Finding Support After Birth Trauma in Australia: Free and Low-Cost Help

If your birth was traumatic, you may be carrying it in ways that are hard to explain to anyone else. You might replay it at night, feel numb or on edge, avoid driving past the hospital, or struggle with how you feel about your baby. Or you might be living with a physical injury that no one warned you about. None of this means you’re failing. It means something hard happened to you, and you deserve support to recover from it.

What birth trauma can feel like

Birth trauma isn’t only about what happened. It’s about how it felt: being frightened for your life or your baby’s, feeling powerless, not being listened to, or feeling that things were done to you rather than with you. Two women can have similar births and be affected very differently. Both experiences are valid.

After a traumatic birth, women often describe:

• flashbacks, nightmares or intrusive memories of the birth
• avoiding anything that reminds them of it: the hospital, other people’s birth stories, medical appointments
• feeling constantly on edge, jumpy or unable to relax
• anger, guilt or shame, or feeling numb and disconnected
• difficulty bonding with their baby, or feeling anxious about their baby’s safety
• low mood, anxiety or panic
• physical pain, incontinence, sexual difficulties or other ongoing injuries
• fear of having another baby

Some women develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after birth, and many also experience postnatal depression or anxiety. You don’t need a diagnosis to deserve help. If what you’re feeling is affecting your day-to-day life, it’s worth talking to someone.

Where to start: your GP

Your GP can be the doorway to most other support. It can help to book a longer appointment, and to write down a few points beforehand, because it can be hard to find the words in the room. You might say: “My birth was traumatic and I’m struggling. I’d like help.”

Your GP can:

• prepare a mental health treatment plan and refer you to a psychologist. Under Medicare’s Better Access program, you can get rebates for up to 10 individual sessions each calendar year.
• refer you to your local perinatal mental health service, which many public health services run for women in pregnancy and the first year after birth
• prepare a GP chronic condition management plan for an ongoing physical injury, which gives Medicare rebates for up to 5 allied health sessions a year, such as pelvic health physiotherapy
• refer you to a specialist, such as a gynaecologist, colorectal surgeon or perineal clinic
• check on your physical recovery, and talk through medication if it might help

If you don’t feel heard by your GP, it’s okay to see someone else. Some GPs have a special interest in women’s health or perinatal mental health.

Free support services

Therapy for birth trauma

Talking about your birth with a trained professional can make a real difference. Look for a psychologist with experience in perinatal mental health or trauma. Your GP, PANDA or the Gidget Foundation can help you find one.

Therapies that are often used for birth-related trauma include trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing). Many women find these help to take the sting out of the memories, so they can think about the birth without being overwhelmed. Your psychologist can talk with you about what suits you.

If you’re very unwell, your GP or perinatal mental health team may talk with you about more intensive support, including mother-baby units, where you can be treated without being separated from your baby.

Physical recovery

Physical injuries from birth are often minimised, by others and by women themselves. Ongoing pain, incontinence, prolapse or painful sex are not things you just have to live with.

• A women’s health or pelvic health physiotherapist can assess and treat pelvic floor problems, perineal pain and scar tissue, and help you return to exercise. You don’t need a referral, but a GP plan can reduce the cost.
• Perineal or pelvic floor clinics run by some hospitals see women after severe tears. Ask whether you should have been referred, and ask your GP if you weren’t.
• Specialists, such as a urogynaecologist or colorectal surgeon, can help with more complex or ongoing injuries.

Our articles on living with a pelvic floor injury after birth and levator avulsion explain more.

Support for partners

Partners often watch the birth unfold, feel helpless, and then go straight into caring for a new baby and an injured partner, with no one asking how they are. Many partners experience trauma, anxiety or depression after a difficult birth too.

Partners can call PANDA, MensLine or the Gidget Foundation, and can see their own GP for a mental health treatment plan. Birth Trauma Australia has resources written for partners. Looking after each other matters, and that includes the person who was beside you.

You don’t have to “do it again” to heal

You may come across the idea that the best way to recover from a traumatic birth is a “redemptive” one: a better birth next time that makes up for the first. For some women, a positive later birth is part of their healing, and that’s wonderful.

But it shouldn’t be the only message. Whether you have more children is your decision, for your own reasons. Healing from this birth is worth doing for its own sake, whatever comes next. And no future birth should have to carry the weight of fixing the last one.

If you are thinking about another pregnancy, it can help to:

• have a birth debrief first, so you understand what happened
• ask for an early appointment to plan your care, ideally with the same midwife or doctor throughout
• talk about your options, including whether a planned caesarean might be right for you. Our article Should I have a caesarean next time? may help.
• keep your psychologist involved during the pregnancy

Protecting yourself from triggers

Many women find that reading about birth trauma, even in helpful books and articles, can bring it all back. It’s okay to be choosy about what you read and watch.

• Look for content warnings, and skip anything that feels like too much.
• Mute or unfollow birth content on social media for a while if you need to.
• It’s okay to ask friends not to share their birth stories with you right now.
• If something triggers you, use a grounding technique your psychologist has taught you, or call PANDA.

Answers can be part of healing too

For many women, part of recovering is understanding what happened, and having it acknowledged. That might mean getting your birth records, having a debrief, or making a complaint. None of these is required, and you can do them in your own time, when you feel ready.

If you think your care fell short and you or your baby were harmed, you may also have a legal claim. You don’t have to decide anything now, but the time limit for a claim (generally three years for an adult in most states and territories, with different rules for children) keeps running. A confidential conversation can help you understand your options, without any pressure.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information about support after birth trauma in Australia. It isn’t medical or legal advice. Service details, Medicare rules and phone numbers can change, so please check with each service. Legal services are provided by Peter Evans & Associates.