Your BIRTH Partners

As we wrap up season six of the podcast, we have shared so many incredible conversations over the last 11 episodes as we dove into what community means in birthcare.

There is so much breadth of thought and energy these folks bring through their ability to see what could be, despite the ways that our systems fail us now.

And so in this episode, I share these visions for the future of community birth care from the 11 guests that we had on this season. I invite you to take in, digest, ruminate on their answers as you come up with your own.

Hear more about creating our collective vision for the future of community birthcare including:
~accessible, IN ALL ways
~equitable, prioritizing the needs of queer, trans, & gender nonconforming people
~inter-disciplinary and birthing-person led
~expansive support that meets all needs
~grounded in radical optimism!

Connect more with this season's guests through their profiles found here!

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In this week's episode, we're diving into a conversation around perinatal mental health, and how we screen for and provide better support to parents as they continue to navigate early parenthood.
 
Our expert this week, Dr. Erin Sadler is a psychologist at Children's National in their NICU who has focused her work around supporting infant mental health with starts with pregnancy and parents.

She will be sharing a little bit of the process that her hospital has used to implement a universal screening for caregivers around their mental health in both the ER and the NICU environments.

This episode is for all of you who are also looking to understand more about how we integrate our mental health care and resources into the standard medical care that we provide to families.

Join us for insights on:
~Removing barriers to connection
~Supporting vulnerable families and decreasing ACEs
~Universal mental health screening as standard of care
~Safety nets built into screening
~Therapeutic interventions for NICU caregivers
~Asking the "scary" questions about mental health

Connect with Dr Sadler and her work here.

Here is an addition resource recommended by Dr Sadler:
Two of our Children's National physicians discussing an article on the establishment our in-house PMH task force. 

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In this episode we invite you to think more about what it means to create community spaces that are powered by culturally responsive care.
 
How do we build trust within them, and how we build trust within ourselves, as we contemplate the changes that happen in our bodies, through pregnancy and postpartum, how we connect with what we want and need. 

How do we understand our feeding choices, how we think about food for our babies and ourselves?

And why it is so important to tune in and be aware of cultural differences?  Why do we need more representation throughout perinatal care across the spectrum of all of the different roles within it?

We need more representation, we need more folks who have different lived experiences who can offer racially and culturally congruent care who have a shared ancestral practices to uplift and support folks.  To bring all of these topics together and share their wisdom on the subject is the wonderful Shalini Shah. 

Welcome to this conversation as we dive into all of this and think about how we create perineal care environments that are supportive, open, and welcoming for all.

Join us as we discuss:
~Uplifting BIPOC birthworkers
~Fostering interdependence rather than individualism
~Eliminating shame in feeding journeys
~Body image & changes through pregnancy & postpartum
~Ayurveda & bringing yourself back to your body

Learn more and connect with Shalini here.

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We are diving into another heavy and intense conversation here, as we talk about the family policing system, sometimes also referred to as the child protective system. 

We are confronting what it means for us, as healthcare workers, as birth workers, to be tied up in this system that is involved in family separation, and ultimately, the policing of families. 

When I was thinking through all of the different angles to take throughout the season, as we figure out what it means to be in community, with each other with those we serve one of the pieces that just kept coming back to me is how disconnected our care, especially in the hospital, can be from the greater community that we prepared to serve. And I think one of the big ways that that shows up is in how we interact with folks who use drugs, with folks that have mental health disorders, with folks who in so many ways, are othered, they don't meet our kind of expectation about "textbook perfect parent."  We are thinking a lot about how that plays out in our role as mandated reporters, how we engage with these systems. 

I am so grateful to have Carlyn Mast back on the podcast. Carlyn is an exceptional advocate a repeat guest on the podcast, who as a social worker, and parent advocate has a lot of information to share that it gives light to really some of what what goes on when we report folks, the family policing system, and how this impacts families, how it impacts communities, and really the role that we have within this as perinatal care professionals. 

So this episode is for those of us who are not really familiar with the child protective or family policing system, how it came to be, and how it currently operates. Carlyn is going to share some of the actual steps that we can all take as we continue to interact with families so that we can show up as a community advocate with them.

Join us to dive into:
~Language: Family Policing System

~History of Taking Children from their Community

~Legislation that Criminalizes Poverty

~Racial Discrimination in the System

~Abolition of Incentivizing Family Separation

~Steps to Support Families

Connect more with Carlyn here.
*The statements from Carlyn Mast are her sole opinion and experience, not the opinions or views of her employer.

Resources:
Dorothy Roberts and her book Torn Apart
Joyce Macmillan
April Lee
Movement for Family Power
upEND Movement

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In this episode, we are sharing with you a conversation with Kayden Coleman.

Many of you may already know Kayden through his incredible advocacy and storytelling about his experiences as a transgender dad, a seahorse dad who gave birth to two daughters.

Through this podcast he shares why he was called to be vocal about his experiences as a Black transgender dad and the prevalence of anti-Blackness in society.  He brings education and insights into how we can improve birthcare, healthcare, and our human to human interactions to be more inclusive and equitable for trans folks, with greater awareness of intersecting identities.

Tune in for insights on:
~Creating a community
~Educating folks who have an intent to misunderstand
~Accountability: calling in and calling out
~Anti-Blackness & the trans community
~Raising our awareness around social media dynamics
~Steps to take for equitable care

Connect more with Kayden and his work here and don't miss his latest offerings mentioned on the podcast!

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In this episode of podcast, we are continuing our examination of community.

Joined by guest Emily Edwards of The Good Birth Co, who is a nurse, birth worker and all around advocate for thinking and changing how we talk about birth, and how we address & prevent birth trauma.  This episode will be really impactful or those of you who are also out here trying to figure out how we shift power in the birth space.

How do we call out issues when we see care, that is not care? When we see wrongdoing?  When we see obstetrical violence? When we see folks not respecting patient autonomy? When we start to see the seeds planted that could lead someone to have a traumatic birth, that will leave someone feeling disempowered, and the unfortunate, unethical things that have become standard in a lot of birth care?

Dive in to:
~Moving beyond saviorship & the focus on birth outcome
~Advocacy in birthwork
~Stepping into power to prevent birth trauma
~Recognizing the community responsibility to change birthcare
~Working through the nuance of hard concepts on social media
~Finding your role and impact in change-making

Emily is offering a bonus to our podcast listeners.  Catch the replay of her training on how to tackle birth trauma head on & feeling clear about your role in fixing the system

Connect with Emily and her work here.

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In this episode we explore how we connect more deeply past the complicated power dynamics and the hierarchy in health care.
How can health care providers really set themselves up to be in community with those who they care for?
How do we shift the way we deliver insights and education and information to ensure that it continues to center the patient?
What are some of the ways that we need to reconsider how we have been trained to share information with patients to speak to folks about the experiences that they are having in their body?
How do we push back when folks want to focus on efficiency rather than connection?
 
Our guest today Dr. Kia Lannaman of Accessible Professionals is an expert in high risk obstetrics. She has practiced as an MFM around the country, and is currently focused on how we make medical education and relationships more accessible to folks. She has so many insights to share around how we create this reality, where birthing people can truly feel that their provider is part of their community that they are available and that they are there to serve their best interests. This episode is for you, if you too are interested in how we change these current dynamics that have been set up and how we can use the power of social media to actually create more connection, rather than isolation.

Join us as we uncover:
~The benefits of multidisciplinary care
~Unlearning as a physician
~Power of social media to get an "ear to the ground"
~Quality over efficiency in appointments
~Meeting folks where they are for health literacy
~And...remember: stop "meddling" in the vagina

 

Connect with Dr Kia Lannaman and her work here.

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As we are examining community throughout the season, thinking more deeply about what it means to be joining into this community of birth.

How does it feel to be coming into something that is in some ways already established, but also something that is constantly growing and changing?

I am very excited to have one of our original listeners to the podcast who has been with us through our whole journey.  Erin Heacock is a passionate birth advocate who recently started as a nurse in the perinatal space.  She will be sharing reflections on what she has learned and how she wants to grow in this space. 

We are inviting all of you to think about how we all have things to learn and how often we end up putting people up on pedestals.
How do you decide who is the authority?
How do we become more open to new ideas?
How do we appreciate and support those who are coming after us?

Join us as we explore:
~Appreciating our role and the vulnerable spaces we are invited into
~Challenging unit norms and "the way we've always done things"
~Comparing physiologic birth with the reality of typical hospital birthcare
~Learning how to question authority and bring in diverse viewpoints
~The power of fresh perspective and creating welcoming communities
~The pursuit of lifelong learning
~Ensuring the folks we care for are centered in our community building

Learn more about Erin and connect more.

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As we continue our season around centering community in our birth work, I am really excited to be having a return guest, one of the very first people who truly made me feel welcomed into a community of other birth workers is Pansay Tayo of Sacred Butterfly Births & the Sacred Pause Red Room. 

Pansay back to share some of her wisdom as she has come to define her birth work is something that must be rooted in community. For those of you who are feeling overwhelmed by all that needs to change in birth care. Pansay has a wealth of ideas to share, as we look to make subtle adjustments to our practice, to ground ourselves and our work in our clients in their community.

Join us to discuss:
~The power of sitting in circle
~Shedding perfection and embracing vulnerability
~Normalizing the challenges of pregnancy & parenthood
~Creating physical environments that tend to all the senses
~Healing generational trauma through birth
~Supporting the mind-body-spirit in tandem

Learn more about Pansay and connect with her work.

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As we continue our exploration of what it means to come together as a community in birthcare, we will be diving into some of the reasons that we often find ourselves not connecting in community.

What are some of the cultural and societal beliefs around worthiness and value and perfectionism that set us up to be in competition with each other, rather than in community? In particular, what are things those of us who have been socialized as white need to uncover about white supremacy?  How have patterns from that been ingrained in our behaviors, in our beliefs and and how we look to be in community- with those we care for and with our colleagues?
 
I am so grateful to have Allison Tate joining us in this conversation.  She transplanted to the US as an established birthworker and became keenly aware of how this dynamic plays out and personal work she needed to do moving forward.

This episode is for you if you are looking for insights around:
~Increasing your awareness about how you show up in community
~Rejecting "glossy" birthworker communities & competition
~Considering how value & worthiness is assigned in community
~Recognizing tenants of white supremacy in birthwork
~Holding yourself accountable to doing inner work

Follow Allison and her work here.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Cheyenne Scarlett's My Deep Dive-Reflection prompts for birthworkers

Doula Instincts Membership-Allison's co-led community space for birthworkers interested in growth and accountability.

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