Laura is a creative producer who draws on her over 30 years of experience in the creative industries, and fourteen years in midwifery/healtcare. She works on collaborative projects that use arts-based and participatory practices to support women, mothers and birthing people through the perinatal period and beyond.

MATERNAL JOURNAL

Maternal Journal is an award-winning global movement that promotes creative journaling for pregnant women, mothers & people who birth, to support positive mental health & wellbeing.
The Maternal Journal website and social media provides free creative journaling guides, tools and resources.
You can buy the Maternal Journal Book with >80 guides created by artists, midwives, doulas and therapists and listen to the Maternal Journal Podcast, hosted by Laura.
The project has been nominated for and received many awards including The Basil Lee Bursary for Innovation in Communication by the Royal Society of Medicine.
​Watch the film - a short introduction to the project.

SHIFRAH UK

Laura co-founded Shifrah UK which was created to celebrate and inform on Jewish cultural birth practices, and provide information, education and training in maternity and birth contexts.  Shifrah and Puah (pictured below), were the courageous Hebrew midwives named in the Exodus story.
Shifrah UK provides a collective voice that advocates for the Jewish community, helps to build understanding of our heritage and culture, and combats antisemitism.
Laura is also Culture and Awareness Lead for the NHS England Jewish Staff Network and a council member of the Jewish Medical Association.

BIRTH CAFE

WHILST SOME OF US MAY BIRTH, ALL OF US ARE BORN.
​
​Birth Café is a format that supports conversations about birth in order to build understanding and respect for its psychosocial, cultural and bodily significance for all.
Birth Café takes its lead from the Death Café movement, helping to provide a safe, non-judgmental space in which anyone and everyone is welcome to come and discuss their relationship to, and conception of birth.
​A Birth Café can either be for a general public or for particular constituencies such as people who can or have birthed, Trans parents, adoptive parents etc. 
Image above: vagina cakes served at The Birth Cafe, made by @mary_mathieson

CREATIVE BIRTH

Creative Birth antenatal workshops combine midwifery, arts and movement practices and are produced in collaboration with yoga teachers Claire Horton and Corinne Allsopp and dancer and pilates teacher, Simone Muller Lotz. Creative collaborators include artists Helen Sargeant, Frances Burden, Eleanor Margolies and chef Hannah from Mother Brunch. 

#kingsbrelfie

#kingsbrelfie was a social media campaign produced during World Breastfeeding Week at King’s College Hospital. By inviting people to post 'brelfies' on social media (selfies taken whilst breastfeeding), we celebrate breastfeeding and highlight hostile cultural attitudes.
Produced in collaboration with King's midwives: Director of Midwifery Maxine Spencer, Breastfeeding Specialists Wendy Khuharska & Joanne Joseph, Digital Midwife Hermione Jackson and Community midwife and researcher Octavia Wiseman.
​

Image: Hannah Lamdin with photo by Lara Downie, Maternal Journal