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Perceptive Midwifery

Friday provided me with an opportunity to spend some time exploring a whole new aspect of midwifery (for me, in a workshop format) with a group of midwives from the Sunshine Coast area in Queensland.

I was asked to facilitate a program on “Perceptive Midwifery”, focusing on the emotional, physical and psychological histories that women bring with them to a birth and how midwives can assist. We were also looking at the midwives themselves and their perceptions of their role, and how they impacted on the women. It is a huge topic and one I feel very strongly about, so I had set about planning a really involving program that would give everyone a chance to explore the issues thoroughly. When I worked out the timing I realised that this would take two days, much more than the allotted four hours!

Having done some heavy editing, I decided to focus on the kinds of histories that women might bring with them, the areas were midwives could have influence, how to communicate effectively to discover women’s stories and looking at our own choices and wishes regarding our practice. We had a busy time with a number of interactive activities and everyone participated very willingly and productively. I will await the feedback with interest - this is an area that might be useful to expand further if this “trial run” proves to have been useful for the group members.

I will be spending the weekend relaxing with my wonderful midwife colleague Lynne Staff. She and I will be presenting our Essential Midwifery program again in the UK next April, following our successful tour last year. This time we will be visiting Scotland, Ireland and Wales and more details will follow in later Diary entries.

Posted by andrea at September 25, 2004 04:14 PM

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