Why are so many of us resigned to treating it like just a job instead of the deeply empowering practice it should be?

Does this sound familiar? Are you one of the countless practitioners feeling burnt out, stressed and anxious at the start of everyday?

Or, maybe you’ve found the best way to deal with the stresses of work is to disconnect from your practice and your clients.

You came to midwifery because you felt a calling from deep within you, but you’re starting to lose sight. You aren’t sure how to get it back – or if it’s even possible.
 

The world is at a tipping point, and your work might feel harder than ever. And yet, you know just how important each birth is in a woman’s life.
 

You may have tried to reach out and get support, turning to your fellow midwives, only to find they are facing the same, if not harder struggles.

Maybe you’ve looked online, but there is no curated or consistent information to support you through the day-to-day struggles of being a midwife.
 

...So, why are so many midwives and birthworkers struggling to stay inspired each day?

I believe there is a better and more fulfilling way -
and I want to help guide you there…

I'm Lianne Schwartz. In my 20+ years attending births and teaching midwives, I’ve found that the focus is mostly on the training portion of becoming a midwife, not the continuing support, development and ongoing skills each woman requires through the different stages of her career.

Deepening the Journey helps midwives and birth workers avoid trauma, burnout, and disconnection from their work.

Light your midwifery spark again, by giving yourself the time to fill your own cup. Be guided and supported in rekindling your passion and developing real skills that make a difference, while you build a powerful community of like-minded midwives. 

This in an intimate deep dive: we only accept a limited number of participants for this program. 

Be that midwife who has a plethora of cutting-edge resources to support the birthing woman and her family.

It's not just about knowledge. You’ll be fully immersed in a nurturing, empowering, and rejuvenating space that allows you to remain calm, clear-headed, and motivated during every birth.

No matter the external pressures…

 To work powerfully with women in the birth space, your own integration and healing is vital. In the busy-ness of everyday life, it’s very hard to give yourself what you need for your own inner work.

Give yourself the time and space you need to focus on you so that you can truly be present for yourself, your family and friends, and the women you care for.

You can be one of those midwives who is able to come back to center quickly, to feel clear-headed, to make decisions from a calm state of mind no matter what is happening on the outside.

This is not one of those programs where you're one of hundreds of others. We accept a limited number of participants for this intimate deep dive, and this allows you to connect deeply and get the attention you need to make a difference. 

1) Tapping for Birth Program

This is a certification program that teaches you how to use energy psychology to work powerfully with women’s fears, anxieties and stresses during pregnancy, birth and parenting (good for Dads too!) You'll be empowered to use energy psychology tools within your own life, as well as with women at all stages from conception to postpartum. Feel confident to work with fears, anxieties, stresses and upsets. You will gain the designation of Tapping for Birth Practitioner Level 1 by completing this program and the required case studies.

2) Healing Trauma

30% of women have at least one symptom of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after birth, and up to 6% have full blown PTSD. Learn skills to help women integrate and heal from their past experience so they can look forward to their next birth with excitement and joy. I know that, like me, you frequently come across women who hold trauma from a previous birth. 

As midwives, we also work with survivors of childhood sexual abuse every day. This is an area that requires special skills and knowledge to work effectively and powerfully through trauma informed care and trauma-integration practices. 

Learn the skills to work effectively with women so that trauma doesn't get carried into the birth experience. Gain the skills, tools and knowledge you need to help women move from fear to power as they approach their birth.

3) Mindfulness

Cultivating presence keeps women safe, and it helps us as midwives. But how do we do it? Mindfulness is developed by making the time and space to bring awareness to what is happening right here and right now. You need guidance to be able to do that within your everyday life in a way that's accessible and fits into your lifestyle. 

Mindfulness is a way of being that allows you to be awake in the moment, using everything that’s available and at your disposal as a resource for dealing with whatever is happening. In stressful situations, this is fundamental. It means you have the clarity to respond in a way that is aware, woman centred and responsive - not reactive.

4) Connection with your Intuitive Knowing

The head and the heart, the art and the science: all are important for midwives. Learn how to discern your own intuition from fear or other voices from within. Your intuition is one of your most powerful allies in life, and you too can deepen your connection with this way of knowing, both in your personal life and in your practice.

My trust and intuitive knowing in birth has made a profound difference in countless births and I've spent the last 20 years teaching people how to access (and trust) this knowing within themselves. 

5) Holding Space

Holding space is hard to define, but we all know what it feels like when a container is held for us. Our bodies relax, our nervous systems settle, we exhale.

Whether this is for yourself and your own needs, for the women you care for, or for groups and circles you want to hold, there are skills you can learn to hold powerful spaces for transformation, growth and ease.

In this ever-changing world, we will also teach skills in creating connection individually and in groups online, as we face a future with possible ongoing virtual midwifery connection. 

6) Advanced Skills

A deep understanding of how to work optimally with:

• The hormones of labor and birth - what you, what women, and what their birth partners can do.
• Making space in the pelvis during pregnancy and through birth.
• Hands-on techniques for helping babies that are ‘stuck’ get unstuck.
• Working with long labors, posterior babies, physical and emotional dystocia.
• Rebozo and other traditional techniques that work: pregnancy , birth and postpartum.
• Sensuality, sexuality and ecstatic birth.
• A primer on breech birth.
• Lotus birth, cord burning, placenta rituals.

This program was birthed well over a decade ago when Lianne's youngest daughter was a baby. Lianne saw such a desire in midwives and doulas to grow, learn and stay inspired. For many, their education had left them wanting more: they didn’t learn what they expected to in midwifery school. Lianne dreamed of creating a 9-month journey for midwives that gave the time and space to find the place inside that holds a deep trust in birth. Every midwife she's ever met has this knowing somewhere within. What we need are the skills, knowledge and tools to nurture this deep trust. 

One of the challenges we faced in our live retreats is that some midwives would go home after their week away and fall back into old habits, ways of being. Instead of using the skills and tools they learned, they would remember their time on the retreat like a dream.

Midwives also found it difficult to be able to take enough time off to fly around the world and join us.

Our online 9 month Journey gives us the time and space we need to go deep into the skills, tools and resources to live life powerfully as a midwife. I'm excited to have this opportunity to share this time with you.