Understanding Anxiety, Worry and Fear in Childbearing

Kathryn Gutteridge is a long established consultant midwife who has been interested in women's psychological experiences of childbearing since working closely with women and their families. She trained as a psychotherapist and researched women's lived experiences of childbirth and mothering. She has provided a clinic for women who specifically find adaptation to pregnancy challenging and many of those women have professed to be fearful and some phobic about their childbearing.

Multi-award winner Kathryn, who trained as a midwife in the 1980s, has been at the forefront of maternity care at City and Sandwell Hospitals since she joined the Trust in 2006. Her early objectives were to inspire staff to work together to bring warmth to the delivery suite, shift the focus to natural births and provide enhanced facilities, effectively creating a 'home from home' environment.

An expert in the effects of sexual abuse on pregnant women, Kathrynset up the Hope Clinic - a contemporary midwifery approach to maternal mental wellbeing - to take referrals for women who have been traumatised and need special help during their pregnancy. She also founded Sanctum Midwives; an organisation that educates, represents and challenges stigma around sexual abuse and its impact during motherhood. Not only is Kathryn a highly-decorated clinician, she is also a well-respected one, and was given the honour of hosting Her Royal Highness Princess Anne at a RCM event in 2013. She has given keynote speeches at conferences around the world where she has held master classes for people looking to get into, or already in, midwifery. She was named Midwife of the Year by the British Journal of Midwifery.