The wisdom years
Billie’s journey began with the birth of her first baby that was a medical mess, landing her baby in the NICU with a prognosis of likely death or severe disability, and herself with some epic PTSD. The baby survived and eventually thrived. The OB said it was her faulty body as a woman that caused the dire outcome. After some time spent investigating this situation, it became ridiculously clear it was merely the induction and the medicalisation of a healthy pregnancy and birth that created this havoc.
And so, it began.
Billie has primarily served families in Southern Ontario as a Traditional Birth Companion (what Canadians used to call “the neighbour” when a baby was coming) throughout her long career. She certified as a birth and postpartum doula, a childbirth educator, and a lactation counsellor and briefly tried to companion with families within the medicalised birth services industry, to a quick and disappointing end. Her years serving as a lay pastoral counsellor laid the foundation for her work as a trauma-informed specialist knowing how easily our technocratic medicalised birth services industry wounds and cripples healthy families.
She is the former Director of Education for Childbirth International where she supervised the education of over 7000 students in over 130 countries, as well as training and mentoring their elite team of trainers. She is the author of the world’s first and only comprehensive online course for becoming trained in the skills of trauma-informed care specific to the perinatal client and has authored and edited accredited (ANCC) continuing education for maternity service providers, nurses, midwives, physicians, doulas, lactation counsellors and more.
Billie has taught midwives in 125 countries in the skills of physiological birth and trauma-informed care and is well-versed in the policy and politics of midwifery around the world. Billie is a subject matter expert on obstetric violence and birth-related trauma along with their causes, consequences, and solutions. She has served on the PhD committee for a perinatal therapist and was a critical reviewer for Rachel Reed’s extraordinary book ‘Reclaiming Childbirth as a Rite of Passage’.
Billie is the Founder and Director of Birth Trauma Ontario, an agency that advocates for the restoration of common wisdom to common families so that more babies arrive safely and gently from healthy, empowered, and non-traumatised mothers. It provides education in Becoming Trauma Informed through an exceptionally comprehensive course for understanding the causes, the effects, and the solutions for birth-related trauma. This course has been taken by students on four continents (so far) to universal praise.
She is the Founder of The Hive Collective - a Private Member Association that brings together women and men who are on a journey to reclaiming their sovereignty over their bodies, births, babies, families, finances, and future. In this private association, members care for one another and serve each other with kindness and compassion as we create safer, saner, and healthier alternatives for pregnancy and birth.
Verified Integrative Health Consultant
Billie Harrigan has been awarded the highest designation offered through Canada Health Alliance. Her work, accomplishments, and impact on maternal health and the maternity services industry have been evaluated through a 3rd party verification process and have met the highest standards of achievement in trauma-informed care, education, and holistic care for the childbearing client.
After serving families for 40 years, Billie has turned her attention to embracing the wisdom years where her experiences and knowledge can equip others who will ensure more babies arrive safely and gently from healthy, empowered, and non-traumatised mothers.
There have been many rites-of-passage in this journey to wisdom: a childhood through the 60’s, university through the turmoil of the 70’s, marriage, births, miscarriages, stillbirth, homeschooling, teaching, birth companioning, pastoral counselling, authoring accredited continuing education, teaching students from around the world, parenting, grandparenting, and most recently, widowhood.
Each rite-of-passage has brought new depths of insight guided by a deep connection to God.
She now shares her wisdom and insights woman-to-woman so that new companions can serve families in their own communities.
“You literally changed my life. Thank you for your work, your advocacy, and your workshop. Because of you my husband and I developed the confidence we needed to step into our own power and birth our baby together. Just us. It was the best day of my life. I now know I can birth normally and we will be adding to our family just as we always wanted.”
~ Amanda, Ontario