Counseling for Reproductive Health & Healing ReproHeart

Building Skills for Effective Emotional Care of Childbearing Women

Effective emotional care for childbearing women is a form of prevention of complications during pregnancy, labor, delivery and the postpartum period. Participants will learn to identify an array of historical factors, life stressors, and emotional issues that could have an adverse impact on a woman's experience of pregnancy, birth and postpartum. This workshop will help participants assess their own strengths, styles and limits of practice regarding the provision of effective emotional care. Participants will also learn the art of making an appropriate and effective referral to a mental health provider and to work collaboratively with this provider.

Audience: Healthcare professionals and ancillary providers. Time: Minimum time required is 2 hours.

Effects of Sexual Abuse on Pregnancy, Childbirth and Lactation

Statistics show that 1 in 4 women has experienced some type of sexual abuse during her lifetime. Many of these women will bear children. Some will come to childbearing having done a fair amount of healing while others will not have addressed their trauma histories at all. In this presentation, participants will learn about post-traumatic stress disorder as it relates to childbearing. Participants will learn the ways in which women respond to the trauma of sexual abuse. They will learn the impact sexual abuse has on pregnancy, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding. Finally, participants will learn about ways in which to work with childbearing women who have a history of sexual abuse, both prenatally and postpartum, in order to minimize retraumatization and to facilitate healing.

Audience: Healthcare professionals and ancillary providers but can be adapted for nonprofessionals who are survivors of sexual abuse. Time: Minimum time required is 2 hours.

Healing After Abortion

Controversy swirls around the issue of abortion, yet little attention is paid to the emotional aftermath for the women who make this difficult decision. For some, there is anger, fear, sadness and guilt. For others, there is relief and a sense of control. Some relationships are strengthened while others are weakened. This workshop is an opportunity for women who have had abortions to begin or continue the healing process Through sharing, discussion and visualization, each participant will work on creating a ritual that will help her take the next step in her own process of moving forward.

Audience: Women who have experienced abortions. Time: Minimum time required is 2 hours.

How to Work with Challenging Clients: The Ones That Push Your Buttons and Provoke You

Explore new tools and strategies for dealing with potential dilemmas and frustrating situations. Learn how to examine personal issues and the impact they have on your role as a provider. This is an interactive presentation in which participants can discuss cases/situations in which they have been involved.

Audience: Healthcare professionals and ancillary providers. Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes but can be adapted to a full day workshop or an ongoing consultation group.

Normal Loss and Grief in the Perinatal Period

This presentation will help participants identify the normal losses inherent in the prenatal, birth, and postpartum period. Loss will be talked about as a normal part of change. Losses will be looked at in the realms of the physical, relational and sense of self. We will also address losses of fantasies and loss of control. Participants will learn ways to help women and their partners anticipate normal loss, create rituals for grieving the losses, and integrate the losses into their new lives.

Audience: Healthcare professionals and educators. Can be adapted for a nonprofessional audience Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes.

Postpartum Mental Health

This presentation covers the range of postpartum adjustment issues, from postpartum blues and depression to postpartum anxiety and psychosis. We will look at symptomatology, etiology, prevention and treatment. We will look at the role of healthcare providers, educators and other support people in the prevention and treatment of postpartum difficulties.

Audience: Healthcare professionals and ancillary providers. Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes

Postpartum Planning

This workshop is for expectant parents who want some guidance concerning the postpartum period. Ideas will be given for postpartum planning, securing appropriate help and support both physically and emotionally, and anticipating the changes that will occur in their lives. This is especially useful for parents who will be returning to work within a few months of the birth.

Audience: Expectant families, both men and women. Especially good presentation for corporations to offer to employees. Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes. Can be adapted to 1 hour.

Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Mind/Body Approach

Creating a family involves the normal excitements, anxieties, concerns and ambivalence inherent in any life transition. Yet, how we approach pregnancy and the way in which we birth is largely influenced by the culture in which we live, the birth legacies we carry, our personal history, and present life stressors. This workshop will help participants explore their notions, assumptions, fears and concerns about birth and be able to think about ways in which personal history and present life situation might affect their experience of pregnancy and childbirth.

Audience: This is a participatory workshop and is appropriate for pregnant women and their partners, women thinking about becoming pregnant and anyone interested in pregnancy and childbirth. Time: 90 minutes as an overview presentation or a 2 or 3 hour workshop.

Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Primer for Therapists and Other Helping Professionals

It is highly likely that in your role as helping professional, several of your clients will be or become pregnant or will give birth during the time in which you are providing services to them. This presentation will increase your knowledge of pregnancy and birth in a cultural and historical context. The presentation will identify developmental and emotional issues that typically arise during the perinatal period. Included will be a presentation of a holistic mind/body approach to working with pregnant and birthing clients so that clinicians can better serve their childbearing clients in a manner which takes into account the body, mind and spirit.

Audience: Therapists and other helping professionals. Time: Minimum time required is 2 hours.

Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Vehicle for Healing and Growth

Pregnancy and childbirth provide rich opportunities for women to work on improving self-esteem, self-respect, self-efficacy, assertiveness, body awareness, self-care and relationships. By addressing these issues with childbearing women, we can ensure proper prenatal care, healthier births, and successful postpartum adjustments. This presentation teaches participants how to address these issues with women and how to help women make the most of this opportunity for healing and growth.

Audience: Anyone working with pregnant and postpartum women. Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes.

Preparing Siblings for a New Baby

This presentation is designed to help parents prepare their older children for the arrival of a sibling. Topics covered include parents' ideas about their own adjustment to having more than one child and their expectations of the older child as well as hopes for the sibling relationship. Additionally, we will address issues of behavior changes, children's reactions to the baby, and strategies for dealing with these challenges. Concrete suggestions will be made concerning preparation of the older child.

Audience: Any parent expecting an additional child through birth or adoption. Time: Minimum time required is 1 hour.

Pregnancy and Birth Loss

This presentation will address the needs of families after miscarriage, pregnancy loss by termination, stillbirth and neonatal death. Participants will be provided with information about psychological and social issues that arise for families experiencing such loss. They will also be provided with ideas for helping families cope with these losses and move forward in their lives following perinatal loss.

Audience: Healthcare professionals and educators. Can be adapted for a nonprofessional audience. Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes.

Living with Pregnancy and Birth Loss: Keynote for a Memorial Service

This presentation is suitable for a keynote address at a hospital or community memorial service for families who have lost babies through termination, miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.

Audience: Anyone in attendance at a yearly memorial service. Time: 20 minutes.

Psychosocial Issues in Pregnancy and Childbirth

This presentation is an overview of the normative psychosocial and developmental issues that are part of the childbearing experience. From pregnancy through to the postpartum period, the range of emotions and issues that typically arise for women and their partners will be discussed using case examples. Included will be an overview of the postpartum adjustment, from postpartum blues to postpartum depressions and anxiety. The importance of social support will be discussed as well as the pacing of the developing relationship between parent and baby and the changing relationship between the parents.

Audience: Open to anyone interested in the subject matter Time: Minimum time required: 90 minutes

Teaching Unexpected Outcomes in Childbirth Education Classes

Statistics show that each year 1 million families experience miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death. Additionally, 10% of families will have a baby requiring intensive care treatment and 10% will have babies with some sort of abnormality or disability at birth. Given these numbers, families would be best served by acquiring some information prior to birth about how to handle unexpected outcomes. Yet, given the sensitive nature of this topic and the emotions it evokes, childbirth educators struggle with whether to teach about it, how to teach about it and when to teach it during childbirth class series. This workshop helps educators explore the issue of unexpected outcomes, and helps them come to a clearer understanding of their own thoughts and feelings concerning the matter. Guidelines for teaching "Unexpected Outcomes" will be provided along with practical ideas for class discussions, follow-up with families, and support for the educator her/himself.

Audience: Anyone working with childbearing women and their partners. Time: Minimum time required is 90 minutes.

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