Bridging the Distance: Rural Homebirth and Trauma-Informed Care with Holly Jones
Are you homebirth curious?Show Notes
If you are living in a regional or remote community and exploring your birth care choices, this is a must-listen episode.
For families living outside major metropolitan hubs, planning an autonomous birth often means navigating vast travel distances, high staff turnover and involuntary relocation.
In this episode, Claire sits down with endorsed private midwife Holly Jones - founder of The Family Room and co-creator of the Rural Roots Midwifery Collective. Drawing on 14 years of clinical experience across 13 health services, Holly breaks down how to access relational care when you live hours away from a major hospital.
From executing shared-care arrangements over 600km away to conducting antenatal checks on park benches and in the back of cars, Holly demonstrates how creativity and determination can bridge regional service gaps.
Holly also candidly reflects on her own recovery from severe spinal trauma, chronic pain, and forced relocation - a personal journey that reshaped her own trauma-informed practice.
This episode is proudly brought to you by Claire’s online program: Yoga for Homebirth. Designed specifically to bridge geographic isolation, this program brings high-calibre homebirth preparation straight to the room in which you plan to birth - wherever you are in the world. Key Takeaways: Your Postcode Does Not Limit Your Birth Choices: Living in a regional or remote area doesn't mean accepting a one-size-fits-all model True Continuity Is Relational, Not Geographical: Clinical connection doesn't require living next door to your provider - shared care, remote consults, and flexible check-ins can create the same benefits. Matrescence starts before birth: Pregnancy is a natural unravelling that prepares you to create boundaries, reject unsolicited opinions and step into empowered parenthood. Advocacy Protects Future Options: Protecting home birth access requires community awareness and active collective voices Chapters: 03:19 - Moving out of institutional constraints into endorsed private practice. 12:35 - Regional birth care realities: Distance, agency staff and postcode barriers. 24:40 - Shared care logistics and building collaborative regional and rural support. 38:51 - Rebuilding through trauma: Spinal injury, chronic pain, NLP, and trauma-informed practice. 46:13 - Driving 1,000 km a week & dreaming up "The Flying Midwife" service. 46:42 - Legislative hurdles: The 2027 second-midwife mandate. 58:45 - Matrescence, boundary-setting, and stepping into maternal authority. Links & Resources: Access the podcast transcript here.
Connect with Holly: The Family Room and Rural Roots Midwifery Collective Instagram: @the.family.room.wa
Connect with Claire: Yoga for Homebirth: yourbrightbeginning.com.au Instagram: @yourbrightbeginning
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