Learn how to recognise when a baby's at risk and the possible steps that can be taken to look after their wellbeing.
This panel is facilitated by ACM Principal Midwifery Officer, Kellie Wilton, and features panellists Louise Everitt and Renee Adair.

Louise Everitt
Louise Everitt is a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University co-designing a Perinatal Interprofessional Psychosocial Education Program for Maternity Clinicians (PIPE-MC). This project has received grant funding from the Federal Government emerging priorities in perinatal mental health with seven consortium partners including RANZCOG and ACM to implement and evaluate the program across Australia. Louise is a Clinical Midwifery Consultant in Complex Pregnancy Care at St George Public Hospital. She is a Fellow of Australian College of Midwives (ACM) and Clinical Fellow at UTS. Louise has been a midwife for 34 years holding various clinical, management, education, policy development and research roles. She is passionate about caring for women and families with complex psychosocial concerns and educating maternity clinicians about family violence, mental health and child protection. She has a Masters of Research and publications on Midwives experiences of removal of newborns at birth.

Renee Adair
Renee Adair is the founder and director of the Australian Doula College, the Groundwork Program and the ADC’s charity-arm Doula Heart Network. She first began working with women and babies in 1994 as a massage and Aromatherapist and Reiki Practitioner and in 1998 after the home births of her two biological children she began studying and working as a Doula and Childbirth and Early Parenting Educator. Renee then worked for the Australian Red Cross at a young women’s health program/refuge in Sydney’s East, setting up both the outreach and childbirth and early parenting education programs for that service. Working In collaboration, Renee helped produce the first research on Doulas in Australia which was published in the Journal of Perinatal Education in 2013. She has spoken on a variety of radio programmes, at conferences and seminars and is a regular contributor for a range of publications, websites and podcasts.

Renee has worked to change the way we think about Doula support launching an End of Life Doula Training for the College in 2021 with a view for the wider community to see Doula support though a broader lens, supporting all major life transitions, not just in the birthing space. In 2019 Renee proudly partnered with Charles Darwin University to co facilitate Accredited Doula training for Indigenous women in the remote First Nations community of Galiwin’ku. She now sits on the official Galiwin’ku steering committee to restore Birthing on Country. Renee has sat on the Consumer Advisory Board of the Australian College of Midwives, trained thousands of Doulas and supported hundreds of women, their partners and families through pregnancy, birth, early parenting and end of life over the course of her career. A fierce advocate for human rights, the proud mother of three adult children and three grandkids, blends her life’s work, spending downtime with her family, friends and fur babies.