GOLD Speakers

Helene M. Johns, Midwife, IBCLC, PhD Candidate

• Country: Australia

Biography:

Helene Johns has a clinical midwifery background and a keen interest in women's experience of birth and early parenting. She is a volunteer counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Working as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse in Melbourne and as a Midwife in Well Women’s Services at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, she is involved in the provision of advocacy, advice, support and referral in both roles, in the latter through the state-wide Women’s Health Information Centre. Helene’s clinical roles involve the provision of Pap tests and sexual health screening for well women and De-Infibulation for women who have experienced female circumcision. Helene has a particular interest in breastfeeding influences and outcomes which has led to her involvement in the Mothers and Infants Lactation Cohort (MILC) study. She is a PhD candidate at The Judith Lumley Centre (formerly Mother and Child Health Research), La Trobe University.