Our Team

Theo Clarke

Founder

Theo Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Stafford. She chaired the first parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma in British history and previously set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. Theo has served as parliamentary private secretary at the Departments for Education, Business and Trade and HM Treasury, in addition to being trade envoy for the Prime Minister. She won Speech of the Year at the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards and was included in the prestigious Top 100 Women in Westminster list in 2025 and 2024.

Theo hosts the hit podcast 'Breaking the Taboo' which ranks in the Top 5 most listened to shows in the UK for alternative health. She has also published a memoir 'Breaking the Taboo: why we need to talk about birth trauma'. Prior to being elected, Theo was the Chief Executive of the Coalition for Global Prosperity, backed by the Gates Foundation. She currently sits on the Board of the United Nations Association UK as their Vice Chair.

Dr Kim Thomas

Special Adviser

Kim is CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, a charity that supports parents experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder after birth. She was also the secretariat for the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) inquiry into birth trauma, and wrote the inquiry report, published in May 2024. She has published two books about birth trauma: Birth Trauma: A Guide for You, Your Friends and Family to Coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Following Birth; and Postnatal PTSD: a Guide for Health Professionals. Her book Broadmoor Women looked at the lives of women committed to Broadmoor in the nineteenth century. She also worked as a freelance journalist for more than 20 years, writing for national newspapers and magazines, with a specialist focus on health and medicine.

Elliott Malik

Researcher

Elliott has a background enmeshed in birth trauma, Commonwealth relations, the environment and the law.

He worked in the office of a former Attorney General in Pakistan, before being Called to the Bar in 2023. Elliott has also been a political adviser for environmental NGOs. He most recently ran the parliamentary office of Theo Clarke during the APPG on Birth Trauma’s Inquiry.

Alongside his support for the Birth Trauma Inquiry and Global Birth Trauma Alliance, Elliott co-founded and leads the Conservative Friends of CANZUK. The only British organisation dedicated to furthering relations between Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Jeremy Lefroy

Trustee

Jeremy is an experienced politician, international businessman, and campaigner.

He is a chartered accountant and ran a coffee business in Tanzania for 11 years. He was the MP for Stafford between 2010-19. During this time, he served on the International Development Committee and was elected chair of the Parliamentary Network of the World Bank & International Monetary Fund.

Alongside his directorship of the Global Birth Trauma Alliance, Jeremy founded - and continues to run - Equity for Africa. This organisation seeks to alleviate poverty in a self-sustaining way by creating jobs through investing in small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa.

Ben Simms

Trustee

Ben has 30 years’ experience of working internationally, with an emphasis on global health and disability work. He has worked extensively across Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia during this time, harnessing expertise from across the UK health community, in the NHS and in specialist medical charities to benefit the development of health and social care in low and middle-income countries.

For the last fifteen years he has been in leadership roles, building a strong track-record in advocacy and programme innovation, and working closely with UK Government departments and UN agencies. His knowledge of the INGO sector is further informed by periods chairing BOND Working Groups and taking active roles in health networks such as STOPAIDS, the network he directed from 2010 to 2015. Ben has led an active voluntary life in the UK throughout this time, serving as a Councillor and acting as a Trustee of several charities. He became a Fellow of the RSA in 2019 and is a member of the BBC Charity Appeals Advisory Committee.

Ben has been CEO of the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) since 2015. At THET, he leads an organisation that is pioneering a health partnership approach to the training of health workers across 30 countries in Africa and Asia.

Gill Castle

Trustee

Gill is a former police officer who suffered a missed 4th degree tear, recto-vaginal fistula and perineal abcess during the birth of her only child in 2011. This led to a permanent colostomy, and medical retirement from the police force due to extensive mental health problems resulting from the birth, including PTSD and severe anxiety. Gill has campaigned for changes to the maternity system in the UK for many years, and has featured extensively in the national media for her work.  In 2022 Gill set up an international charity, Chameleon Buddies, to support women in Kenya and the UK to adjust to life with an ostomy after fistula. In 2023 Gill became the first person to swim the English Channel solo with a stoma.