How to be found by mums for your CoCE.
The plain-English guide for student midwives. How mums find you, what helps you get seen, how travel and hospital placements fit together, and how connecting with a mum becomes a continuity of care experience.
How mums find you on MidwithMe.
Mums come to MidwithMe trusting they'll connect with a student midwife who'll actually show up. We protect that.
The student midwives who appear at the top of a mum's Explore page are the ones who are active, responsive, and present in conversations. The ones a mum can rely on for continuity of care.
It isn't a rating from mums. It's built from how you show up on the platform. Students who show up rise. Students who go quiet step back. Because the women on MidwithMe deserve a student midwife who's there.
That's what this is for.
What helps you get seen by mums.
- Replying quickly. The biggest single thing. When a mum messages, replying soon shows mums you're present and lifts your visibility immediately. Reply slowly, and that signal weakens.
- Being new. Brand new students get a fair start. You're visible from day one, before you've built any track record.
- Staying in conversations. A student who shows up consistently, who keeps conversations alive, who follows through, is exactly the student mums are looking for. The platform reflects that.
- A quiet patch. If you haven't received a connection request in a while and you're up to date with your existing chats, the platform gives you a gentle visibility boost so you stay surfaced. You don't have to do anything to get it.
Updates happen in real time. The moment you send a reply, your visibility recalculates. You don't wait days to see the change.
What hurts your visibility on MidwithMe.
A mum waiting on a reply is the strongest signal that something needs attention. When that happens, your visibility steps back so other student midwives can be seen instead.
The platform is gentler with established conversations. A few quieter days when you've already been actively chatting isn't the same as someone going quiet at the very start. New conversations need a faster reply, because mums in the early stages of looking are making decisions, and a long silence reads as a no.
The moment you reply, your visibility comes straight back. This isn't about catching you out. It's about making sure mums always see student midwives who are showing up.
How to set your travel radius as a student midwife.
When you set up your profile, you choose how far you're willing to travel to support a mum. This is a hard filter. If your radius doesn't reach a mum's location, you don't appear in her results, no matter how strong your visibility is.
The closer you are within your radius, the higher you're prioritised among student midwives at a similar visibility level. If a mum has chosen her birth hospital, distance is measured to that hospital. If she hasn't yet, distance is measured to her home.
Set your radius honestly. Too small, and you miss mums you could realistically support. Too large, and you risk over-committing to women you can't actually get to. Pick what you can genuinely honour. Update it any time you move, or when your placement shifts.
If you're within close proximity to a mum, a "Near You" badge appears on your profile card. Keep your location current and you stay eligible.
How hospital placements work for student midwives.
The hospital list inside MidwithMe isn't every hospital in Australia. It only includes hospitals where you need to be formally affiliated through your university placement to support a mum birthing there.
If your hospital is in the list: select it in your profile. If you don't, mums planning to birth at that hospital won't find you, even if you're legitimately placed there. Selecting it is what connects you to those mums. If your placement changes, update it.
If your hospital isn't in the list: it either doesn't have placement restrictions, or we haven't added it yet. If you're confident it has placement restrictions and it's missing, tell us. We update the list regularly and we want it accurate.
For mums planning a home birth: they're matched via an affiliate hospital in their area. Your hospital affiliation still works the same way.
Hospital policies change. Placement agreements update. We do our best to keep the list current and we update it often. If something's wrong, or your hospital is missing, please flag it for us. We want it right for you.
Ghost Mode and CoCE Complete.
If you need to step away for a few days (placement, exams, just life) you can activate Ghost Mode and choose how long. Your profile is hidden from mums for that time. When the timer ends, you're visible again automatically.
Important: if a mum is currently waiting on a reply, going into Ghost Mode doesn't pause the clock on that. Reply to anyone waiting before you go dark. Ghost Mode is a break from new connections, not a way to ignore existing ones.
When you've finished your continuity of care experience and don't need new connections, you can mark yourself as CoCE Complete. Your profile is hidden from new searches. Existing conversations stay open. If your circumstances change, you can reactivate any time from your settings.
How connection and pair requests work.
There are two steps in the relationship between a mum and a student midwife. They mean different things, and they happen in order.
A mum sends you a connection request to start a conversation. You get a notification. Replying opens the chat. You can be in active conversations with multiple mums at the same time. Connection is exploration, not commitment.
When a mum is ready to commit to a single student for her continuity of care experience, she sends a pair request. Once paired, she can't connect with new students. For you, your paired mum is your primary continuity-of-care relationship. Connection comes first. Pairing follows when both sides feel ready.
Start your continuity of care experience.
Two minutes to set up your profile. Completely free for student midwives. Build your CoCE the way it should be built, with mums who actually want to connect.
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