You know the systemic failures by now, and you have probably sat through the debriefs about them and read The Ockenden Report. This masterclass is about the part the reports rarely reach.

Over and over, women said they knew something was wrong. They felt it and somewhere in the room, that knowing got handed to someone else, and a decision was made that their body was arguing against. Much of what goes wrong in maternity care lives in that space between people. In what gets heard, what gets dismissed, and what a woman feels unable to say out loud.

When a nervous system feels under threat, it reaches for certainty and control. In a maternity setting that shows up as unnecessary urgency, rigid thinking, defensive communication, and reading a woman’s questions as obstruction rather than an invitation to think together. None of it comes from bad practitioners. It comes from frightened ones, working inside a system that is frightened too.

That is the missing skill. Recognising fear, in the room and in yourself, before it makes the decision for you. It can be learned, and it is one of the most useful things you will ever bring to a birth. This masterclass is where it starts.

Reading another person accurately starts with understanding what drives your own responses, so part of the masterclass looks at the person holding the space, which means you. The same nervous system that learned long ago to handle threat by reaching for control will do the same in a

birth room, however good your intentions. The steadier you are, the more clearly you can read the woman in front of you, and the better you can give her what she actually needs. Once you can see your own patterns, you can work with them, and that is what changes how a birth feels.

• Midwives, at any band and any stage of your career.

• Obstetricians and medical staff.

• Student midwives.

• Practice educators and anyone responsible for training or culture on their unit.

• Independent midwives and birth keepers.

• Doulas

• Doula trainers

Many students describe this training as life-changing, not just career-changing.

After this training, you will have:

The Details

If you leave thinking your colleagues need to hear this, that is the conversation I most want to have. I work with units, trusts and organisations directly, bringing this material in as study days, team training and talks. The masterclass is the simplest way to see whether my way of teaching is right for your people before you bring me in.

If it is, start the conversation here: nickita@nickitastarck.co.uk

And if you know that decision sits with someone else on your unit, forward them this page. That is the most useful thing you can do with the next ninety minutes.

I’m Nickita Starck, founder of When Push Comes to Shove and a human dynamics specialist. I train birth workers, and I work with organisations on how fear, authority and the nervous system shape the way people behave under pressure, especially in the rooms where the stakes are

highest.

My work centres on one idea. The safety of a birth is built as much by the steadiness of the people in the room as by the guidelines they follow. That steadiness can be taught.