Sara Morris, RM PhD

I am a mother of 2 and midwife/PhD with over 10 years tertiary level midwifery experience.

I began my career in health as a nurse and practiced primarily in rural Western Australia (WA). While I enjoyed my job as a nurse it was always a stepping stone towards midwifery as at the time in WA you could not apply for midwifery training unless you had completed your nursing degree. Once I started my midwifery training, I knew I had found my calling.

My PhD was completed in 2021 through ECU and focussed on women's experiences of breech birth in WA and the recommended care for term breech pregnancies. This highlighted the need for woman-centred, up to date evidence-based, non-judgemental care and the clear lack of breech care/birth skills confidence on a local level. Since completing my PhD I have spent my time educating future and current midwifery, paramedic and obstetric clinicians and navigating the public health system trying to implement the recommendations from my own and other breech researchers work.

In mid-July 2024 after 6 years of trying, I received the go-ahead to implement Australia's first midwifery-led specialised breech clinic at one of our local tertiary maternity hospitals. This would not have been possible if not for the foundation built by my predecessors and the open-mindedness of an obstetrician who was trained in a country where breech birth was, if not promoted then accepted and midwives are viewed as independent, responsible practitioners.