Birth Advocacy Online Course(s) & Continuing Education
Access the latest clinical skills and research for Birth Advocacy for MIDWIFERY professional training. These Birth Advocacy online courses provide practice-changing skills and valuable perspectives from leading global experts. This Birth Advocacy education has been accredited for a variety of CEUs / CERPs and can be accessed on-demand, at your own pace.
Conscious Caregiving Transforms the World
Whapio has been an Independent Midwife and Educator since 1985. In 2001, she founded The Matrona to provide an entry-level Holistic Midwifery program for aspiring midwives. In 2005, The Matrona became a non-profit organization dedicated to providing accessible and affordable birthing wisdom to midwives and birth workers, especially in Mexico and other Latin countries. Currently, The Matrona offers an Accessible Doula Program in the US and Mexico whereby doulas are certified and return to their communities to assist families.The Matrona also offers an online Holistic Midwifery Program.
Whapio speaks frequently and passionately about the consciousness of birth.
"Consciousness is the missing element in caregiving that could really raise the bar...understanding the conscious aspect of birth and subsequently responding to the desires of what women and families want.
I believe if we made consciousness a priority many of the unnecessary and archaic practices that endanger a woman's body and soul would naturally fall away. More women and families would have empowering and satisfying experiences and this will be the blueprint through which we transform the earth through birth."
We will view birth through the lens of a physiological and transformative event that is satisfying and empowering rather than a painful ordeal that must be endured. More and more women are aware of the transformative potential of their births and are showing up. They are now looking for caregivers...doulas, doctors, midwives, nurses...who can accompany them, witness them and not interfere. They are seeking deeply connected conscious caregivers.
We will focus on 4 salient points:
1. Women do not give birth in 'ordinary consciousness' but rather in a deeper and authentic state of consciousness that expands their perspective.
2. What is that deeper state of consciousness, how can we language it, how can we get there and be in tandem with women rather then need to manage them?
3. All women have instinctual responses to their births, whether they access them or not. They much appreciate being validated, trusted and not disturbed in acting on their instinctual responses.
4. How can we as caregivers trust birth, trust women and trust ourselves to validate a woman's instincts and nurture and facilitate her to unfold these responses?
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Fighting for Normal Birth in an Alternative Facts, Post Truth World
Hannah Dahlen is a Professor of Midwifery in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). She is also the Higher Degree Research Director. Hannah has had national and international success with grants. Hannah has published more than 120 papers and has given papers at over 500 conferences and seminars with half of these being invited keynote addresses. Hannah has strong international collaborations. She is co-founder of the international research collaboration EPIC (Epigenetic Impact of Childbirth). In November 2012 she was named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 “people who change our city for the better”. She was named as one of the leading “science and knowledge thinkers” for 2012 due to her research and public profile. Hannah has a strong profile in the profession of midwifery. She is a past National President of the Australian College of Midwives and she sits on several peak National and State committees. Hannah currently supervises 11 higher degree students, mostly investigating women’s birth choices. Hannah is an endorsed Eligible Midwife working in a private midwifery group practice [email protected] and Beyond in NSW.
In this presentation the current state of normal birth around the world will be described and the backlash and politics around the issue explored. The long and short term benefits will be reported along with new emerging research on the issue. Key strategies for optimizing normal birth both in a practical and political sense will be discussed.
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Sarah is a Certified Professional Midwife, licensed in Oklahoma and Texas, and the owner of Tulsa Birth Center. She holds a master’s degree in Maternal-Child Health Systems. Sarah is the current president of National Association of Certified Professional Midwives, Oklahoma Chapter, and serves on the Board of the Midwives Alliance of North America as the Director of Organizational Development.
Midwifery has deep roots in the past, but like any profession it must evolve with the times. This session will explore the realities of pre-industrial revolution midwifery and compare and contrast them to our modern realities.
Cristen Pascucci is an advocate for human rights in childbirth. She is the founder of Birth Monopoly and working on a documentary film exposing the epidemic of obstetric violence and the state-sanctioned suppression of midwifery in the U.S. With a background in public affairs, Cristen has led multiple consumer-based advocacy campaigns to get birth trauma and institutional mistreatment in maternity care into the media. Today she teaches birth and healthcare workers about their patients' human rights.
In this session, we'll explore a deeper understanding of what obstetric violence is and the many ways it manifests to undermine and harm birthing people—as well as puts their caregivers and support teams in compromising positions. We'll discuss how birth professionals can avoid committing or contributing to obstetric violence themselves and how they can help make trauma informed care--including self-healing--the industry standard.
The Ethics & Realities of Forced Cesarean Surgery
Jen Kamel is a VBAC strategist, national speaker, and founder of VBAC Facts®. VBAC Facts was born out of her own frustration as a cesarean parent attempting to understand the medical literature and political barriers surrounding VBAC. Her mission is to increase VBAC access through educational programs, legislative action, and amplifying the consumer voice. She envisions a time when every pregnant person seeking VBAC has access to unbiased information, respectful providers, and community support so they can plan the joyful birth of their choosing in the setting they desire. She travels the country presenting her signature program, “The Truth About VBAC” and speaking at various regional and national conferences, including Human Rights in Childbirth, DONA International, and the Indiana Midwives Association. She has testified multiple times in front of the California Medical Board on the importance of VBAC access and is a board member for the California Association of Midwives.
Are women forced into cesarean surgery? How is this possible? When does it happen? Why does it occur? And what do forced/coerced cesareans really look like? This session will explore the extreme disconnect between medical evidence, national guidelines, ethical responsibilities and the current maternity care system. We will focus on the role of hospital “VBAC bans” which restrict access to vaginal birth after cesarean and mandate repeat cesarean as well as the public health fallout of such policies. We will review how forced cesareans can occur in the face of national guidelines that denounce them while professional ethics simultaneously affirm and honor the autonomy of the pregnant person. Finally we will close with how we can turn the tide, create change, and improve the care our clients and children will ultimately receive.
The International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI): Creating Optimal MotherBaby Maternity Care
Robbie Davis-Floyd PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin and Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, is a world-renowned medical anthropologist, international speaker and researcher in transformational models in childbirth, midwifery and obstetrics. She is author of over 80 articles and of Birth as an American Rite of Passage (1992, 2004), coauthor of From Doctor to Healer: The Transformative Journey (1998) and The Power of Ritual (2016), and lead editor of 10 collections, the latest of which is Birth Models That Work (2009), which highlights optimal models of birth care around the world. Volume II: Birth Models on the Global Frontier, co-edited with Betty-Anne Daviss, is in process, as is Sustainable Birth, co-edited with Kim Gutschow. Robbie serves as Editor for the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (www.imbci.org) and Senior Advisor to the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction. Most of her published articles are freely available on her website www.davis-floyd.com.
The International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI) is a human rights-oriented, quality care initiative created by the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization and launched in March 2008. It has been translated into over 20 languages and is currently being implemented in pilot/demonstration projects in hospitals in Austria, Quebec, and Brazil, and in dozens of independent birth practices around the world called MotherBaby networks (MBnets). The purpose of the IMBCI is to call global attention to the importance of the quality of the mother’s birth experience and its impact on the outcome, the risks to MotherBaby from inappropriate medical interventions and lack of access to appropriate emergency care, and the scientific evidence showing the benefits of optimal MotherBaby care based on the normal physiology of pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. The IMBCI 10 Steps set the gold standard for excellence and superior outcomes in maternity care. This presentation will describe the IMBCI and the multiple ways in which it is being put to work around the world, inspiring participants that they too can take one Step at a time to create an optimal MotherBaby Model of maternity care based on the Principles and 10 Steps of the IMBCI.
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Sheena Byrom is a practising midwife of 40 years, having worked in the NHS for most of that time. Sheena was one of the UK’s first consultant midwives, and as head of midwifery successfully helped to lead the development of three birth centres in East Lancashire. As well as being an international speaker, Sheena provides consultancy services to both NHS Trusts and to organisations globally; helping them to support normal, physiological childbirth. Sheena and her midwife daughter Anna Byrom are the proud new owners of The Practising Midwife, and an exciting online platform All4Materity.com – the go to place for maternity workers to learn, share and care.
Sheena’s midwifery memoirs, Catching Babies, is a Sunday Times bestseller, and her seminal book, The Roar behind the Silence: Why Kindness, Compassion and Respect Matter in Maternity Care jointly edited with Soo Downe, is being used as a resource to improve maternity care throughout the world. Sheena and Soo are currently editing a second book, ‘Squaring the Circle: Researching Normal Childbirth in a Technological World’, will be published in 2019.
Sheena was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to midwifery, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives in 2015. In 2016 and 2018, Sheena received Honorary Doctorates from Bournemouth University and the University of Central Lancashire, and in 2017 she was made a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University. Her personal and midwifery related website is sheenabyrom.com.
Topic: The Past, Present and the Future: Why Midwives Matter - [View Abstract]
According to the International Confederation of Midwives, a midwife is ‘recognised as a responsible and accountable professional who works in partnership with women to give the necessary support, care and advice during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period, to conduct births on the midwife’s own responsibility and to provide care for the newborn and the infant. This care includes preventative measures, the promotion of normal birth, the detection of complications in mother and child, the accessing of medical care or other appropriate assistance and the carrying out of emergency measures’. Although there is overwhelming evidence that the implementation of midwifery and deployment of professional midwives in all countries would be a vital solution in improving maternal and infants health and well-being, there continues to be lack of understanding of the role of the midwife, and inequalities in access to midwifery care. This talk will touch on the historical context of the midwife and midwifery, review the current global position and offer potential solutions for the future.
