hundreds of women who have used these tools to make sense, make peace, and move on from a bad birth.

Melissa had a diverse career before becoming a mother, including Music Director for many of South Bank Parkland's family festivals and Music Licensing Supervisor at EMI Music/Virgin Records in Sydney, Australia.

After her first birth, a traumatic experience that ended in a caesarean, Melissa slowly realized that she was not 'ok'...and found that few people understood what she was going through. She embarked upon a roller-coaster ride of reading, researching, and soul-searching and was supported on this journey by Debby, who shared ideas and information that gave the healing she was experiencing new meaning and depth. Melissa has gone on to have two more babies, both empowering and positive experiences. Melissa is responsible for the creation and management of Birthtalk's website and social media plus their blog, Birth Trauma Truths, aiming to spread awareness, understanding and hope to women who have been impacted by their births.

Apart from being a trained midwife, childbirth educator and doula, Debby is also the mother of two children. Debby is the primary facilitator of Birthtalk's Healing From Birth meetings, as well as Birthtalk's popular empowering birth education courses. She also works as a Private Birth Consultant, Childbirth Educator, and doula offering individualised support for women and men after a traumatic birth, or for those working towards an empowering birth. As a Director of Birthtalk, Debby has presented at the Australian College of Midwives Queensland State Conference, and spoken as a guest lecturer to Bachelor of Midwifery students at Griffith University and the University of Queensland. She has given presentations for The Australian Doula College and Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor conferences, plus provides Professional Development workshops for hospital midwives and doulas on the topic of Birth Trauma and how to support women to heal and have better births. Debby has appeared in the media including radio, newspaper, birth and parenting magazines and podcasts, offering an experienced heath professional's voice to the issue of traumatic birth.