Sunshine Coast Private Midwife Sees Demand for Personalised Midwifery Care Increase Despite Government Restrictions

QUEENSLAND, Australia August, 2013 – When Sunshine Coast private midwife Mary Young arrived in Australia, she knew she wanted to offer women in Australia a level of care, and indeed continuity of care, that was commonplace in New Zealand.  Mary launched her own private practice Know Your Midwife, in attempt to bring continuity of care to all women on the Sunshine Coast, and was pleased to see, shortly after her launch, that the Australian government decided to also commit to continuity of care—and, wherever possible, continuity of carer.

As a result of changes in Australian government legislation, insurance for a midwife was permitted and so too was the ability for midwives to become Medicare eligible. Mary applied for both and became one of the first midwives in Australia to offer pregnant women a genuine, rebatable alternative to the hospital system.

Mary explains further, “Know your Midwife brings together my three greatest passions: maternity care, community health, and healthcare education. I trained as a private midwife in New Zealand, where it was normal to offer women continuity of midwifery care throughout their pregnancy, birth, and six-week postnatal period, whether they birth at home or in a hospital.” www.knowyourmidwife.com.au/

Mary continues, “After arriving in Australia, I joined the maternity team at the Nambour Selangor Private Hospital working across the full scope of my practice. Not wanting to be constrained by the Private Hospital antenatal education programs, I trained as a HypnoBirthing practitioner and with this program I truly began to see birth as it could and should be— a beautiful natural calm spiritual event. I went on to train in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Hypnotherapy and in working with all these techniques with women; I saw many more natural births and decreased interventions. But I was still in a hospital system with a climbing Caesarean rate due to enforced restrictive policies.”

This is when the Sunshine Coast homebirth midwife launched her private practice—one which prides itself on adopting a safe and quality approach. During the early phases of her practice as a Sunshine Coast midwife, Mary networked with other health professionals throughout the community.

“We have a mental health midwife, Karen Seville, who debriefs women and clears issues that may prevent them from having the birthing experience they truly deserve.  Lin Parkes, also an ex Selangor midwife, joined the program and recently Josie Greaves came onto our team, so we are definitely growing. I began with one to three women per month giving birth for the first year – a number that has since increased in the past few years. We now have six to eight women per month giving birth with our help,” explains Mary. www.knowyourmidwife.com.au/

Know Your Midwife is a private practice group of experienced private midwives who offer continuity of care from conception through to parenthood through their main programme called ‘Circle of Care’. This programme offers women highly personalised care based on their hopes and preferences, with the essence of the program offering a holistic approach helping women prepare mentally and physically for the birth they desire.

Learn more about the maternity care options provided by Sunshine Coast private midwife Mary Young and the rest of her team at www.knowyourmidwife.com.au/ today.

Contact Information

Mary Young

Director/Midwife

Know Your Midwife

(61) 0400 901 437

marykymyounbg@gmail.com.au