Master of Midwifery Practice (2016)
Winner of the 2021 ECU Young Alumni Award
“My first introduction to the extraordinary standard of care and excellence that became a hallmark of my learning at ECU came one summer afternoon shortly after contacting the general student enquiries line wanting to know more about the Masters of Midwifery."
Instead of a rote email response, the actual course coordinator at the time, Dr. Sadie Geraghty, called me for a chat.
“I had enquired about the course after a stint in East Timor with Intermed working within remote villages providing primary health care and minor surgeries, and had learned how many women die every year in developing countries from preventable complications during birth.
My experience in remote area and disaster nursing had taught me to value hands on learning, and ECU was the only course in Australia to offer a paid employment model.
“Dr. Geraghty talked me through the course, asking about who I was and why I wanted to study midwifery, and in personally specific ways, reassuring me. I learned we were driven by some similar goals in wanting to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable women.
She said I shouldn’t be concerned about being the only male in the program, she insisted I would be supported. I was moved by what an indication this might be of ECU’s approach to student learning and care about real world impact, so I resigned at my job at the time at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, packed my HiAce van with my few possessions, and drove across the Nullarbor.
“It was one of the best decisions I ever made. It was the first educational environment where I felt truly motivated to do better – our clinical and academic strengths were always celebrated and used as building blocks and because of that celebration rather than a punitive environment, we felt positively driven to work harder and achieve more."
As a testament to that learning environment created by Dr. Geraghty, many of us have published papers, still keep in touch, and I know class colleagues who are now doing PhD’s or becoming leaders in their field.”
Christian graduated from the Master of Midwifery Practice in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at ECU in 2016 and became Western Australia’s tenth registered male midwife at the time. Christian graduated as Dux of his cohort and represented the School at the ECU Vice-Chancellors Awards for the Top 100 students of 2016.
Shortly after graduating, Christian became the first male midwife to be employed in the 25-year history of the Family Birth Centre at Perth's King Edward Memorial Hospital.
It was a notable early career start to midwifery, building on Christian’s previous clinical work when up until 2015 Christian had been working as an emergency and disaster nurse, following a diploma of Tropical Disease Nursing from Liverpool, UK, in addition to being registered as a Nurse Immuniser back in NSW.
Since focusing on midwifery, his passion for addressing inequality in birthing and health contexts has seen him work in remote and isolated communities across Papua New Guinea and Arnhem land in Australia.
Advocating to improve outcomes in birthing contexts has become a focus of Christian's work and he takes pride in seeing women and their partners become increasingly empowered in their birthing journeys.
In 2018 Christian got a call inviting him to work in Gove District Emergency and the Maternity Ward in remote Arnhem land, Northern Territory. So again, he packed his car and drove across the country.
"I have found myself invited into sacred women’s spaces by female Aboriginal elders because of these trusted relationships built over time, where they have said it is important that I am there, and to understand.”
In Arnhem Land in the years since, he has held portfolios in antenatal education including pioneering a male partner and support person class, he has coordinated and maintained remote women’s health and midwifery services across multiple remote communities, set up an innovative child health service model, invited to review the remote “Primary Health Care” and “Women’s Business” manuals, pioneered new continuity of care models between remote and regional clinics, and introduced culturally responsive trips for remote women during ‘sit-down’ - the value of which has been formalised into a program with funding.
Where possible Christian has incorporated a practitioner-scientist approach combining hands-on clinical work with involvement in research projects to ensure his clinical standards remain at the forefront of the field, while contributing to improvements in understanding and practice in midwifery and maternal health.
The academic relationships he established during his time at ECU proved meaningful, especially with Dr. Geraghty, who went on to be the senior co-author on his research papers and who became his mentor.
Christian has published papers and research across his midwifery career on hypnobirthing, uterotonics, domestic violence screenings during pregnancy, and the significance of including male partners in the birthing process.
He has clinically researched culturally significant education programs for Aboriginal groups for Top End health, and with the support of Menzies School of Health research, is currently working on additional research for publication on outcomes of male-partner targeted education, based on antenatal curriculum he designed and implemented.
“As a male midwife and nurse, I have found that my professional identities can be a sounding board for others’ curiosity. I see that curiosity as an opportunity to start a genuine conversation which can lead to relationship, and to building trust. It has given me a window into ‘otherness’ and deeper empathy."
"Listening with curiosity, deepening empathy, building trust bit by bit to invest in relationships is the most important thing in the community - especially as a midwife. I have found myself invited into sacred women’s spaces by female Aboriginal elders because of these trusted relationships built over time, where they have said it is important that I am there, and to understand.”
Christian’s experiences with remote and under-resourced birthing women drive his advocacy for equity and access for these women. Christian has increasingly been able to bring this advocacy into speaking engagements, guest-lecture talks, conferences, seminars, and into policy and clinical advisory spaces, including assisting with drafting policy submissions and joining the Clinical Council as an advising member for the Northern Territory Primary Health Network.
These days no opportunity is wasted to promote the importance of midwifery-led, continuity of care relationships, and the paramount value of simply listening to women and their families. “The midwifery program at ECU gave me the grounding to clinically apply complex care frameworks in the cross-cultural environments that I have needed to.
It gave me the confidence to creatively adapt as I’ve needed to, and as is often required in remote environments, while still prioritising and advocating for decisions that keep care woman-centred. I couldn’t have imagined the opportunities and relationships my training would have led to, and I’m very grateful.”
