I often wonder if the person responsible for BT’s infamous advertising slogan: “It’s good to talk” knew that it would still have value today, when he created it back in the 90s.

It’s clear that even at its creation, it was a piece of creative genius – after all, the campaign, which featured the late Bob Hoskins, became one of the most successful and effective advertising campaigns of all time.

Today, despite the demise of the landline and the traditional method of talking to people over the phone, the sentiment behind those four simple words remains as true as it did 30 years ago.

I was reminded of how important it is to talk when listening to a segment of Joe Duffy’s Liveline show on RTE radio a few months ago, when he discussed the Irish maternity system and highlighted the extent of trauma suffered by countless women, both historically and in recent times, in the Republic.

Many of the women who contacted the show, described in raw terms how they were left deeply traumatised by their experiences in Irish hospitals.

In some cases, women spoke about the extraordinary pain they suffered, while others described the lack of understanding and insensitivity they experienced at the hands of consultants, nurses and midwives during their labour and in the postnatal period and the subsequent effect that had on them.

It was a desperately sad and emotionally charged listen and indeed a trigger for many women listening, who experienced difficulties during childbirth that have never been resolved.

Many of the women who called into the programme talked about the fact that their concerns and feelings were ignored or brushed aside; they were made feel guilty about asking questions, let alone feeling they had a say in how they gave birth.

Sadly, the stories shared by those brave women who suffered at the hands of the Irish maternity services are just as common in the UK.

According to the Make Birth Better network, which was set up a a year ago with the aim of reducing the trauma experienced by women during childbirth, currently around 30 per cent of all women in the UK find some aspect of their birth traumatic.

That equates to around 200,000 every year and in my opinion is far too many women starting the journey of motherhood feeling difficult and overwhelming emotions.

And yet, according to Make Birth Better, birth trauma is still not well recognised or identified. It’s certainly not something that we have form talking openly about as a society. In many cases, it is still taboo.

The truth is that for too long, there has been very little support for those who have had difficult birth experiences and need someone to talk to. Women often report feeling guilty for complaining about their birth experience because they have delivered a healthy baby. Isn’t that the only thing that matters?

Of course, all mothers want a healthy baby, but mothers matter too.

In general, the last few years have seen a slow but steady shift towards a more open and honest discussion about what the journey to motherhood looks like, whether that’s about challenges in breastfeeding or recovery after birth.

It’s true that giving birth and the postnatal period can be one of the most empowering and beautiful experiences for a woman, but too often it is fraught with difficulties, where women start the transformational journey of motherhood feeling confused and anxious.

In some cases of trauma it can lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Of course it’s important to talk about the success stories, but we also need a space to talk about the raw, unadulterated stories, too, where things have not gone to plan, or worse, when a woman has felt violated.

Only then can we attempt to fix a system that still does not place enough value on the mother and her experience of giving birth.

Let’s keep the conversation going.