3. The communities we serve
 

Our primary beneficiaries are women and birthing people who are survivors of sexual trauma and who are accessing maternity care. This is a large and profoundly underserved group. Office for National Statistics data (2025) indicates that around 1 in 4 women in England and Wales have experienced sexual assault since the age of 16. Many enter maternity care with no specialist support, and many never disclose their history to their care team. Routine maternity procedures can activate trauma responses that staff may misread as non-compliance, anxiety, or difficult behaviour.

Within this community, we pay particular attention to women and birthing people who face additional or intersecting barriers, including:
 

• People from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic backgrounds, who face well-documented inequalities in maternity outcomes and experiences.

• Disabled people and those with long-term physical or mental health conditions.

• Those living on low incomes or in insecure housing.

• Migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum, including those with insecure immigration status.

• People for whom English is not a first language.

• LGBTQ+ people who are pregnant or giving birth.

• Younger and older parents, and people who are socially isolated.

We design our service so that a survivor never has to repeat or justify their history to access support, and so that disclosure of trauma is never a requirement for taking part.
 

We also serve the midwives, doulas, birth workers and other professionals who take part in our training. Many are themselves survivors, or are supporting survivors in their own lives. We are committed to making our training welcoming and accessible to learners from all backgrounds, and to teaching in a way that is safe for those who bring their own experiences of trauma to the room.
 

4. How we make our services and training inclusive and accessible
 

Cost Our support is provided free of charge to the women and birthing people who use it. SAFER Birth Project CIC is funded through grants and, where appropriate, commissioned support, so that cost is never a barrier to accessing help. For our training, delivered by SAFER Birth Training Ltd, we aim to keep access as open as we can and to reduce cost as a barrier where we are able to.
 

Trauma-informed by design Everything we offer is built around emotional safety, consent, autonomy and control, informed by the S.A.F.E.R. model that underpins our work. No one is required to disclose their trauma history, and peer support sessions are structured so that participation never depends on disclosure. Our training handles the same difficult subject matter in a trauma-informed way, mindful that participants may be survivors themselves.
 

Removing practical barriers Peer support sessions run online and in the evening, so that women and birthing people who cannot attend daytime or in-person services are not excluded. Self-help resources are written in plain, emotionally safe language and shared digitally and through partners, giving them unlimited reach. Our training is offered online to widen access. We use advocacy and bridging support so that a person's communication preferences, triggers and coping strategies can travel with them through their care without them having to repeat themselves.
 

Communication and language We aim to make our written and spoken communication, and our learning materials, clear, jargon-free and accessible. Where someone needs information in another language or another format, we will make reasonable adjustments and, where we cannot meet a need directly, we will signpost to services that can.
 

Reasonable adjustments We will make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, whether they are women and birthing people we support, learners and professionals we train, or people we work alongside. We invite people to tell us what they need, and we do not require anyone to disclose a diagnosis to receive an adjustment.
 

Knowing our limits and referring well We are clear about the boundaries of our non-clinical role. Where someone's needs exceed our scope, we refer to specialist partners including Rape Crisis centres, Women's Aid, ISVAs, Victim Support, FGM support services, refugee and asylum organisations, perinatal mental health services, IAPT, Birthrights, AIMS, and the Birth Trauma Association.

Inclusive practice means making sure people reach the right support, not stretching beyond what we can safely offer.
 

5. Equity, diversity and inclusion in how we work
 

Governance SAFER Birth Project CIC is governed by a Board of Directors that includes independent directors, providing oversight and an independent majority. SAFER Birth Training Ltd, our training arm, is led by the Founder and Director and is held to the same values and standards set out in this policy.

The Board is responsible for embedding equity, diversity and inclusion across SAFER Birth Project's strategy, decisions and culture, and for holding the organisation to account against this policy.

Recruitment, volunteering and partnerships As the organisation grows, any recruitment of staff, volunteers or contractors will be conducted fairly and on the basis of merit, with selection criteria related to the role. We will seek to attract people from a wide range of backgrounds, and we welcome lived experience as a valued form of expertise. We choose partners and suppliers who share our commitment to fair and inclusive practice.
 

The training we provide to professionals Our professional education for maternity and perinatal staff carries the same values it teaches. Trauma-informed care is, at its core, equitable and inclusive care, and our training encourages professionals to recognise the barriers survivors face and to adapt their practice accordingly. We hold our training to the same standards of respect and accessibility as the rest of our work.
 

A respectful environment We expect everyone connected with SAFER Birth Project to treat others with dignity and respect. Harassment, bullying, discrimination and victimisation, whether towards survivors, learners, staff or partners, are unacceptable. Anyone who experiences or witnesses such behaviour can raise it (see section 7), and concerns will be taken seriously and handled sensitively.
 

6. Monitoring and improvement
 

We want to understand who benefits from our work so that we can keep improving access and fairness. Where we collect equity and diversity monitoring information, from those we support or from training participants, we do so:
 

• Voluntarily, so that no one is required to answer.

• Anonymously or confidentially, and separately from any support a person receives or any assessment of their learning.

• Proportionately, collecting only what genuinely helps us understand and reduce barriers.

• In line with data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), recognising that some of this information is special category data and treating it with particular care.
   

We will review what the monitoring tells us, be honest about any gaps in who we are reaching, and use what we learn to strengthen our services and our training rather than simply to report numbers.
 

7. Raising a concern
 

Anyone who feels they have experienced or witnessed discrimination, harassment or exclusion in connection with SAFER Birth Project, whether a survivor we support, a training participant, a member of staff or a partner, can raise it with the Founder and Director, Michaela Kalusova, or, where the concern involves the Founder, with an independent director. Concerns can be raised by contacting the organisation at hello@saferbirthproject.co.uk.

We will listen, take the concern seriously, respond as promptly as we reasonably can, and treat everyone involved with fairness and respect. No one will be treated unfavourably for raising a genuine concern in good faith.
 

8. Responsibility and review
 

The Board of Directors holds overall responsibility for this policy. The Founder and Director is responsible for putting it into practice day to day. Every person connected with SAFER Birth Project, including directors, staff, volunteers, contractors and partners, shares responsibility for upholding it.

This policy will be reviewed at least every two years, and sooner if there is a significant change in the law, in guidance, or in the way the organisation works. We see equity, diversity and inclusion as an ongoing commitment rather than a fixed statement, and we expect this policy to develop as the organisation grows.