Coordinator: Community Perinatal Services

Birth Companions is a national charity supporting women having their babies in very difficult and complex situations. These include mothers in prison; mothers with insecure immigration status; and mothers who have involvement from children’s social care. Their lives are often shaped by deep-rooted, structural factors such as sexism, racism and poverty. These women and their children experience enormous challenges, but often they are not given the support they need, and are treated unfairly.

This results in poor outcomes for mothers, and long-term problems for their children.

At Birth Companions we deliver specialist services to improve women’s lives in the here and now. We make sure there’s evidence of what’s going wrong and how to make things right. We work with partners to shape national law, policy and guidance, improve the care given by statutory services and systems, and ensure women’s rights are upheld.

• Our specialist services provide support to women and babies, and help us understand what’s happening on the ground.
• Our Lived Experience Programme centres and develops the expertise and power of women who have faced severe disadvantage during pregnancy and motherhood.
• Our Birth Companions Institute holds our work with academics, politicians, policy-makers, journalists and legal partners, and coordinates our campaigns, research, thought-leadership and policy programmes.

The Coordinator:
Community Perinatal Services will coordinate and deliver a high quality, trauma-informed service offering specialist emotional and practical support to pregnant women and new mothers for up to 12 months post-birth, who are experiencing multiple disadvantage and living in the community, predominantly in the northeast London area.

The role includes the co-ordination and support of volunteers, who deliver the majority of our birth support service.