Wrapping Up the ILC – What’s Next?
The last five weeks have been full of discovery, connection, and excitement!I have many, many questions moving forward, and plan to spend this summer (and basically the rest of my life) exploring the plethora of links between maternal health and fetal and child development.
I am looking at ways to fulfill various prerequisites for midwifery schools during my time at Evergreen. This will involve taking programs such as Food, Health, and Sustainability, Molecule to Organism, and Pathways to Healthcare (formerly Medical Assisting). I am exploring the midwifery programs at both Bastyr University and Birthingway College, as well as looking at alternatives to the midwifery school route. This involves deep exploration of the licensure and certification requirements in Washington state and what kind of accreditation is necessary in order to practice in other states and abroad. Connecting with Constance Frey, a licensed midwife at Around the Circle Midwifery and co-owner of The Birth House, helped me get a feel for what my options are.
I am signed up for a birth doula skills workshop later this month where I will get to learn from Penny Simkin (an incredible midwife who has paved the way for home-birth and has been fighting the over-regulation of midwives for many years). This workshop will help me begin the process of becoming a certified birth doula and eventually a midwife! I plan to get involved with the community of doulas here in Olympia and begin attending births as soon a possible!
As far as blogging goes, I haven’t had as much time as I’d have liked to go in-depth on the various topics I’ve researched so far, but I am looking forward to keeping up with this blog throughout the summer. The in-program ILC has given me an incredible opportunity to immerse myself into the midwifery community in Olympia, and I have acquired many resources which I will continue to explore throughout this process.
This is my final presentation for the Terroir program:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/193KiKB7ybeS3aGOxmFfJIgbdBZcc5Kq5KY_xW-dmYJ8/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks for reading!
