Building Birth Confidence

Building Birth Confidence is the podcast for anyone who is pregnant after a difficult birth, pregnancy loss, or traumatic experience, and who is scared, exhausted, and trying to find a way through.#

I’m Katie, an NHS Mental Health Midwife and Perinatal Trauma Specialist. Every week I bring you honest, clinically informed conversations about the things that rarely get said out loud: the fear, the guilt, the disconnect, the grief that comes with pregnancy after trauma. And the tools, the understanding, and the realistic hope that can make a real difference.

This is not a positive thinking podcast. This is a podcast for people who need more than reassurance. You deserve support that actually meets where you are.

New episodes every week. Start wherever feels right.

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Building Birth Confidence

Don’t Wait Until You Feel Brave

June 21, 2025 • Katie Smith • Season 1 • Episode 9

0:00 | 9:20

If you’ve been putting off preparing for birth because you don’t feel “ready” yet, this episode is for you.

In this powerful and compassionate episode, Katie explores how fear, avoidance, and waiting for confidence can keep us stuck in a cycle of inaction, especially after birth trauma.

Using insights from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Compassion-Focused Therapy, you’ll learn how taking small, gentle steps forward can help you build momentum, even if you still feel scared.

This episode includes:

A compassionate reframe: why bravery comes after action
The psychology of avoidance and why it’s common after trauma
The “next smallest step” approach for moving forward
A calming 3-minute Soothing Rhythm Breathing practice to help you act with fear beside you

You don’t have to feel brave to begin, you just have to start small.
This is your moment to take that next gentle step.

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