![Artist Caroline Calonder on Motherhood, Trauma and Reclaiming Personhood Through Art [Notes on Midwifery Voices]](https://i1.wp.com/midwifediaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAU5AAAAJDFkZDQ1Mzc0LWY5YWUtNDllYy04ZDlkLWQ3MmI0ZDg3MzY5Ng.jpg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1)
![RCM President Kathryn Gutteridge on Bereavement, Courage and Listening [Notes on Midwifery Voices]](https://i2.wp.com/midwifediaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Kathryn-Gutteridge-e1489060449848.jpg?resize=1200%2C550&ssl=1)
RCM President Kathryn Gutteridge on Bereavement, Courage and Listening [Notes on Midwifery Voices]
Here I am at Kingston and St Georges midwifery conference, 2018. Today there will be ten talks and events exploring the concept 'I Have a Voice' and I’ll be reporting on each of them in this series, ‘Notes on Midwifery Voices’.
Notes on Midwifery Voices: I’m Live Blogging a Midwifery Conference
Because I’m writing the second of a midwifery novel series (the first to be out later this year), running a big midwifery forum and trying to crack on with my own series of events on kindness in midwifery, I have a very solid policy I’ve decided on which is called ‘not taking anything else on in 2018’.
But during the last weeks of 2017, Dr Lesley Kay, senior midwifery lecturer at Kingston University and fascinating researcher of women’s birth stories, asked me to come to a midwifery conference in London which she was organising.
Student Midwife Hilary Coombes on Being Fifty Three and Training as a Midwife and Why This Is No Bad Thing
At the beginning of January 2018, I thought about all the inspirational birth world people I’m in contact with.
Student Midwife Nina Dawson – on the Smallest Things That Count, Overcoming Self Doubt, and Addressing Fear
At the beginning of January 2018, I thought about all the inspirational birth world people I’m in contact with.
Midwife Carinna Griffiths – on Being Kind; Loving Midwifery and Communicating This to Students; and Her Way of Managing Stress
One part of my life is about keeping up to date with midwifery, speaking with students and midwives, and passionately moderating the Secret Community for Midwives in the Making.
Student Midwife Hannah Gerken – on Surviving Midwifery When It All Goes Wrong, Palliative Care and Being Allowed to Self Care
One part of my life is about keeping up to date with midwifery, speaking with students and midwives, and passionately moderating the Secret Community for Midwives in the Making.
A Student Midwife’s Reflection
Chances are, if you’re a human, at some point you’ve wanted to just block out what’s going on at work.
The Three Most Important Midwifery Lessons Learned From The Kindness Conference
Hello! I've just got back this week from the Kindness Conference in Bradford.
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![Day Thirty: The End Of These Emails…And The Start Of A Bigger Conversation [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]](https://i2.wp.com/midwifediaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Coffee-1.jpg?resize=1200%2C550&ssl=1)
Day Twenty-Eight: A Toolkit For Standing Up For Yourself [30 Days Of Kindness In Midwifery]
Chartered psychologist Aryanne Oade uses a three-part definition to examine whether an incident at work is bullying, or just an unfortunate circumstance.
Day Twenty-Seven: Bullying Case Study [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
‘Ellie, are you having a drink?’
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Day Twenty-Six: ‘What Mums and Midwives Have in Common’ [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
This week I was talking to a friend who has a manual job in a warehouse. He's in his sixties, would describe himself as 'working class' and he said to me 'I couldn't believe how much I loved my son when he was born. I was so protective. Such a fierce, fiery love. But we're British, can't have any emotions, that's enough of that!'
Day Twenty-Five: ‘Kindness Feeds Courage’ with Sheena Byrom [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
The author Glennon Doyle Melton talks about a technique that carpenters use. A joist is a beam that holds together a stronger structure and sometimes it starts to weaken.
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Day Twenty-Four: Tommy’s Charity [30 Days Of Kindness In Midwifery]
Words are powerful and often turn into actions.
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Day Twenty-Three: The Oblivious Bully [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
I think it’s the humble nature of this post that so impresses me. Gillian Smith qualified in 1978 (so she has nearly 40 years of midwifery related experience) and yet she writes like she still has a lot to learn.
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Day Twenty-Two: Other People’s Problem [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
According to this study, students and midwives of colour are bullied much more frequently in practice.
Day Twenty-One: Midwifery Isn’t Broken [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
I’ve heard that many aspiring and student midwives are concerned about the bullying culture. I didn't know anything about such culture before I started training but if I'd have read about it, I think it would have worried me too.
Day Twenty: Bee Happy [30 days of Kindness in Midwifery]
I‘ve talked before about how I think the culture in midwifery will be changed incrementally. It will take 10,000 or more small, courageous conversations and actions to help the good culture rise.