Reflecting back what you hear someone say.

Expressing agreement with a person.

Offering empathy.

Expressing recognition that a person’s feelings/actions make sense and are worth taking seriously.

There is no difference; they are basically the same.

A mentor helps direct a person back to their own inner wisdom and resources.

A mentor is the expert and imparts knowledge onto the student.

A mentor provides answers to difficult personal questions.

Introvert, Extrovert, Ambivert

Inner, Primordial, and Modern

Trial/Error, Practice, and Guessing

Mentor, Teacher, Student

People will share their trauma history with us.

We don’t want to do anything to upset people we work with.

Discussions of birth, family, and sexuality can often bring up trauma, and we need to understand how to deal with this safely and appropriately.

It is important for birth workers to urge people to identify where their birth-related trauma lies, and work through that trauma with them.

Celebration

Motivation

Validation

Initiation

Create something beautiful during your time together.

Uncover new insights and wisdom that may often be overlooked or surprising.

Help them work through fear of making art.

Prepare them for doing art with their child.

Things people forgot in school.

Absentmindedly preparing for something.

Learning that began in childhood and of which people may not be fully aware.

Absorbing information in a dream-state or meditation.

A metaphor for the heroic journey: preparation, ordeal, and return.

Only the labor experience.

Only the birthing person’s journey.

A map of how to reach the best outcome in birth.

Help parents have the experience of needing to find ways to move through physical and mental resistance/discomfort.

Simulate a labor contraction.

Help parents make lists of things that they know will or won't be helpful for labor coping.

Help people realize they may want to get an epidural.

Having good notes when presenting it.

Knowing how to discuss the experience with parents afterwards.

Setting up a process so that people understand why we are doing it and are therefore more likely to want to participate.

Repeating a process multiple times.

They are able to respond with flexibility.

Their senses are alert and attuned to the moment.

They often feel they have to do something themselves if they want it done right.

They are highly self-critical.

Fit in as many topics and details as you can so they don't miss anything.

Write a script of exactly what you will say so you get it right.

Start by creating a short list of what you think parents really need to know.

Leave out information that they can easily find in other places.

Focus on the outward breath.

Use visualizations.

Keep the eyes closed.

Incorporate other sensory observations in addition to breath.

A way to help solve people’s problems.

Based on the idea that we know what’s best for our clients.

The best way to guide people towards evidence-based medical decisions.

A way of asking questions to help people find their own solutions.

Internal and external movements people can make to prepare for the birth of their child.

Having a baby shower.

Creating a gift registry.

Writing a birth plan.

Only works if parents stick with the specific visualizations that you suggest.

Is only for parents planning unmedicated labor.

Can help parents encounter intensity with a sense of moving into or through it, rather than avoiding it.

Can aid parents in understanding exactly where the pain is so they can communicate effectively.

It allows us to judge where they are at in life.

We will know if they are our ideal client.

We will be able to predict what kind of birth they will have.

It allows us to better meet them where they are at.

We want to make sure that they have a specific plan for every possibility.

It can help them imagine ways they might cope or get through unwished-for outcomes.

A cesarean birth is likely.

We want parents to overcome their fears.

It is the most important story that we can share with parents.

It is the oldest story known.

It represents all parents.

It is a good example of the arc of the heroic journey of birth.

Validate that fears and worries are normal in pregnancy/postpartum.

Give parents an opportunity to talk about their fears.

Help parents imagine coping with an unwished-for event.

All of the above.

Often a normal part of coping.

Something parents should only do if necessary.

Better if the sounds are low than high.

An obstacle to mindful coping.

Initiation, The Ordeal, and the Return

Preparation, Celebration, and Motivation

Preparation, Ordeal, and Return

Pregnancy, Labor, and Postpartum

The same gates people passed through in labor.

The different versions of a birth story that a parent may tell themselves or others at various points during their postpartum return.

A reminder to the birth worker to check that parents’ birth stories are accurate.

A reminder to the birth worker that their job is to lead parents to the last gate.

Build self-compassion.

Create expectations for the right way to parent.

Compare their parenting styles with other parents.

Explain Freudian approaches to good parenting.

It guarantees they'll have a detailed schedule to follow.

Like a birth plan, it will ensure that they know what is going to happen.

It can be used as a tool for considering many of the important touch points and decisions in the postpartum experience.

It encourages them to hire a postpartum doula.

The time past your due date during pregnancy.

Weeks 36-42 of pregnancy.

The time it takes to conceive.

The first three months after the baby is born.

Offer support to the birthing person

Help people to avoid interventions in birth.

Offer clinical support such as taking blood pressure or doing cervical exams.

Offer physical, informational, and emotional support and advocacy for their clients and their families.

Being on high alert and responsive to your client all of the time from the point that they hire you.

Being available by phone or text within the range of 36-42 weeks of gestation in case they go into labor.

Making sure to answer their phone calls and texts around the clock.

Attending all prenatal appointments with your client.

Write a new unique contract from scratch for each client.

Be sure to include details such as on-call dates, backup, scope of practice, fees, etc.

Just have a spoken/verbal agreement.

Make sure it is signed by the first postpartum visit.

Is necessary only in extreme circumstances.

Is an essential part of the sustainability of labor support.

Is always done free of charge.

Is done only at the client’s request.

An essential way to keep this work sustainable and avoid burnout.

Unnecessary because the work itself is so fulfilling.

Needed only if you are experiencing anxiety attacks, sleepless nights, or depression.

Only something you can do if you have enough money.

Keep it to one resource per category so as not to overwhelm.

Only include local and in-person resources.

Make sure it is a live document that is continually updated and revised to be the most relevant to your communities.

Make sure to only include providers who share your exact philosophy of birth.

Do not speak directly to the medical providers ever.

Foster an environment of collaboration, team work, and professionalism.

Make sure to assert dominance by correcting any mistakes or misinformation you hear immediately.

Know that your priority is getting your client their ideal birth above all else.

It is important to continue to support their choices.

Quickly convince them by explaining all of the risks and adverse outcomes that they are making the wrong decision.

Distract them with massage so they don’t say anything more about it.

Use encouragement to cheerlead them through this moment back to their original plan.

It is important to set up a website first or else no one will be able to find you.

You must have at least $1000 set aside to begin.

It can be helpful to make a plan with several phases of rolling out your business.

You should always start by working alone.

Make sure they are able to process their birth with you.

Hold the baby.

Encourage them to breastfeed.

Do a general assessment of how things are going physically and emotionally and offer support where needed.