Birthsmarter Pro

This course will meet on Monday, October 28th and Wednesday, October 30th from 11:00pm - 3:00pm ET | 9:00am - 1:00pm MT | 8:00am - 12:00pm PT.

With rising maternal mortality rates, pelvic health complications, and postnatal depression, expectant and new parents need as much comprehensive care as possible. Perinatal professionals hold a unique position of trust, power, and responsibility to help their patients physically prepare for and process labor, delivery, and postpartum experiences. However, practitioners, policies, and generic marketing efforts can inadvertently set clients up with unrealistic expectations, by parroting often outdated, mainstream ways of thinking that divert to fear mongering or toxic positivity.

Birthsmarter offers a transformative way of thinking about birth physiology and the societal context of birth practices in the United States. By distinguishing between fear-based approaches and overly idealized views, and leveraging the Birthsmarter Framework, professionals can better prepare their clients to navigate birth and postpartum recovery with realistic expectations.

Workshop Overview

Birthsmarter Pro is centered around our proprietary framework, The Three Actions, which delves deeply into the anatomy and physiology of labor. The curriculum is designed to enrich your understanding of the birthing process and societal context of childbirth in the United States, allowing you to provide more informed, empathetic, and effective care.

Key Topics Covered:

1. The Three Actions™: Anatomy and Physiology of Labor

• Understanding the critical roles of Oxytocin, Fetal Alignment, and the Positive Feedback Loop of Labor.

2. The Birthsmarter Five Partner Responsibilities

• A distilled toolkit for how labor partners can support gestational parents through labor and beyond.

3. Stages of Labor and Common Interventions

• A critical reframe of the Stages of Labor as well as interventions such as labor induction and their appropriate applications.
• Deciphering Hospital Vocabulary and “Birth Planning,” covering crucial topics like Triage, Monitoring, Pitocin, and Pain Management.

4. Pushing and the Birth of the Baby

• Techniques and considerations for supporting clients through the final stages of labor.

Workshop Outcomes

Participants in the Birthsmarter Pro workshop will leave with:

• Enhanced Confidence: With a deep understanding of the Three Actions of Physiological Birth, you will feel more empowered and effective when communicating with the perinatal population.
• Critical Thinking Skills: An enriched perspective on the history of obstetrics and the current state of perinatal health in the U.S., self-reflection on their own biases and assumptions, and an ability to incorporate patients’ personal circumstance – in order to support and hold space for nuance.
• Advocacy Tools: The knowledge and skills to better prepare expectant parents for positive birth experiences and advocate for best practices in perinatal care.
• Empathetic Individualized Support: An audit of typical language used with this sensitive population and strategies to intentionally and compassionately meet a wide range of patients where they are.
• Curated Resources: A selection of resources to further support pregnant and postpartum clients, enhancing your practice’s service offering.

Additional Perks

As participants in the Birthsmarter Pro workshop, your therapists will also receive:

• Certificate of Completion and Birthsmarter Pro Mark: A trusted designation to leverage with patients and professionals.
• Access to Birthsmarter’s Online Resource Directory: A curated list of vetted Perinatal Health and Wellness Practitioners and resources to share with patients.
• Membership in the Birthsmarter Pro Digital Community: A private online community for ongoing support, networking, and learning.
• Customized Workbooks: Tailored materials to complement the workshop and support continued learning and application.

Discounts are available if you're attending with 2 or more people from the same organization. Alternative Pricing is available, as always with Birthsmarter courses.

Course Testimonials:

"My massage therapy & wellness center specializes in prenatal and postnatal bodywork, and as a birth worker myself, I think it is critical that my massage therapists on staff know all the ins and outs of pregnancy, labor, and birth -- it's not enough to just be trained in perinatal bodywork. I want to make sure they have a greater degree of knowledge and background when working with our perinatal clients than the average bodyworker - that is what sets us apart, so the Birth Smarter Pro workshop was highly valuable for my staff and a great jumping off point for the continued mentoring I offer them. All my staff who have taken it, have come back from the workshop with enthusiastic responses feeling so much more able to care for our pregnant clients. Some of their most important take-aways related to critical thinking around healthcare options for pregnant people, knowing what kinds of questions to ask pregnant clients about their perinatal care and what they may be experiencing, a deeper understanding of the physiology of childbirth, and a better ability to help pregnant clients have confidence in their own body during this process."

- Lena DeGloma Founder + Clinical Director of Red Moon Wellness

"The workshop was fabulous! The history of childbirth stuff was really interesting. The birth physiology was taught in a concrete, clear way but it also accounted for the variability of the birthing experience... I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can help encourage pregnant clients to find confidence in their own body to help ground them during what can be an overwhelming and scary uncertainty. So grateful for this course. Definitely worthwhile!”

- Cory T. DPT

"I highly recommend this workshop if you treat pregnant or postpartum women! Ashley does a beautiful job discussing the birthing process and uses effective teaching/learning strategies that I am now passing on to my patients. It has empowered me to open dialogue with friends, family, co-workers and clients on how to optimize the birthing process through physiologic birth (versus the medical model).”

- Molly Dennis, PT, DPT

“I walked away from class feeling confident and energized in my ability to help my patients prepare for the best possible labor. Ashley equipped her students with both knowledge of birth physiology and a greater capacity to understand emotional challenges women encounter. In addition, the discussion on the realities of hospital births in our area was eye opening. The class was full of lively discussion and Q&A. I now have concrete strategies to help my patients advocate for themselves and to know what kind of care and birth team they deserve!”

Susan Wallmeyer, L.Ac, MSTOM

I have a MUCH clearer physiological understanding of the perinatal period. It also prompted some great critical thinking about the current healthcare options for pregnant people, and the discussions were relevant and interesting.

E.H, Massage Therapist