Trauma-Informed Care Online Course(s) & Continuing Education
Access the latest clinical skills and research for Trauma-Informed Care for PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH professional training. These Trauma-Informed Care online courses provide practice-changing skills and valuable perspectives from leading global experts. This Trauma-Informed Care education has been accredited for a variety of CEUs / CERPs and can be accessed on-demand, at your own pace.
An Introduction to Listening Visits in Perinatal Mental Health
Jane has worked in London, Swansea, Bahamas and Oman, as a Mental Health Nurse, Registered Nurse and Health Visitor. She retired from her last post as Senior Lecturer in Public and Mental Health, and now has honorary status. Jane was the first health visitor to be made the President of the United Kingdom Marcé Society and then the International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health. She is currently on the Executive Board of the Marcé Society and is the Director of her training company in Perinatal Mental Health. Many of her courses have been accredited by the Continuing Professional Development Service. Jane is also working closely with the All Wales Perinatal Group and has been involved in many national and international groups.
Topic: The Process of the Listening Visit – Challenges and Successes - [View Abstract]
This session is intended to help the Practitioner understand the process of perinatal mental health and how traditional practices are sometimes an integral part of the perinatal process. It also explores why good perinatal mental health is a prerequisite for a healthy lifestyle for both parent and infant. It examines some of the evidence for the efficacy of the Listening Visit and how the Practitioner can help.
Beyond the Birth Plan: Trauma-Informed Childbirth Preparation for Survivors
Dr Justine Leach is an advocate for trauma-informed care in the perinatal period and co-founder of Resilient Birth, a company which trains healthcare providers and other perinatal professionals in supporting survivors giving birth. She also helps expectant parents with histories of trauma prepare for childbirth through trauma-informed childbirth education classes and birth support planning. Dr Leach became a B.A.C.E. certified childbirth educator and advocate after the birth of her two children revealed the impact of trauma experiences on childbirth. She has a Ph.D. on representations of sexual consent in narratives of rape and sexual trauma, and facilitates the Trauma-Informed Perinatal Professionals facebook group. Justine speaks about the experience of giving birth as a survivor of rape and the important role healthcare providers and perinatal professionals play in a birth giver’s experience of trauma or healing.
Survivors of trauma are at an increased risk not only of experiencing post-traumatic stress symptoms during their pregnancy, but also birth trauma and postpartum PTSD. Yet too often survivors’ needs are ignored and traditional childbirth preparation is neither trauma-informed nor supportive of survivors’ emotional experiences. This presentation envisions what childbirth preparation looks like from a trauma-informed perspective. It will explore how to create safety in our relationships with birth givers, how to help survivors feel their power, and how to hold space for their emotional journey to parenthood. I discuss the impact of previous trauma on birth givers in pregnancy and birth, and explore what can be done prenatally to prevent birth trauma. Participants will gain practical skills for supporting survivors’ emotional wellbeing and for helping them to plan for a safe birth experience. This involves rethinking the birth plan. Instead of merely articulating a birth givers’ preferences for or against interventions, a birth plan should be rethought as a Birth Support Plan: that is, it should communicate what a birth giver needs to feel safe, understood, and in control of the decisions they make around their care whether their birth goes to plan or not.
Maureen Campion MS LP is a licensed psychologist and relationship expert. She specializes in the early years of parenting and building securely attached families. Through her weekly newsletter Notes from a Marriage Geek and workshops she offers inclusive, research based marriage and parenting education. She turned her personal birth trauma experience into a passion for guiding couples through their healing and is the author of Heal Your Birth Story. Find Maureen at Marriagegeek.com
While we know how joyous and beautiful birth can be, we also know that about 10-15% of women experience something traumatic at birth. Birth trauma impacts mothers, babies and those that care for them. Psychologist Maureen Campion has been offering her Healing Birth Stories workshop for 9 years and turned her professional and personal work into a book that supports women and families on their healing journey. She offers compassionate and effective tools to support both survivors and the professionals that work in this field. Come join us as we delve into the tough emotions around birth and explore our own trauma while looking at healing and transforming the stories we carry around birth.
Heartbroken: Loss and Grief in the Perinatal Time Period
Cynthia Good, MS Clinical Psychology, is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Clinical Counselor, author, consultant, and internationally recognized speaker. She is the Director of LifeCircle Consulting, LLC and is Certified in Acute Traumatic Stress Management. She is based in the Seattle, Washington, USA area, where she formerly served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University where she taught counseling skills and is a therapist at Sandbox Therapy Group where she works with children, adults, and families. Cynthia has a strong interest in the emerging field of lactational psychology. She brings the evidence and insights of psychology and lactation consulting to her presentations, providing information and teaching skills that are essential to understanding and effectively responding to the complex psychosocial realities of families living in diverse contexts. The focus of her presentations includes communication skills and counseling techniques for perinatal care providers; equity, diversity, and inclusion; infant feeding rhetoric; perinatal mental health; perinatal loss, grief, and trauma; ethics; serving as an expert witness in lactation-related court cases; cultural competence and humility; vitamin D; and more.
Topic: Cultural Competence or Cultural Humility? A Roadmap for Lactation Specialists - [View Abstract]
Topic: Heartbroken: Loss and Grief in the Perinatal Time Period - [View Abstract]
Topic: It Wasn’t Supposed to be Like This: Traumatic Birth, Traumatic Stress, and Breastfeeding - [View Abstract]
Topic: My Brain is Doing What? Bias, Ethics, and the Lactation Specialist - [View Abstract]
Topic: Perinatal Mental Health Screening: A Primer for Lactation Specialists - [View Abstract]
Topic: The IBCLC as Expert Witness: Role, Strategies, and Resources - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Rug Pulled Out from Underneath Me: Depression During Pregnancy and After Birth - [View Abstract]
Topic: Unpacking the Invisible Diaper Bag of White Privilege: An Overview of Racial Inequities in Breastfeeding Support - [View Abstract]
Topic: We’re Human, Too: Hidden Dynamics in Our Communication with Clients - [View Abstract]
A variety of losses and types of grief are common in the perinatal time period. Some of these losses are specifically related to the reproductive and perinatal experience and some just happen to occur during pregnancy or after birth. Perinatal care providers who understand the diverse experience of loss and grief are better able to provide compassionate and effective care for the families they seek to serve. This presentation provides an overview of loss and grief, including the difference between bereavement, grief, and mourning; ambiguous loss; disenfranchised grief; prolonged grief; chronic sorrow; and depression. It also describes skills—such as companioning, screening, and referral—that are part of providing grief-sensitive care to expectant and new parents who are coping with loss and grief.
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I am a Clinical Psychologist and transformation coach for women. I’ve also taught childbirth education. I have 12+ years experience supporting families through the worst traumas imaginable, to find growth, strength and beautiful resilience they never knew possible. After experiencing my own birth trauma (twice!) I quickly learned how little support and training there is for our birth workers who hear and witness these stories every day. From this, I developed two birth trauma training courses – one for parents, and one for birth workers. I gained over 650 enrolments in 3 months, so I know how much this work is needed. I also run a birth trauma training podcast, and I’m currently finishing writing my book. A beautiful, heartfelt call to action for families to not only find strength and growth after birth trauma, but to become the guardians of change in birth culture for the next generation.
"Birth trauma impacts at least 1 in 3 birthing people, but who is often left out of the picture? The partners. Vicarious trauma in birthing partners is very real, and yet there is little to no acknowledgment let alone resources to help.
Witnessing birth trauma in one’s partner has the potential to: (1) create severe cognitive dissonance (“I know what happened to my partner was wrong, yet I did nothing to stop it”), (2) contribute to unresolved feelings of shame, guilt, helplessness and rage, and/or difficulties with bonding (3) contribute to heightened nervous system activity (e.g., oscillating between ‘fight’ mode and ‘freeze’ mode), and (4) contribute to unhelpful, negative birth storytelling culture which minimizes the role of partners.
On the contrary, partners who are well supported (emotionally, cognitively and socially) have phenomenal potential for growth. In this presentation, we will explore what it means to work with partners through the lens of posttraumatic growth. How to validate and educate about trauma in a way that allows partners to step into self-compassion. We will explore how to inspire partners to see their own potential for growth, leadership and even advocacy.
Linos Muvhu is The Secretary and Chief Talent Team Leader of Society for Pre and Post Natal Services’ (SPANS) Maternal, Paternal and child mental health programme in Zimbabwe. SPANS promotes good mental health across the life course starting in the perinatal period. It is a national evidence based family focused program. Linos trained as a family therapist with Connect (Zimbabwe Institute of Systemic family Therapy). He is Africa Ambassador for Fathers Mental Health Day and passionate about the rights of all people to enjoy good sound mental health, in particular the right for good family mental health and in 2016, he initiated the first ever International Conference on Maternal Mental Health in Africa (ICAMMHA.)
Poor mental health affects the expectant mothers and father's overall emotional, environmental, social, spiritual and physical well-being, but also impacts unborn, newborn and developing children, partners, family, friends, and society as a whole. Championing early diagnosis and screening of mental health to every expectant mother and father during their routine antenatal and postnatal care visits; Awareness campaigns in communities about maternal, paternal and child health mental health issues to improve the uptake of services; Training community health care workers (early detecting, screening, and treatment of maternal and child mental illness). The Mashonaland east province under Goromonzi district is a pre-urban and a rural setting in Zimbabwe. A neglected area that significantly impacts maternal and child mortality and morbidity are that of maternal, paternal and child mental health is the main area of focus of this presentation.
Including Fathers and Partners to Support Perinatal Mental Health and Marriages
With over 25 years’ experience as a relationship counsellor, parents’ group facilitator, mental health educator, partner and mum, Elly Taylor has become an internationally known parenthood preparation and perinatal relationship expert and the award-winning author of Becoming Us. Elly’s passion is preparing parents for a happy and healthy family—at any stage in their parenthood journey, and especially in a challenging world. Her Becoming Us approach includes fathers and partners in all aspects of pregnancy, birth and beyond, harnesses the attachment bond between couples to stabilise them through the life changes and challenges of parenthood and links both parents into community services to support the mental, emotional and relational wellbeing of the whole family.
Elly has served as an advisor for numerous university research projects and her ground-breaking Becoming Us developmental framework has now become a comprehensive multi-disciplinary education and professional training and courses for parents. In a full circle moment, Elly recently trained midwives, allied health and therapy professionals in her local community and now Becoming Us Nest Building Sessions are preparing expectant parents in the hospitals where her children were born. Elly lives in Sydney, Australia with her firefighter husband, their three kidults and an abundance of pets.
Topic: Communication and Conflict - How Connection Supports Both - [View Abstract]
Topic: Including Fathers and Partners to Support Perinatal Mental Health and Marriages - [View Abstract]
"The “transition” into parenthood is supposed to be a time of joy, love and wonder, and yet research paints a very different picture: currently 1 in 3 mothers and 1 in 5 fathers suffer from anxiety or depression during the perinatal period. You might also be shocked to know that 92% of couples report increased conflict and 67% a decline in relationship satisfaction in the first few years of family.
And referring to parenthood as a “transition” is misleading – there are, in fact, multiple transitions for couples to navigate.
Including fathers or partners in pregnancy, birth and the multiple transitions of early parenthood helps to reduce both mothers' and fathers' risks for anxiety, depression and relationship problems and supports both parents' mental, emotional and relationship health, so the whole family can thrive. In this presentation, practitioners will learn simple and easy ways to include fathers and partners, even if they’re not in the room, and discover how small things can make a big difference to a family’s future.
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Integration of the Science of Safety and Resilience into Perinatal Care: A 5 Step Process
Kate White is and award-winning craniosacral and massage therapist, prenatal and early childhood educator. She is trained in somatic therapies, prenatal and perinatal health, lactation, brain development, infant mental health, and has specialized in mother-baby dyad care using somatic prevention and trauma healing approaches for nearly 20 years. She is a mother of two children, holds a BA and MA in Communication, is a Registered Craniosacral Therapist in the Biodynamic Craniosacral method and a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. Her work combines somatic therapy with brain development to help give families with babies and small children the best possible start. She is Founding Director of Education for the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health from 2013 – 2018 where she managed a large online educational program for professionals. She currently co-directs this program, administering an online program for parents and parent professionals, runs a private practice and offers her own seminars through the Center for Prenatal and Perinatal Programs, ppncenter.com.
Topic: Best Practices in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Somatic Health for Optimal Birth Outcomes - [View Abstract]
Topic: Integration of the Science of Safety and Resilience into Perinatal Care: A 5 Step Process - [View Abstract]
Topic: The Science of Safety and Trauma Specific Recognition to Improve Birth Outcomes: What Does It Mean for the Midwife? - [View Abstract]
Topic: “It Was Right but so Wrong:” Helping Families Make Sense of Difficult Births with Trauma Sensitive and Prenatal and Perinatal Healing Approaches - [View Abstract]
Maternity practice in the United States has come under scrutiny over the past year due to the increase in maternal mortality. Data also show that maternal and infant morbidity are big concerns for prenatal and perinatal practitioners; for every woman who dies during, labor and delivery 70-80,000 more report almost dying. The news reports “obstetrical violence” and birth trauma as common for women all over the world. Infants are also affected by birth trauma, especially neonatal intensive care and separations from their mothers. The trauma-informed care model is starting to be integrated into maternity care as many providers are screening for perinatal mood disorders and childhood maltreatment sometimes referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences. This presentation will review how current psychological, somatic psychological and mental health approaches include the autonomic nervous system responses to threat and overwhelm, or the science of safety, and processes to help patients feel resilient, or acknowledge their capacity to cope in the face of adversity. Then, a new five point process will be outlined that may improve perinatal outcomes, refine the care of mother-baby dyad, and support birth and maternity professionals of all kinds.
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Paternal Perinatal Mental Health: Yes, It's a Thing, and What to Do About It
Dr. Singley is a San Diego-based board certified psychologist and Director of The Center for Men’s Excellence. His research and practice focus on men’s mental health with a particular emphasis on reproductive psychology and the transition to fatherhood. Dr. Singley won the American Psychological Association’s 2017 Practitioner of the Year Award from the Division on Men & Masculinities. He is Past President of the APA’s Section on Positive Psychology and currently serves on the Board of the APA’s Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities as well as Postpartum Support International's Advisory Council. He conducts trainings around the country to assist individuals and organizations to enhance their level of father inclusiveness and founded the grant-funded Basic Training for New Dads, Inc nonprofit and Padre Cadre social networking application just for dads in order to give new fathers the tools they need to be highly engaged with their infants as well as their partners. In his free time, Dr. Singley likes to cook, surf, read, and drive his two sons to activities all over town so they can’t escape his annoying shrinky questions. Follow him @MenExcel and www.facebook.com/MenExcel/.
Topics covered will include common misconceptions about men’s perinatal mental health along with best evidence-based practices in screening, assessment, and interventions to enhance new fathers’ mental health and engagement with their children as well as their partners.
Shannon Kane is a Registered Social Worker in Calgary, Alberta. She earned her Master's degree of Social Work at the University of Calgary. Shannon is an EMDR trained therapist, and her work is focused on using psychotherapy to support people who have experienced birth trauma and prenatal/postpartum mental health.
She has worked in the area of perinatal mental health and trauma for the past 12 years in settings including: a school for young mothers, outreach mental health, women's shelters, mental health clinics and now runs a private practice which you can find here: www.birthnarratives.ca. Shannon is passionate about supporting families during the childbearing years and keeps busy with her 2 young boys.
Psychological birth trauma is a significant mental health concern to consider when working with perinatal families. Research shows up to 45% of people report they experience some degree of psychological trauma during childbirth. We now know that having a healthy baby is not enough and in my practice I continually hear: “I was grateful and I was traumatized.” This presentation prepares practitioners to know the causes of birth trauma, the symptoms to look out for, recognize how trauma differs from depression and ideas for treatment, including information about EMDR therapy as a treatment. Resources for continued learning will be shared.
