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Dear Rita and list, Rita Wrote, In secondary and tertiary settings, why not provide - not necessarily information regarding childbirth itself, but to start them questioning the health care profession as a whole. Educate them to ask many questions and to question information provided, to research for themselves to ensure they are truly making an informed choice��.. What do others think
Rita, you are absolutely right about this idea / need. The WA consumer group Birthplace Support Group Inc. does exactly this to year 10, 11 and 12 highschool students around the metropolitan area, at the start of the school year we send out letters offering this service and the take up rate is excellent, we charge a small sum, 1/2 going to our speaker for their time and petrol and the other 1/2 to Birthplace, our speakers are often mostly mums sometimes they are also midwives, doulas or childbirth educators but most importantly they are passionate about bringing birth out of the predominant medical realm, we show a short video segment depicting a birth, often home often water, where students can clearly see that the focus is on the woman and that she is incontrol. The aim is to get the students to question the current birth trends, make them aware of alternatives and encourage them to get in tune with their bodies now and to be in control of the decisions regarding their bodies and oneday birth and babies. Many times our mums have taken their bubs an breastfed whilst giving the talk. Hopefully these experiences stay with the students and they share it with others. They ask many wonderful questions and steer the discussion largely themselves. We then leave them with copies of our magazine which icludes a list of important resources. I agree that it is crucial and very powerful to get these important messages / images across to teenagers if we want them to be active in pushing for change when it comes to their childbearing years. Our School Talks Program is very successful and I imagine other consumer groups around the nation do the same sort of thing???
I recently enrolled my daughter in kindy, and one of the teachers recognised us from an article in the local rag about our recent homebirth, she asked me then and there if I would at some stage talk to the new comittee about our experience! I think people would love to hear more about the alternatives to the current system, it is just finding how and where to start, local consumer groups are a great vehicle for this. The other thing is that the general public although largely interested don't seem to proactively seek this information, so we have to take it to them. (of course there are exceptions, like the wonderful pregnant women and mums that seek doulas, support groups, childbirth education outside the hospital system etc, but sadly these are a small portion of the women / couples approaching pregnacy and childbirth.)
Cheers Rochelle - Perth. |
