It is a pleasure to recommend Preventing Birth Trauma by Dr Emma Black.
As someone who works closely with women through pregnancy, birth preparation, and postnatal recovery, I found this book both practical and deeply compassionate. Emma has a way of speaking about birth trauma that does not dismiss fear but holds it carefully while helping women feel more informed, supported, and able to trust their own voice. She gives women language, tools, and permission to ask questions, make informed decisions, and feel like active participants in their own birth.
The way the book connects emotional safety with physical safety was especially meaningful to me. It isn’t common to see this connection explored in such a compassionate, clear, and all-encompassing way.
In my work as a pelvic floor physiotherapist, I often see that birth recovery is not only about the body healing. It is also about whether a woman can adapt to her new role as a mother while feeling respected, informed, supported, and believed. Our society needs to create a nourishing and supportive environment for new mothers to thrive, and I believe Emma honours women and their experience beautifully in this book.
Preventing Birth Trauma is accessible, thoughtful, and genuinely useful. It will be my absolute pleasure to recommend it to my pregnant patients, birth partners, and clinicians who want to better understand how we can help women feel safer, more prepared, and more supported through birth and beyond.
—Alina Filipe Nunes, MACP APA Titled Women’s, Men’s and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist