Mothering Touch Blog - Doulas

When Survivors Give Birth:
A workshop with Penny Simkin & Phyllis Klaus
Presented by the Doulas of Victoria – workshop proceeds being donated to The Umbrella Society (see bottom of page)

DAY 1: When Survivors Give Birth
Friday, September 19, 2013, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health, 2400 Arbutus Road, Victoria B.C.

 This workshop is intended for:  Doulas, midwives, doctors working with childbearing women, nurses working with childbearing women, psychologists and other mental health professionals, perinatal social workers, anyone who works with trauma, sexual assault, and domestic violence shelters, any other professional servicing childbearing women.  It is the prerequisite for the Advanced  Counselling Skills Workshop which takes place on the next day.

A not-to-be missed opportunity to learn from renowned experts Penny Simkin PT and Phyllis Klaus MFT, LMSW, authors of the book When Survivors Give Birth.  Join other maternity care, mental health and allied providers to focus on the issues of the least understood of pregnant clients.  Advance your understanding of an all too common issue for childbearing women and families—a history of early sexual abuse and/or other trauma.  Expand your care practices for women at risk of poor physical and psychosocial childbirth outcomes.  Improve your response to women who express emotional concerns about childbearing.

Topics:

• Definition of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and other child abuse
• Common manifestations of any type of child abuse on the childbearing woman
• Unique manifestations of sexual abuse specifically on the childbearing woman
• Neurological and behavioral sequelae of child abuse
• Impact of childhood sexual abuse on conscious memory
• Impact of childhood sexual abuse on the adult woman
• Impact of CSA on pregnancy
• Impact of CSA on labor and birth
• Relationship between the woman and her caregiver

DAY 2 – Advanced Counselling Skills Workshop
Saturday September 20, 2013 – 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health, 2400 Arbutus Road, Victoria B.C.

REQUIRED READING:  When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on the Childbearing Woman by Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus.

This Advanced Counselling Skills Workshop is intended for:  experienced maternity care providers, mental health and allied providers.  Attendance in DAY 1 is a prerequisite to attendance in Day 2.  

Topics:

• Counseling strategies to prepare nulliparas with fear about the upcoming birth
• Counseling after a traumatic birth
• Counseling the pregnant woman with a previous traumatic birth
• Modification of common childbirth preparation techniques for CSA survivors
• Impact of CSA on postpartum recovery, breastfeeding, and postpartum mood disorders
• Self-help techniques to reduce distressing symptoms

To Register:   Click here to register online (PayPal or Credit Card via PayPal) or register by phone by calling Mothering Touch at (250)595-4905.

Course Fee: (includes refreshments, lunch and door prizes)
Day 1: $135 (plus GST) before September 1st.   After September 1st – $150 (plus GST)
Day 1 AND 2 : $250 (plus GST) before September 1st.    After September 1st – $275 (plus GST)

For Additional Information
click here to to email Doulas of Victoria
or call Mothering Touch at 250-595-4905

DONA International Continuing Education Credits HAVE BEEN APPLIED FOR

Books will be available for sale.

Workshop leaders:

Penny Simkin PT is a renowned author and speaker.  Penny has devoted much of her forty year career to exploring the impact of early trauma on pregnant women in our maternity care system and developing strategies to avoid retraumatization during birth and facilitate the process of healing.  The workshop provides information, insight, and practical advice for individualizing prenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care.  Penny’s book, When Survivors Give Birth, co-authored with Phyllis Klaus CSW, MFT is the essential guide to the topic.

Phyllis Klaus, MFT, LMSW is a licensed psychotherapist, marriage, family, therapist, and social worker.  Formerly at the Milton H. Erickson Institute in Santa Rosa, California, she currently practices in Berkeley, California, providing psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and counselling to individuals, couples, families, children, and groups.  She has worked with the concerns, both medical and psycho-social, of pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period for the past 30 years, and has been involved in research and the training of maternity caregivers.

DONATION OF PROCEEDS

We are delighted to announce that after administrative costs, all proceeds from this event will be donated to the Umbrella Society and designated for a special fund for the childbearing women that they serve.

Umbrella is a small and savvy peer outreach organization, serving people in the Greater Victoria area for whom substance use has become a problem.

Executive Director, Gordon Harper, and his team work tirelessly and with tremendous dedication to serve some of the most marginalized members of our community, providing help to about 750 individuals with mental health and addictions struggles every year. Most of their clients are between 19 to 29 years of age.

We are pleased to note that donated funds will not be used for any kind of staffing or administrative expenses. Rather, they will be held in a special account and spent according to parameters outlined by Umbrella’s steering committee, and used exclusively to service the childbearing women they serve.

The Umbrella Society is thrilled to have our support. As Gordon Harper so eloquently wrote in his thanks, “there are moments when even a small gift, a small act of kindness, can make all the difference in the world.”

Thank you for your participation in this workshop!

For more information about the Umbrella Society,  please visit their website:
www.umbrellasociety.ca