Valerie is a proud Bindjareb woman from the Nyoongar Nation in the South West of Western Australia with family connections to the Palkyu people of the Pilbara, a mother of six and grandmother of five beautiful grandchildren with another soon. Through her husband, Valerie's children also identify as Nyikina and Yawaru from the Kimberley.
Valerie graduated as a Registered Midwife in 2015 and has worked clinically in Perth at the Armadale Health Service, in Midland at St John of God Public Hospital and in Adelaide at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Her dive into research started as an Indigenous Project Officer at Ngangk Yira Institute for Change on Baby Coming You Ready? Project: a comprehensive and culturally safe way to assess the social and emotional health and wellbeing of Aboriginal women in the perinatal period, with a focus on strength and resilience. As an Aboriginal woman and midwife, Valerie's own experiences birthing in the system generated her interest to improve outcomes in Aboriginal maternal and infant health, more specifically, embedding cultural safety in the pregnancy and birth space and improving the health of Aboriginal women from a strength-based, cultural perspective. Valerie is now an Indigenous Research Midwife at the Stillbirth CRE, working on the cultural adaptation of the Safer Baby Bundle and developing a Healthy Yarning Guide for non-Indigenous health care professionals to talk about stillbirth and stillbirth prevention.
