BACKGROUND: 

During the month of April 2020, Nurture conducted an on-line COVID19 Survey for Pregnant and Postpartum People in the Richmond, Virginia area that yielded a robust response, with 102 respondents and an 84% completion rate. Overall, the top five highest needs indicated by respondents were for Social Support (75%), Mental Health Support (62%), Breastfeeding or Lactation Support (34%), Postpartum Support (30%), and Education/Informational Materials (23%) as of April 30. Responding to survey results, Nurture is hosting  a series of five 1.5 hour webinars during May – June, 2020 for pregnant and postpartum parents and the providers who serve this population. Utilizing a platform that allows for small group interaction and dialogue, we will review preliminary data from the survey, and engage presenters recognized for expertise in perinatal mental health and trauma mitigation. The series culminates with a focus on developing strategic approaches to maternal health and equity beyond COVID19.  Parents, care providers, policy makers, advocates, and anyone who has an interest in pregnancy, birth, and early parenting are invited to join us for one or all of the webinars in this free series.

This series is made possible by support from the Virginia Department of Health, Bon Secours Health System, VCU Health, Optima Health, Anthem Healthkeepers Plus, the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, and Renew Chiropractic.

Previous Webinars

Hosts: 
Leslie Lytle & Members of the #RVAbreastfeeds Coalition

Wed, May 20, 2020
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

Missed this live webinar? Click the link below and use the password: nurture 
If the content in this webinar is of value to you, please consider donating if you have the capacity to help support our work! 

Exploring the Impact of COVID19 on Breastfeeding in RVA

You are invited to participate in a community dialogue about breastfeeding and infant feeding during COVID109. Utilizing a platform that allows participants to break out into small groups for focused interaction and dialogue, our objectives are to: 

 

  • Share preliminary results of the COVID19 Survey for Pregnant and Postpartum People that focus on breastfeeding/infant feeding
  • Explore strategies for supporting breastfeeding/infant during COVID-19
  • Discuss the impact of COVID-19 on breastfeeding advocacy efforts in our community
Presenter: Leslie Butterfield, PhD

Wed, June 3, 2020
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

If you missed this Live Presentation please click below and enter password: nurture  
If you watch and the content was helpful please consider a donation to help us further our work. 

Protecting the Perinatal Experience in the Time of COVID19

This webinar will address some of the particular stressors faced by perinatal providers and patients during this time of COVID-19.  Emphasis will be placed on the ways in which grief and trauma may be experienced, and how healing and cooperation may occur as both patients and providers gain a deeper understanding of one another’s current painful or frightening experiences.

Objectives: 

  • Identify three ways in which perinatal providers and perinatal patients/clients are having similar (and difficult) experiences
  • List five things providers can do to offer respectful care during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Describe the concept of the “crazy quilt” of grief
  • List the three helpful questions that provide a framework for understanding and managing grief
About Leslie Butterfield:

A former Richmonder, Leslie Butterfield is a clinical psychologist based in Seattle who specializes in pre and perinatal psychology and women’s health. Her areas of expertise include: promoting healthy marital and parent-baby attachments; the prevention and treatment of pregnancy and postpartum mood disorders; and the repair of reproductive loss or trauma. Her goal is to provide loving support and challenge to each individual or couple she works with by using the information, intuition, training and skills acquired during years of practice. 

Learn more about Leslie’s work here
Click here to read her perspective on pregnancy during a pandemic.

Creating Safety and Connection in the Time of COVID

Pregnancy is naturally a time of more vulnerability for parents, especially now with the pandemic. Providers are also feeling vulnerable, as the virus is easy to transmit, and our healthcare workers are on the front line. Everyone deserves layers of support and protection, but how to create that during this time when people are scared, and isolation is a way to stay safe? This webinar will provide practices for creating safety for mother-baby dyads, families and providers through information, exercises and small group connection.

Objectives:

  • Practice how to lead a mother-baby through prenatal bonding and connection practices and understand the science plus results from the practices.
  • Practice mindfulness and differentiation exercises to help create a safe space for pregnant and new parents. Differentiation from previous history is part of feeling more present.
  • Learn friendly ways to identify when the nervous system is responding to perceived and real threat and create new practices to set boundaries and create greater safety.
  • Learn about the importance of provider health, especially inner guidance and connection to create a surround that feels calm and connected to other providers if in a team, and with clients/patients.
About Kate White:

Kate White is an award-winning prenatal and perinatal educator and an advanced bodyworker. She is trained in somatic therapies, prenatal and perinatal health, lactation, brain development, infant mental health, and has specialized in mother-baby dyad care using somatic prevention and trauma healing approaches for nearly 20 years. She is a mother of two children, holds a BA and MA in Communication, a Registered Craniosacral Therapist in the Biodynamic Craniosacral method and a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. Her work combines somatic therapy, birth preparation, recovery from difficult birth, trauma resolution and brain development to help give families with babies and small children the best possible start. She is the Founding Director of Education for the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health and where she administered an online program for professionals, Director of Online Education for Our Birth Journey, and runs a private practice and offers her own seminars and training through the Center for Prenatal and Perinatal Programs

Presenter: Kate White

Wed, June 10, 2020
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

If you missed this Live Presentation please click below and enter password: nurture  
If you watch and the content was helpful please consider a donation to help us further our work. 

Presenter: Kimberly Seals Allers

Wed, June 17, 2020
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

If you missed this Live Presentation please click below and enter password: nurture  
If you watch and the content was helpful please consider a donation to help us further our work. 

Re-Imagining Birth & Breastfeeding Beyond COVID19

During this final session of the COVID19 Webinar Series for Pregnancy and Postpartum, we welcome award winning journalist and internationally known author Kimberly Seals Allers, will guide us through a session that explores what birth and breastfeeding COULD look after COVID19. Topics covered include: 

  • Public health response to previous pandemics: What key changes were achieved and how? How can this be applied locally? 

  • Assessing the harm done to breastfeeding equity work and what needs to happen post-pandemic: How are we prepared to undo harm to Black and brown communities and widening of racial disparities?  What new principles are needed to revive and restore the equity work that was underway in birth and breastfeeding? 

  • What new psychology among women will emerge post pandemic that may be helpful to improve birth and breastfeeding outcomes? 

  • What are new workplace policies and practices that could be leveraged to remove known barriers to breastfeeding? 

  • What new tools will be needed to be effective including communication tools, messaging tools and use of technology and digital platforms? 

 

 

About Kimberly Seals Allers:

Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author of five books, international speaker, strategist and advocate for maternal and infant health. A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine, Kimberly is a leading commentator on birth, breastfeeding and motherhood and the intersection of race, policy, and culture. A frequent contributor to The New York Times and Washington Post, Slate and others, Kimberly has over 20 years of experience as an international business journalist and Wall Street columnist which gives her a unique lens to frame communications strategy with an understanding of business and the capital markets. As the director of various on-the-ground community-based projects in several U.S. cities, Kimberly is also deeply rooted in the lived experience of mothers across the socio-economic spectrum. She brings all of these experiences to bear in her strategic advisement for clients, advocacy efforts and her vision for a world that supports mothering as valued work.

Learn more about Kimberly’s work here.

A Conversation About Birth Justice

About this Event

This is a conversation that will center voices of the black experience. We ask that all attendees should identify as black to create a safe space for these discussions to take place. Maternal and infant health disparities due to racism are a public health issue that causes dire consequences for mothers and babies in the Black community. Black women are 2 to 3 times more likely to die during childbirth or immediately after than their white counterparts. Sixty percent of these deaths are preventable with proper medical care. And though breast/chestfeeding is universally recommended as the best first food for babies, new parents face multiple breastfeeding barriers, including lack of paid leave, workplace support, and culturally relevant lactation support, all of which disproportionately affect Black parents.

Join us for a frank and honest discussion of birthing while Black, to include discussion of local maternal health statistics, ways to eliminate disparities in birth and early parenting, and strategies for self-advocacy.

With Shakeya Lewis, CLC, April Fraser, BSN, and Jarene Fleming IBCLC.

Host: Shakeya Lewis

Wed, June 24, 2020
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

Missed this chat? Check back with Nurture to see when we will be hosting more! 

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