Got something our listeners need to hear?
The Fear Free Childbirth podcast features women's healing journeys and expert voices in perinatal mental health. We read every pitch – here's what makes one land.
1.5M+ downloads · 180+ countries · Hosted by Alexia Leachman
Who we're looking for
Women with a healing journey
You carried tokophobia, pregnancy anxiety, birth trauma or reproductive trauma – and came out the other side. Your story is the most powerful thing we publish, and we'll handle it with care: you approve everything before it goes out.
Experts & researchers
Midwives, obstetricians, therapists, perinatal mental health researchers and practitioners with a perspective our listeners haven't heard. Bring evidence and plain English – we'll bring the audience.
PR agencies & publicists
Pitching an author, founder or expert in the mother & baby or women's health space? We welcome agency pitches that fit the show. Commercial placements live separately – see Advertise for sponsorship and the rate card.
What makes a pitch land
- A topic or perspective the show hasn't covered – check the episode archive first
- A clear idea of what listeners will take away from the conversation
- Willingness to share the episode with your own audience once it's live
- For stories: you're far enough along your journey to tell it safely
What you can expect from us
- A produced episode on a show with 1.5m+ downloads in 180+ countries
- Article-grade show notes and a transcript published on this site
- No fear-mongering framing, ever – of your topic or anyone else's
- For story guests: full editorial care, and nothing published without your sign-off
Before you apply
The application takes about ten minutes. It asks about you, your audience, what you'd bring, and how you'd share the episode. Here is the thinking behind each part, so nothing on the form comes as a surprise.
Who the show is for
Fear Free Childbirth is an independent podcast and publication covering reproductive fear, anxiety and trauma: tokophobia, birth fear, birth trauma, perinatal mental health. Our listeners are often women in real distress, looking for recognition and a way through. They are not looking for general pregnancy advice.
We are selective, and we look for guests who bring two things: something specific and useful to say, and an audience of their own that they will share the episode with. We read every application, and we come back to you either way.
Your audience
This is the part we weigh most heavily. We are a small independent show, and every episode we publish, we publish together: you reach our listeners, we reach yours. The form asks where you have an audience of your own and roughly how many people are in it.
Please be honest with the numbers. We would far rather book someone with 800 engaged people than someone who rounds 300 up to thousands.
Sharing the episode
We ask every guest to share their episode with their own audience. It is the only thing we ask in return, and it is what makes the show work for both of us. The form asks how you'd share it (email, social, newsletter, your community, your own podcast) and whether you're happy for us to hold you to that.
What you'd bring
The strongest applications are specific. Birth trauma is a subject. Why debriefing a traumatic birth too early can entrench it is an episode. We'll ask for your angle, what a listener would be able to think or do differently after hearing it, and what it's grounded in: research, clinical practice, lived experience, or a mix.
We are not looking for credentials for their own sake. We want to know where your authority on this comes from.
How we record
Remotely, on Zoom. Sound quality matters more than anything else on this list, so a quiet room, headphones and an external mic is the ideal (tell us if you'd need a hand with that). We record video as well as audio and use short clips for social; audio only is fine if you'd rather not be on camera. You can also tell us anything you'd prefer not to be asked about, and we will respect it.
Two things we hold to
Because our listeners are often frightened when they find us: we do not publish content that markets through fear, and we do not run episodes that are a pitch for a product, programme or clinic. You are very welcome to say what you do and where people can find you; that is what the introduction and the outro are for. The conversation itself has to earn its place for the listener.
If you share client stories on the episode, they must be anonymised and consented.
Writing for us as well
Fear Free Childbirth is a publication as well as a podcast. We publish pieces from practitioners, researchers and perinatal professionals on reproductive fear, anxiety and trauma, and the form asks whether you'd be interested in writing one.
The two run independently, and it works in both directions. Plenty of people who are a strong fit for the publication are not the right fit for an episode, and the reverse is true too. If we cannot offer you a recording, a piece may still be exactly right, so it is worth answering this even if you would rather be on the podcast.
There is no fee to contribute and we never require a backlink. What we ask is the same as for the podcast: that you share your piece with your own audience. Pieces run 800 to 1,500 words, and our editorial director decides what we publish. More on writing for us.
Ready? The form takes about ten minutes
Have your links and your rough audience numbers to hand. There's no need to polish it; specific and honest beats impressive every time.
Pitching a client as an agency or publicist? Use the same form and put yourself in the "about you" section, with your client's details in the answers. Sponsorship or partnership enquiry instead? Head to Advertise.