Meet the team

CO-FOUNDER & CHAIR

Laura is one of the original co-founders of the project. At a City of Sanctuary meeting in 2016, she met fellow co-founder Jacky Knowles who had recently provided birth support to a woman seeking sanctuary and wanted to support other women in Cardiff. There was an instant connection and desire for collaboration to create a service to address the gaps in holistic support provision for pregnant women seeking sanctuary. Later that year, along with two other co-founders Nadia Joshua and Catrin Archer, the Birth Partner Project was born.

Laura is Chair of the Trustees, a practising midwife and mother of three young children. She strongly believes in the principles that drive the charity: solidarity, compassion and women's birth rights, and is passionate about providing high-quality, individualised care to the women we support.

TREASURER

Smitha joined the team in 2017 and helped the organisation gain its status as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in July 2018. Smitha works as Head of Finance for Community Foundation Wales, a charity committed to improving the lives of those within Welsh Communities. In her role as treasurer of The Birth Partner Project, Smitha oversees all aspects of the charity’s finances from ensuring the money is spent wisely through to preparing the accounts, with stability and sustainability of funding being a key aim for the future.

TRUSTEE

Christianah is currently seeking sanctuary in Cardiff and is a graduate of Computer Science with Economics. Christianah worked as a Computer Technician with The Federal Polytechnic Ede Nigeria and later in Quality Assurance with Holaidexpress Sarl in France. Christianah has two adorable sons and loves to fight for what is right and to support people, especially those in need.

TRUSTEE

Billie has worked as a midwife for 45 years, initially working in clinical practice in different settings around the UK before moving into midwifery education and research in Wales. She retired in 2022 and is now Emerita Professor of Midwifery at Cardiff University and Adjunct Professor at University of Technology Sydney. Her research has focused on the emotional aspects of maternity care and she is passionate about ensuring that all women are able to access skilled, inclusive, respectful, and woman-centred care. She became a Trustee in 2020.

TRUSTEE

Chantal currently works at Swansea University as an Associate Professor teaching Medical Law and Ethics to healthcare professionals and students. She has held several trustee roles and is currently the Chair of the Family Glamorgan Development Centre which supports estranged parents to reconnect with their children in a safe environment. Chantal is a multiskilled professional and is passionate about bringing her knowledge and skills to support community endeavours.

TRUSTEE

Gill joined the Birth Partner Project as a volunteer early in the project’s life, and became a trustee in 2023. She has three children of her own, and has been a birth activist for the past 20 years after a career teaching psychology. She represented Wales for 5 years on the Midwifery Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

FINANCE OFFICER

Han is a part-qualified accountant who has always worked in the private sector. In 2020 she had the opportunity to join a Swansea based charity which opened her eyes to the third sector. She is amazed by the great work done by the different charities. She is proud to be part of a small but passionate and hard-working team who does make a difference to the life of our service users. She is keen to grow her knowledge and skills together with The Birth Partner Project.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Areatha has two children now 24 and 21 and has been working with children and families in either Childcare or Playwork since 1987, working and volunteering in the UK, Romania and Peru.

These experiences provided Areatha with an insight into the impact of bias and poverty on maternal health; whilst seeing how different healthcare systems operate, experiencing the impact and value of supportive communities, and witnessing the negative and discriminatory attitudes that create barriers for women as well as some of the important cultural practices for pregnant, birthing and nursing people.

Areatha says ‘its incredibly important to me that I build a good rapport with the children and parents I work with as I believe this helps to build positive and trusted relationships that can extend out into the diverse society we live in and achieve positive outcomes.

I have a keen interest in promoting the Childcare and Playwork sector and raising their profile to bring about a greater understanding of their value and particularly the benefits of Play in supporting a child’s development, their physical and emotional well-being, as an outlet for self-expression, as a coping mechanism for trauma and adverse childhood experiences and as an opportunity to build their confidence and self-esteem in the hope of achieving positive outcomes for the lives of children.

Alongside joining The Birth Partner project as Volunteer Coordinator having been a volunteer previously, I continue to work to facilitate play opportunities for children. I am also a Board Member of Clybiau Plant Cymru and currently a Community Mentor for the Early Years, Childcare and Playwork sector supporting the Welsh Government to develop their Anti-Racist Wales Policy.

I speak Romanian and I am working on improving my Spanish.’

DROP-IN COORDINATOR

Lizzie joined the team in January 2024 as Drop-in Coordinator.

She originally trained as a midwife before joining the charity sector. Her experience in maternity settings gave her an awareness of maternal health inequalities, and a desire to help women most impacted by these inequalities. Over the past few years she has worked with sanctuary seekers as a caseworker and in the area of Refugee family reunion. She hoped that someday she would be able to combine her maternity experience with her passion for helping sanctuary seekers, and so is thrilled to be a part of The Birth Partner Project!

When not working Lizzie loves looking after her lovely little girl, she enjoys being involved in her local church, and loves a good hike up a beautiful Welsh mountain!

INTERIM PROJECT LEAD

Having been a volunteer birth partner with us for around a year, Bec has now joined us as our Interim Project Lead. She has worked across the public sector and third sector in Wales for over 20 years, managing and leading teams in a wide range of roles.

Bec has a real understanding of service delivery and the nuts-and-bolts of how organisations work. She complements this with significant experience of developing organisational strategy and stakeholder engagement. Formerly Director of Citizens Advice Cymru and before that Director of Action on Hearing Loss Cymru, Bec has particular insight into the political, policy, and public service context unique to Wales. Her background prior to the third sector was in the NHS, delivering and developing services across the South East Wales valleys. She's particularly interested in how our health is linked to our day-to-day environment, and would like to see things systematically being made fairer so that everyone can enjoy a long and healthy life, whatever that means to them, regardless of their background.

She lives with her two young children in Cardiff, and tries to bring a positive and collaborative approach to everything she does.