Purpose of the Symposium
1) Discuss the benefits of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI) for hospitals, clinics, mothers, infants, and clinicians
2) Provide a forum for discussion among nurses, doctors, doulas, childbirth educators, midwives, administrators and others on the challenges and opportunities of implementing mother-friendly care in the clinical or hospital setting.
3) Provide a forum for dissemination of evidence-based best practices for maternity care.
4) Support clinics, hospitals and community-based programs in developing plans of action to shift the thinking in their organizations towards mother-friendly care and develop multidisciplinary coordinated networks of maternity care providers.
5) Practitioners and students of maternity care will obtain an objective understanding of the collision of worldviews and belief systems when the medical and midwifery models of maternity care intersect.
6) Participants will describe how the perinatal community as a whole can best collaborate to provide optimal care for mothers and infants based on the principals of the MFCI and the evidence-based practices available as outlined in the 10 steps of the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative (MFCI).
Principles of the MFCI are:The award-winning Dr. Elliot I. Berlin, DC, along with his wife, Dr. Alyssa D. Berlin, PsyD, founded Berlin Wellness Group in order to naturally promote comfortable and healthy pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum experiences. Other than being doctors, Elliot and Alyssa are proud parents of four amazing children, and they use the methods they advocate for family wellness.
At Berlin Wellness Group you can get help with pregnancy and postpartum specific chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, reflexology and individual and couples counseling. Pain relief, labor preparation, wellness care, doula support and bodywork for labor... You name it, we're doing it, and we make you feel much, much better. Our pediatric team delivers top notch chiropractic and craniosacral therapy for wellness and helps babies and toddlers with many conditions, and we offer various treatments for dads and partners, too!
We also put together childbirth education classes, in order to inform and empower expecting and new parents, and to counter the fear and doubt the society places on women and their ability to give birth to a child. Our Labor Kneads workshop for couples teaches your partner hands on bodywork to support your pregnancy, prepare for labor and help you through delivery.