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The Australian Birth and Post natal Services Conference

This weekend I am at the Australian Birth and Post natal Services Conference being held in Melbourne. This event is the brainchild of Kelly Zantey who has assembled a program of business and birth services speakers that is designed to inspire and uplift, while providing some basic pointers to those who want to become more involved in birth activism.

The audience is a mix of midwives, midwifery managers, childbirth educators and doulas with a few pregnant women as well. It is an ambitious event, and although registration numbers are less than Kelly had hoped, I am sure those who have come will hear some useful information and go away with some new perspectives. Much of the first day has focussed on change and change management, especially in oneself. Being willing to embrace change is a prerequisite to being able to support and influence others to accept and incorporate change into their lives or workplaces. Several speakers offered tips on how to manage stress, develop one’s emotional intelligence, recognise helpful and unhelpful behaviours and understand natural reactions to being verbally attacked.

I was amused how “what goes around, comes around”. At the end of the day we viewed a long film called “The Secret” which was a series of talking heads describing the benefits of what we used to call, in my day (there that’s showing my age!) , “the power of positive thinking”. It was dressed up for the current times in a slick marketing package, and was full of psychobabble, but it basically had a good message - that you are what you think (that’s the “secret”) and if you visualise what you want to achieve, clearly articulating your desires and thinking about the positive things in life, rather than focussing on the negatives (what you wish you didn’t have), then the “universe” will provide the outcomes you desire. It was a message that would resonate with many in a western lifestyle, especially these days with its emphasis on materialism and personal success, but I was disturbed by its egocentricity.

There was no mention of how these insights could be applied to others in the form of service or actions that would benefit the wider world or humanity. The emphasis on getting what you want for yourself is fine, but what about the costs to the community, the environment and the planet that this selfish pursuit of high flying goals (there were lots of expensive gas-guzzling cars shown as commendable “prizes” to be lusted after)? There was no mention of helping the less fortunate, of using one’s influence and skills to obtain better lives for others, or contributing in other selfless ways to the local or broader community.

I would have felt much better about this program if it has included footage of others who had turned their good fortune of being born into western affluence to the betterment of mankind as a whole. Even Bill Gates and Warren Buffet give away a lot of money to worthwhile causes for the benefit of the planet and its people, and while they have almost obscene amounts of money and wouldn’t miss a few billion, it is the principle of sharing what we have with the less fortunate, no matter what our circumstance, that seems to be missing these days.

Kelly Zantey has said that it was this film that inspired her vision of a Conference that would inspire and uplift others to continue to fight for better maternity services. This is a wonderful example of what one person can do in the name of a wider cause. If “The Secret” has enabled her to formulate her plan for this event then it has clearly had the desired effect for her. I just hope that others see the wider application of its message as well.

Posted by andrea at April 28, 2007 07:35 AM