About us
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The Midwife Collective
The Midwife Collective was born at the kitchen tables of local midwives passionate about offering quality holistic midwifery care to women in our communities. We hold space for one another, midwifing ourselves so that we can 'midwife' you. We come together to share experiences and knowledge and to reflect. In this way we practice the art of self care as midwives and as women. We grow our body of midwifery knowledge together, and in turn share this with the women and families we attend. |
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Elizabeth Murphy
My husband Louis and I have two lovely teenagers. I am a midwife. I have always known that birth can be wonderful and potent. The heart of my midwifery practice is respect for women as individuals, whose pregnancy and birth experiences benefit from knowledge, compassion, security and encouragement. In 2013 after 25 years in midwifery, I finally followed my dream to independent practice as a homebirth midwife. Each time I am at another home birth I see again, that mothers birth best, when they are with a midwife they trust and are cared for by those that they love the most. Pregnancy and childbirth are momentous events in the lives of women and families and represent a time of intense possibility and vulnerability. My role is to be with you, an experienced midwife who recognises normal and acts when necessary, meanwhile you love and support each other, together, as you give birth to your baby. My privilege is to be with women and their families, as they recognise their strength and ability, during this special time of their lives. |
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Samantha Ward
Finding myself high for a week in 1997, after inadvertently inviting myself to a friend’s homebirth, was the start to my awakening of the sheer delight and wonderment of being with a woman as she navigates her labour, gives birth and meets her babe for the very first time. In 2009 I became a registered midwife and have been meandering through local hospitals and private midwifery within Central Victoria since, offering homebirth and postnatal care. My foundation for practice incorporates the educated, skilled and intuitive balance of action and stillness, the ever-expanding understanding and demonstration of normal, and the timing of the step in and the step out. I constantly find all aspects of midwifery to be a wondrous analogy for a whole life journey and rejoice in the tango of a working partnership with woman, as she journeys through her pregnancy. Each journey is unique and each brings gold. I am a mother of 2 growing up children, an extra parent to a few more and a partner to a beautiful man. We reside in Castlemaine and I am most humbled to be carrying on the tradition of attending birthing women on this ancient land. |
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Marie-Louise Lapeyre
I have been a midwife since 1998. I have worked in hospitals as well as attending many homebirths. My curiosity took me to investigate the relationship between birth, neurology, biology, psychology, epigenetics, physiology and Buddhism. My conclusion is that kindness is integral to the practice of midwifery. Kindness has an impact on all aspects of the birthing family, including relational, psychological, bur especially physiological, to make birth safer for both mother and baby. I know that birth has the potential to be deeply transformative for all present no matter what the outcome. I am a practitioner of Shamanic Womancraft, I live on my property in Newlyn where I grow herbs fruit and vegetables. I am the mother of Mai and grandmother of Lani, Hana and Arlo |
