Beyond the Birth Story: Understanding Impact, Power, and Trauma in Perinatal Care

An in-person training for Washington State professionals who serve families IN Benton/Franklin counties.

Birth trauma is often misunderstood, minimized, or misidentified within perinatal care. While birth is often framed as a joyful milestone, many birthing people experience moments of fear, powerlessness, violation, or loss of autonomy that leave lasting psychological and relational impacts. These experiences frequently go unnamed, particularly when clinical outcomes are considered “successful.” This keynote examines birth trauma as a form of perinatal trauma shaped not only by individual events, but by power dynamics, systemic inequities, and how safety and dignity are experienced in birth spaces. Participants will explore how birth trauma presents across emotional, relational, and physiological domains, how it differs from and overlaps with other perinatal mental health
conditions, and how it affects partners, infants, and providers. Moving beyond individual pathology, this session invites a broader lens that includes provider impact, structural inequities, and trauma-informed cultural change. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of birth trauma and a renewed commitment to building systems of care that prioritize safety, autonomy, and dignity for all families.

Date: Monday, April 20, 2026

Time: 9:00am-4:30pm PT

Cost: FREE

Trainer: Marquita Straus, MSW, LICSW 

Location: TBD (in-person)

Register Now

Learning Objectives:

• Define birth trauma as a form of perinatal trauma and distinguish it from other perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.
• Identify common emotional, behavioral, physiological, and relational indicators of birth trauma, including early red flags and trauma-specific symptom patterns.
• Describe key susceptibility and risk factors associated with birth trauma, including prior trauma exposure, systemic inequities, and power dynamics within birth settings.
• Explain how birth trauma impacts not only the birthing person, but also partners, infants, families, and care providers.
• Analyze the role of institutional systems, structural inequities, and provider dynamics in shaping the prevalence and experience of birth trauma.
• Articulate core principles of trauma-informed and trauma-responsive care in perinatal settings, including safety, consent, collaboration, pacing, and relational repair.
• Reflect on their own professional role in supporting trauma-informed cultural change within birth and perinatal care systems.

Continuing Education:

• CEUs pending for LICSW, LMHC, LMFT, RNs.

This is a live, in-person training and will not be recorded. Questions regarding the training, please email: training@perinatalsupport.org

Marquita Straus, MSW, LICSW is a Perinatal Grief & Trauma Therapist, Death Doula, and founder of Imani’s Light Grief & Wellness Center. Marquita has over 15 years of serving BIPOC families. She has served as a full spectrum doula (birth, postpartum, and bereavement), breastfeeding peer counselor, childbirth educator, perinatal bereavement group facilitator, and is a trained midwife. She aims to inspire and empower people to show up authentically, while fiercely advocating for those navigating spaces that are not traditionally occupied by people of color.