Sponsoring a Lecture or Workshop
Presented by Penny Simkin
Penny offers a variety of
lectures, workshops, and
trainings for maternity
caregivers, nurses, childbirth
educators, and doulas. She is
happy to work with you on
designing a workshop or
conference presentation that
will meet your needs.
Types of Workshops
Penny can adapt the
presentations depending on your
audience and time available.
Once you have selected the
topics, Penny usually works with
you to tailor the agenda to your
wishes and to help you select a
title for your workshop or
conference. We will send you
detailed outlines, objectives,
teaching methods, audio-visual
requirements, post-test
questions and answers, and
bibliographies—all the items
required to apply for continuing
education units. If you want
Penny to cover a topic that she
has not listed, she may be able
to create a new talk for you.
Please give Penny a call to
discuss the content of the
sample workshops. A typical
one-day workshop lasts from 8:00
or 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 or 5:00
p.m. and consists of 4-5 topics
of 1-2 hours each, plus a 1-1½
hour lunch break and two
additional 15-30 minute breaks.
Selected Lecture Topics
-
The Birth Plan: Vehicle for
Communication and Trust
The
Birth Plan is an effective way
for expectant parents to express
their preferences regarding
options in care. It also
helps caregivers and nurses
recognize when women need extra
understanding, compassion,
education, or reassurance, and
this improves the chances of a
satisfying birth. The
history of birth plans, and a
win-win approach are presented,
along with guidance for staff in
receiving, discussing, and
adapting a Birth Plan, if
necessary.
-
Childbearing in Social Context:
How Our Culture and Society
Shape Our View of Women and
Childbearing
This
thoroughly illustrated
presentation explores major
events in US History, Popular
Culture, Women's lives, and
maternity care, decade by decade
from the 1950s to the present.
The changing social context and
its influence on trends,
attitudes, and features of
childbearing are explored.
-
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Its
Impact on the Woman’s Later
Childbearing
Approximately one in four women
have experienced early sexual
abuse, which means that every
obstetric, family medicine and
midwifery practice is serving
survivors, as are professionals
in many other fields. It also
means that many laboring women
are dealing with issues raised
by their history of sexual
abuse. Such a history affects a
woman’s relationships with loved
ones and care providers,
contributes to her fears of
labor and birth, and affects her
attachment with her baby. It
continues to challenge her on
issues of breastfeeding and
parenting. This workshop
explores the physical and
emotional challenges that may
come up for a sexual abuse
survivor in the childbearing
year, and how the care provider
can assist women before, during,
and after childbirth to deal
with and heal from these
challenges.
-
Early Childhood Influences on a
Woman’s Later Childbearing
-
Eco-Friendly Birth: Troubling
Downstream Effects of Common Ob
Practices & How to Reduce Them
Drawing from the language and
methods of ecology, Penny will
explore the effects of today’s
birth practices on the baby’s
first habitat – the uterus – and
his or her next habitat – the
mother’s body and breasts.
Looking downstream from birth,
Penny hopes to focus our
attention on the recent findings
of long-term implications of
such common practices as
induction of labor, cesarean
section, epidural analgesia,
immediate separation of mother
from baby, and lack of
breastfeeding. How resilient do
mothers and babies have to be to
withstand the disturbances to
their habitat?
-
Emotional Needs of Women in
Labor and How to Meet Those
Needs
-
Epidurals: What Is an Epidural
in the New Millennium? and Ways
to Minimize the Side Effects
-
Factors that Influence Post
Partum Recovery
-
Making the Most of Your Birth
Experience (2 hour public
lecture)
-
Non-Pharmacologic Methods of
Pain Relief in Labor
-
Physiologic Management of Labor:
Maintaining Normalcy in Birth
focuses on fostering and
boosting the woman's own
resources for birth. This
presentation will increase
participants' understanding of
the connection between the
emotional and physical processes
of labor and ways to increase
the woman's effectiveness. Ms.
Simkin will offer practical,
evidence-based suggestions for
care and management to improve
physical and psychological
outcomes for mothers and babies.
-
Postpartum: The Neglected Phase
of Childbearing
Compared to maternity care
during pregnancy, when a woman
is seen with increasing
frequency, postpartum care is
neglectful. She may see no
professional for four or more
weeks. This presentation covers
lifetime factors that influence
a woman’s postpartum adjustment
and the Big 4 areas of concern
in postpartum: Physical
recovery, mood disorders, sleep
deprivation, and mother-baby
attachment, including feeding
challenges. The role of the
childbirth educator in preparing
women and couples for post
partum is described.
-
Reducing Cesareans for Dystocia:
The Nurses Role
Dystocia
(prolonged labor) is the leading
cause of cesareans, being
responsible for about 60% of
primary cesareans, and (because
VBACs are rare) indirectly
responsible for most repeat
cesareans. Preventing the first
cesarean is preventing the
rest. This presentation
discusses a paradigm for
approaching dystocia, exploring
possible causes, appropriate
physiologic and nonpharmacologic
treatment based on the cause,
and resorting to obstetric
interventions only if previous
treatments are unsuccessful.
The paradigm to a variety of
causes, as time permits.
-
The OP Fetus: How Little We Know
The fetal occiput posterior
position poses challenges in
every aspect of intrapartum care
– prevention, diagnosis,
correction, supportive care,
labor management, and delivery,
Maternal and newborn outcomes
are often worse and both
physical and psychological
traumas are more common than
with fetal occiput anterior
positions. Further, methods of
prevention and correction are
unsatisfactory. In this
presentation, Ms Simkin will
describe and analyze the
reliability of many beliefs and
approaches to management of the
OP labor. She will summarize the
evidence to clarify the state of
the science that deals with this
challenging problem. A practical
approach to care that is
consistent with current
knowledge and today’s maternity
care climate will be suggested.
-
The Second Stage Labor:
Preparation, Support and
Management
-
Sibling Classes
-
The Seduction of Induction
The
prospect of controlling the
timing of birth appeals to
pregnant women, their families,
and caregivers (and even doulas,
in some ways!), so there is
little resistance when induction
is suggested. Penny will review
how labor is normally started by
the fetus, the differences
between elective and indicated
inductions, the non-medical and
medical ways that are used to
induce labor, psychological
responses to induction, and the
doula’s role.
-
The Significance of Childbirth
to a Woman, a Family, and
Society—Yesterday and Today
-
The Three R's: Relaxation,
Rhythm, and Ritual—An Approach
to Childbirth Education
-
The Tipping Point in Childbirth
Education
Childbearing women today rely
less and less on childbirth
education classes for
information about birth and
early parenting. What are
repercussions of this trend for
good birth outcomes? This
presentation examines ways to
revitalize childbirth education
to increase women's responsible
and beneficial participation in
their care to increase the
advantages for both families and
providers.
-
When Pain Becomes Suffering
Labor pain is a major concern of
pregnant women, their partners
and their caregivers, second
only to the well-being of mother
and baby. While many women are
able to manage or cope with
labor pain, and find great
satisfaction in childbirth,
other women suffer, and end up
feeling disappointed,
inadequate, or even traumatized
by the birth experience. These
feelings sometimes continue for
a long time after birth and
contribute to the high rate of
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
after childbirth (almost 10 % of
all birthing women).
-
Yes, Birth is Normal...But what
is Normal Birth?
Using reports from prestigious
individuals and organizations
(including Lamaze International)
that represent midwifery,
obstetrics, family practice,
childbirth education, and the
public from the United Kingdom,
Canada, United States, and
Europe, Penny will show that
great differences actually exist
on the definition of normal
labor. She will discuss the
ramifications of different
definitions for maternity care
and for childbirth education.
She will propose a definition of
normal birth to guide childbirth
educators in their teaching.
Workshops (One day and two day)
- When Survivors Give Birth:
Counseling Skills and Strategies
to Assist Pregnant Survivors of
Childhood Sexual Abuse in
Preparing for Birth” for
experienced counselors,
childbirth educators, or birth
professionals, including a
4-hour version and a two part
7-hour version
- Labor Support (Doula) Workshops,
including a one- or two-day
preparatory course for those
with little or no background in
childbirth; a basic two-day
doula training; and a version of
the two-day training in which
the first part is open to
childbirth professionals who
want to learn about the benefits
of a doula, while the second
part is only for doula trainees
- Doula Teacher Training Workshop
for those who are both
experienced doulas and
childbirth educators
- Advanced Doula Training
- Workshops for nurses and/or
childbirth educators, including
teacher enrichment workshops and
“Unsung Heroines: How Nurses Can
Contribute to Improved Outcomes”
If
there is any other information which
you need, please feel free to write,
call or email your questions to
info@pennysimkin.com
|
Two New Books to Prepare for Childbirth...
Simkin's Ratings of Comfort Measures for Childbirth
and
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide, 4th
Edition
A comprehensive guide that covers
topics such as labor support and techniques, birth plans,
newborn care, postpartum adjustment, pregnancy nutrition and
fitness, and many more.(ordering
information) |
