Alternative Therapies for the Childbearing Year
With Patty Brennan, Amanda Smith & Frances Farmer
9.0 DONA CEUs approved if you take the full series only (partial CEU credit not available)
2009 Schedule & Fees
To Be Announced
The nutrifying, tonifying, and healing properties of a range of alternative therapies will be presented, with emphasis on applications for pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period. Participants will have the opportunity to interact directly with each therapy, practice using resources, and play a bit. We will be encouraging you to incorporate these modalities into your self-care and give practical suggestions for how to get started at home or with your clients.
Week 1
Nutrition & the Weston A. Price Foundation with Frances Farmer
Dr. Price studied the nutritional and health status of a variety of indigenous populations around the world, both before and after the introduction of westernized foods. A common denominator of isolated, pre-modern groups with radiant health was discovered: all prescribed special diets to mothers during pregnancy and to mothers with nursing infants. Price’s studies led him to believe that nutrition during the prenatal, perinatal,and postnatal periods was paramount to the formation of children possessing the physical excellence characteristics of the people who ate the nutrient-dense foods of our ancestors. These are foods high in the fat-soluable vitamins and activators vitamins A, D,and K. We will learn what these foods are and how to provide them for our children and mothers.
Week 2
Aromatherapy with Amanda Smith
Learn about the ancient art of healing and comfort through the use of essential oils appropriate for pregnancy and birth. Aromatherapy and essential oils can be a helpful and pleasurable addition to your repertoire as a birth attendant, or for personal use. This hands-on, interactive class will provide a basic understanding of the nature of essential oils, the aromatherapy pharmacoepia for birth, and effective and safe methods of use.
Week 3
Homeopathy with Patty Brennan
We will cover the basic principles of homeopathy in this class while focusing on practical applications for pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period for both mom and baby. What are the three primary questions you should consider when choosing a remedy? Which potency or strength should you use? How often do you repeat the remedy? How do you judge if the remedy is working? What are Patty’s top 10 favorite remedies for the childbearing year? Which are the most helpful resources? Get your questions answered!
Week 4
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with Frances Farmer
In this hands-on class, basic principles of TCM will be explained, especially in reference to the childbearing year. We will learn how to use hands-on techniques of TCM such as moxibustion (for turning babies in the breech presentation) and acupressure/shiatsu. Emphasis is placed on how to apply the correct pressure to acupuncture points and meridians before and during labor.
Week 5
Herbs & Flower Essences with Patty Brennan
These gentle allies can offer support on the physical, emotional, and spiritual planes. Due to labeling requirements by the FDA and an uninformed media, there is much in our culture to cause fear regarding ingestion of herbs when pregnant. We will clear up the myths, identify herbs to avoid, and focus on nutritive and tonifying herbs that can be safely used when pregnant or lactating. Flower essences are a whole other realm, working on a vibrational level in the system to support intentional change, balance the emotions, and give strength to our soul purposes. Flower essences can neutralize panic in the laboring mother, calm a jealous new sibling (or pet), restore an exhausted birth worker, and ease depression. They can also be used to create movement out of a plateau or “stuck” state such as psychotherapy plateaus; repetitive negative personality patterns; or the more short-term lack of progress during labor.
Our Instructors
Frances Farmer owns a shiatsu practice in Ann Arbor and has been practicing for 18 years. She is an OHASHI Institute® Graduate & Instructor. Frances has travelled the world, studying acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in China and Sri Lanka. She became a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation in 1999 and has been studying these nutritional principles ever since. She has been lecturing for the last three years on the basics of childhood nutrition and health.
Amanda Smith is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) with New Moon Midwifery, a homebirth practice located at the Center. She has been assisting birthing women for the past ten years. Amanda has long been interested in the healing properties of herbs and incorporating essentials oils into midwifery. In her spare time, she grows herbs and vegetables. Amanda currently serves as President of the Michigan Midwives Association.
Patty Brennan is the Director of the Center for the Childbearing Year and has over 25 years experience working with homeopathic remedies, flower essences, and herbs. She is the author of Guide to Homeopathic Remedies for the Birth Bag and Vaccine Choices, Homeopathic Alternatives & Parental Rights, and has been published in Midwifery Today and in the American Journal of Nurse Midwifery on the use of homeopathy and herbs in midwifery practice. She established introductory-level homeopathy classes at Schoolcraft College in Livonia and at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor and has been a featured speaker, regionally and nationally, at midwifery conferences and in-service trainings for medical care providers.