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The first UK trip of the year

I have arrived into the UK, in readiness for the first round of workshops for 2005. It is going to be a momentous week - the Pope has just died, Price Charles is getting married on Friday and a general election has just been announced for early May.

My focus, however, will be on the Conference which we are presenting on Friday April 8 and Saturday April 9. This program will embrace a lot of firsts: the first Conference that Birth International has hosted in the UK; the first two day Conference for childbirth and parent educators ever stagged in the UK; and the first time an “all workshop” format has been offered as an alternative to a straight “talk-fest”.We are very excited about it, and know that the many who have registered will have a great time.

Straight after we finish at Reading University, the venue for the Conference, Lynne Staff (who will be coming from Australia later this week) and I will be off to Wales and then Glasgow to present a one-day workshop for midwives on the theme of Perceptive Midwifery. It will be similar to a series of successful workshops we did here about 18 months ago and will offer midwives the chance to delve a little more deeply into ways of really connecting with women during labour.

I am once again staying with Caroline Flint while I am in the UK. She feels that midwives here are at a low ebb, with morale not good and working conditions creating stress and frustration. Her own practice is thriving, in complete contrast, and she now has 12 midwives working in her independent practice, offering a range of home and Birth Centre options for pregnant parents. She recently hosted a one-day Conference on “Powerful Midwifery” to gee midwives up and show them alternative ways of working. Those that attended were delighted with the speakers and the possibilities presented, and went away feeling inspired and energised.

This is an outcome we are planning for our Conference as well. Pregnant women pick up on the mood of midwives very easily and this can dent their confidence and undermine their belief in their own capacity to give birth successfully. Good quality parent education can help overcome this, but this means that educators and group facilitators need to be feeling positive and resourceful with strategies and ideas for empowering women to get the best from the health care system. Many educators are also midwives, and run the classes as part of their job description. If all goes to plan, midwives will find that this Conference not only gives them a boost for the educational side of their work, but also uplifts their midwifery role as well. We shall see!

Posted by andrea at April 04, 2005 03:44 PM