When we began Sacred Circles in 2013, we were excited about this fabulous opportunity to reach out to birth trauma survivors and advocates. But the excitement quickly died down and I think my initial idea of in-person support GROUPS was a little over-zealous if you will. It is still a fabulous idea and we have several leaders across the globe who have taken on the challenge of creating local support groups for both family survivors (moms, dads, siblings, relatives, friends, etc.) and birth workers. Local Support Groups Versus Local Support I certainly do not want to discourage in-person support groups from opening in 2014 because I think they’d be fabulous and needed! But I do think our goal of reaching out to every community got lost in the idea of necessitating “groups.” So, with that in mind and having listened to inquiries of both community leaders and those who need our support, we are opening the community leader roles to those who would like to offer instrumental In-Person Support without the requirement of a support group meeting setting. Those who step up in this role for their community will be given the same information and support our group leaders will receive and may, over time, decide they want to start support groups as well! Allowing leaders without the requirement of a physical group will allow more survivors to seek the peer-to-peer help they want and need. We’ve found that although the physical group idea is still fabulous, many women don’t want to take that leap just yet to attend a group, and that’s okay! Interested? Please read the leader letter and fill out the application/character reference on the Website. Just FYI: They have not yet been updated with this information. Leader packets will be available by Feb. 1 for all new and current leaders. Requirements for Local Leaders of all kinds:
Support for Birth Professionals Another goal that we haven’t implemented just yet has been the idea of getting birth trauma support to birth professionals above and beyond the survivors groups. This needs to be a separate category for two main reasons: 1. Birth professionals have different needs, although they can also be considered a birth trauma survivor whether it’s directly a personal experience or something experienced through their work. Perhaps she (or he!) is a witness to perinatal violence. Perhaps she was a violence survivor and witnessing the event re-triggered her previous experiences. Perhaps she wants to better understand her clients’ trauma and/or healing or prepare herself for that event so she can continue to better her business skills. We understand that the trauma experienced by a birth professional is real, and needs to be addressed so they can continue to work with women to the best of their ability. However, that healing should not take place in front of those directly involved (mom, dad, etc.). It needs to be separate. 2. The PTSD birth trauma survivors (the families directly involved) can come away with is sometimes triggered by the presence of a birth professional. For example, if the mom felt a midwife was the perinatal violence perpetrator, she may become triggered by the mere presence of a midwife whether it was her specific midwife or not. The same goes for other professions. On the same token, sometimes it can be helpful to a birth trauma survivor (again the families, not birth workers in this case) to discuss their trauma with a birth professional who is not related to the issue at hand. For this reason, throughout the year we will be identifying birth workers who understand birth trauma and perinatal violence and would be willing to fill this need. We will be adding a list of these birth workers to our site over time. If you are in the birth worker category, please take note that we will begin a Birth Professionals Sacred Circle meeting once a month in February! They will take place on the first Monday of each month at 8:30 p.m. EST (plan for an hour) starting Feb. 3, 2014 and will occur via conference call. We have placed a leader for this group who will be announced a little later in January, but she’s fabulous and eager to begin healing the birth workers of the world. We now have a Closed Facebook Group just for birth professionals! We will add more conference call times if needed! In the Works: We know that some may not feel comfortable speaking with a local leader, so we are also seeking those who would be interested in helping birth trauma survivors and birth professionals via private conference call. Right now, I think this will only work in the USA but I will do some research. Leaders in this category will be provided a conference call phone number where they can be reached (so personal information is not given out), connected with women seeking help and then scheduled according to availability. You may receive no calls, you may be really busy! It will be the responsibility of the survivor to call in at the appropriate time to be sure connection happens! If you’re interested in this form of support, please fill out the leadership application and indicate that you would like to offer phone-only support (or on top of being a local leader!). What are your thoughts? How can we better help you empower yourself in your healing and/or advocacy work? Check out Welcoming 2014 with a bang! Momma Trauma goals (that we're going to stick to)
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Welcome 2014! For me, this will be a bittersweet year with hopefully a lot of change. Of course the biggest one will be the early-summer welcoming of a new little one and adjusting from two toddlers to three munchkins under four! Naturally, I have some goals for our advocacy work here with Momma Trauma, too! I’ve taken some time to ponder over the last month or so I’ve been gone from the blogging world while I also focused on family, motherhood, holidays and frankly, trying to keep meals down from the newest little beauty that resides in my tummy. New Years Resolutions for 2014 (that we’re going to stick to, darn it!) Momma Trauma Blog & Sacred Circles Community
Local Advocacy – Delaware
Personal Goals I have a few more goals for advocacy work that I’m not quite ready to say out loud yet, but they’re coming along! For me, this list doesn’t seem like much! But really, that’s because the majority of the work that happens in our community happens by the grace and love of our community members. Most of us have been there, some of us are sympathetic to the ideas presented, but we all want to better the life of a family and/or birth worker so that work can continue on with each one we touch! If you like what you see or have been helped by our community, please consider donating so wecan continue our work to the best of our abilities! There are donation buttons floating around all over the site. What are your 2014 goals for your own birth trauma healing and/or advocacy work? What would you like our community to accomplish this year? |
AuthorWelcome to Momma Trauma's Blog! Thoughts, empowering posts and stories straight from Momma Trauma herself, Birth Trauma families & birth professionals. Archives
July 2015
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