Pause and Listen
Pause and Listen aims to provide a platform for women who no longer have children in their care, to share their stories and experiences. In each episode, we talk about an issue that affects their lives. We will be joined by women with lived experience, professionals and sector experts to discuss the issues they face, reflect on their experience, and think about how we can work together to make things better.
*Trigger warning* podcast episodes discuss issues which may cause distress to some, including domestic abuse and mental health issues.
Pause is a national charity working with women who've had - or are at risk of having - their children removed from their care.
pause.org.uk / @PauseOrg / communications@pause.org.uk
Pause and Listen
Set Up to Fail
In this episode, we discuss expert witness assessments during care proceedings. Although these assessments fulfil the function of informing proceedings, they are carried out by independent experts that are usually not part of the mental health service landscape in the local area. This creates a separate issue in that they offer no referral to mental health services for women, which could lead to positive change.
We are joined by Clinical Psychologist Sheena Webb and Kelly Andrews, who is a Pre-Birth Practitioner for the Foundation Service, which is part of SWIFT Specialist Family Service in East Sussex. We also hear a clip from Suzy*, a woman working with Pause, about her experience of expert witness assessments, when she spoke to Naga Munchetty on BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday 5 July 2022.
*not her real name
Hosted by Clare Laxton
Produced by Fi Gilligan
Music by Ben Jacob
Editing by Will Jacob
To find out more about Pause, visit: pause.org.uk