Our team
Maternal Journal is an interdisciplinary Arts in Health project, produced by artist and midwife Laura Godfrey-Isaacs.
The project is guided by our Advisory and Founding Mothers groups.
The pilot project was supported by the Arts in Mind Innovation Scheme from King’s College London’s Culture team and received further funding from Arts Council England.
For information about the project, please contact laura@maternaljournal.org.
Project team
Laura godfrey isaacs
Artist, midwife & birth activist
Laura is a mother, artist, midwife, creative producer and birth activist. She uses her knowledge and experience in the arts together with midwifery to explore new and exciting ways to support autonomy, mental health and human rights through pregnancy and the experience of being a mother and parent.
As a practising midwife in London, she meets people on daily basis who are finding pregnancy, birth and building families challenging, especially if they have a history of mental health issues. She noticed a gap in support, and drawing on her background as a visual artist and producer for more than 20 years, created Maternal Journal to help address the issue.
Read Laura’s blog
lauragodfreyisaacs.com
Twitter: @godfrey_isaacs
Samantha McGowan
Communications and content Producer
Sam is a mother and a communications specialist who has spent more than a decade working on global creative campaigns and projects that shine a light on underreported stories.
In 2017, she signed up to a Maternal Journal workshop in London while pregnant and loved it; up to this point most conversations revolved around nappy sizes, key milestones and sleeping bag togs – all of which are important points but there is more to discuss. After her son was born, Sam was surprised at how little space there really is to process emotions and connect over these shared experiences; she truly believes Maternal Journal goes a long way to addressing the gap.
samanthamcgowan.co.uk
Creative team
Merlin EVAns
Illustrator
Merlin is an award-winning freelance medical illustrator, educator and live graphic recording artist. She strives to visualise information in a way that makes it universally accessible, educational and engaging for both clinicians, patients and the general public.
drawntomedicine.com
Victoria Ford
Designer
Victoria is a London-based, multi-disciplinary designer/art director who creates publications and graphics for television, events and campaigns. She has designed for BBC, Conde Nast, Hearst, Virgin, WaterAid, Barclays, Royal Mail and many other brands.
victoria-ford.com/graphics
Our Advisory and Founding Mothers groups meeting for the first time at the Royal Society of Medicine
Advisory Group
Professor Debra Bick is professor of clinical trials in maternal health at Warwick University. Her research has been used to inform the evidence base for maternity care as well as numerous online learning resources for midwives and obstetricians, both in the UK and internationally.
Professor Carmine Pariante is head of the perinatal psychiatry section and the stress, psychiatry and immunology section and laboratory at King’s. In 2012, he was named Academic Psychiatrist of the Year by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Dr Elizabeth Bailey is a clinical and research midwife with a special interest in innovation and design in women centred care.
Professor Rebecca Fortnum is a visual artist and educator. She is Professor of Fine Art at The Royal College of Art, where she leads the research programme for the School of Arts and Humanities.
Henny Beamount is a Graphic novelist, freelance illustrator and political cartoonist. Her graphic memoir Hole in the Heart was selected in top ten novels about motherhood of all time by Mumsnet.
Mo Ade is a writer, teacher, blogger, Chair of a Maternity Voices Partnership, mother and birth activist. She took part in the pilot Maternal Journal group in London.
Dawn Dupree is an integrative psychotherapist, artist, mother and grandmother. Her clinical work for Body & Soul and in private practice specialises in experiences of trauma and transition. Her artistic practice explores embodied, unconscious and relational experience and considers ideas around connection and containment.
Amy Dignam is a visual artist, curator, Vice Chair of a Maternity Voices Partnership, mother and birth activist. Her work considers women’s socio-political contexts largely based on the maternal, the ambivalence in motherhood, loss of identity, childhood memories and longing. She was part of the first Maternal Journal workshops in London.
Dr Anna Carlile is an academic and writer whose area of practice is social justice and institutional prejudice (particularly on the basis of class, race, and homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia), youth voice and creative practice, inclusion, social policy and special educational needs.
Founding Mothers
Mo Ade is a writer, teacher, blogger, Chair of a Maternity Voices Partnership, mother and birth activist. She took part in the pilot Maternal Journal group in London.
Pia Jaime is an artist, educator and mother. Her sculptures are inspired by memories, superstitions and imagery from her Latin American culture. She was part of the initial Maternal Journal workshops in London.
Amy Dignam is a visual artist, curator, Vice Chair of a Maternity Voices Partnership, mother and birth activist. Her work considers women’s socio-political contexts largely based on the maternal, the ambivalence in motherhood, loss of identity, childhood memories and longing. She was part of the first Maternal Journal workshops in London.
Emily Leslie is a mother to Leo, born September 2018. She is a keen participant in and facilitator of the Cambridge Maternal Journal group. Her passions are arts, yoga, fashion and contributing to a thriving community.
Caroline Sprinz has two young sons, and is part of the Cambridge Maternal Journal group. She is passionate about improving maternal mental health from both a personal and professional perspective. She is a paediatric doctor with interests in medical education, communication skills and paediatric palliative care.
Sinead Rocha is a mother in the Cambridge Maternal Journal group and academic involved in research at the Centre for Neuroscience in Education at the University of Cambridge.