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An exciting event for childbirth educators

The Birth International Conference in Sydney followed the same basic format as the event in New Zealand, except that to began on Friday afternoon and finished early on the Sunday afternoon. Since most participants were from interstate, this format made travelling easier and also provided for some extra downtime.

The speaking team was much the same as in New Zealand, but there were some variations:

Mary Nolan PhD, Professor of Perinatal Education at Worcester University, UK. Her Plenary presentation was “Childbirth Education – inclusive or exclusive?” and she facilitated workshop sessions on “Putting the WOW! Factor into classes” and “Managing cultural diversity”.

Penny Simkin, Physical Therapist and well-known international author and speaker. Her Plenary addressed the issue of “When sexual abuse survivors give birth” and her workshops were on the themes of “Pain in labour” and “Working with abuse survivors”.

Lorna Davies, Midwifery Educator and author from Christchurch, presented a Plenary on “The art of childbirth education” gave workshop sessions on “Creativity and self expression in prenatal programs”.

Paul Prichard, from Good Beginnings, presented a Plenary session on “Realising the potential of expectant and new fathers” and also facilitated workshops on “Inside the mind of the expectant father”.

Shea Caplice, Midwife and film maker, presented the film “Hannah’s Story” in one of the Plenary sessions.

Judy Cottrell, Midwifery educator from Auckland, presented her workshop on “Action teaching.”

Andrea Robertson, Director of Birth International ran workshops on “Beating educator burnout” and “Teaching birth basics: making birth easier”.

Julie Clarke, independent childbirth educator from Sydney gave workshops on “Getting started as an educator” and “’I can do this!’ – teaching second stage”.

Allison Hilbig, Women’s health physiotherapist from Melbourne, gave two sessions on “Linking sexuality and birth”.

Lina Clerke, Midwife and childbirth educator, facilitated two workshops on “From fear to excitement about birth – changing mindsets”.

Alesa Koziol, childbirth educator from Melbourne, facilitated the workshops on “Teaching birth basics: drugs and interventions.”

Deb Galloway, Parent Education co-ordinator from John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, ran the workshops on “Making connections with early parenting”.

Overall impressions of the event:

Once again, this was a very successful event. There were over 100 participants, who offered very positive feedback about the program, speakers and overall organisation.

The venue was praised for its location and setting by the beach, although some would have liked a more central venue so they could go shopping! The cost of t he accommodation was mentioned by some as expensive, but people appreciated the food and general atmosphere.

Some of the general comments included:

“This has really brought me back to the core essence of being woman and birthing with power!!”

“Brought everything into perspective and gave me ideas to work with.”

“Considering the cost, would have preferred to stay a few more hours to get to all the sessions.”

I enjoyed this…”because I learned so much gained new ideas as well as met so many amazing people.”

“The company of so many like-minded midwives – what’s not to enjoy, surrounded by all their enthusiasm. Always glad to hear how other people do things.”

“Catering magnificent”

“Expensive for the value, poor dietary choices.”

“Nice hotel but could have been in a cleaner area of Sydney.”

“Thanks for a wonderful weekend. I feel proud to be a midwife and childbirth educator. And now, even better equipped to care for women.”

“I’m so glad I came along.”

The Plenary sessions

These were enjoyed by everyone – many mentioned the moving film made by Shea Caplice of “Hannah’s Story”. Feedback included:

“Every student midwife and midwife needs to see Hannah Dahlen’s film – I will recommend this at work.”

“Congratulations on Hannah’s Story. Loads of admiration for all concerned.”

The workshops

Every workshop group is different and this can colour both the learning and the overall impression of the program. Many asked for a longer program another time so that all workshops could be attended – people don’t like to feel they have missed out on anything.

The program for Sydney had been devised in two streams, one for “beginners” and the other for more experienced educators. This attempt to tailor the workshop content to the needs of the participants seems to have been largely lost in translation – no-one mentioned that they had taken advantage of this strategy. I had listed learner outcomes for each session as a guide to both presenters and participants – this didn’t appear to work in all cases.

The feedback was very similar to the comments from the New Zealand group. People loved the diversity of programs yet the common themes that were present in the workshop sessions. The opportunity to try various teaching activities was appreciated and there was much praise for the skill, passion and expertise of the presenters.

This was a wonderful weekend for everyone concerned and we felt very pleased to have made such a professional, relevant and enjoyable event possible.

Posted by andrea at April 07, 2008 09:19 AM