LACTNET Archives

Lactation Information and Discussion

LACTNET@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Susan Burger <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 7 Apr 2012 10:35:49 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (35 lines)
Dear all:

I am actually very proud of the IBCLCs in our area AND the vast majority of other breastfeeding helpers in the New York Metropolitan.  

Over the last three years the New York Lactation Consultant Association (NYLCA) increased the number of events from 2-3 a year to 8 events last year - due to a great extent to Kate Sharp who has been with the organization since the late 1980s. She has developed a program for interns to attend 5-hour workshops with such luminaries in the lactation world as Kay Hoover, Cathy Genna, and Diane Weissinger.  These workshops are repeated annually so that interns have an opportunity to get a really thorough in-depth grounding in key areas of lactation and if they miss one event they can attend the following year.  This 15 hours of education is spaced out over time, rather than crammed into one session and interspersed with their supervised work with mentors.  Having run many training courses for adult learners in developing areas of the world, I've found that workshops of this nature - where you intersperse workshops while the adult learners are continuing their work (or working with their mentors) to be much more helpful than sitting in chair in lecture mode (without introductions or Q&A). 

One of the most brilliant things that I think Kate encourages is for the interns to go to La Leche League meetings as mom participants -- not in the role of being a "back up trainee facilitator".  So much of our learning is focused on lecture mode that we sometimes forget to observe.  My mentors didn't allow me to speak at all for months.  I think I probably didn't really say much at all for a whole year -- even though I had what I considered to be a bit of experience.  I considered it an anthropological expedition and it was a brilliant way to learn through quiet reflective observation.  It also kept me from spouting off my half baked theories from my academic background before I really fully understood the incredibly fine nuances of how to tailor the dialogue in ways that mothers can tell you what sort of a plan will really work for them.  It is less about devising the plan for them than letting them reveal what is workable and effective for them.  I don't really think one needs to watch for a year, but I do believe that watching other mothers interact with La Leche League Leaders is a great way to learn. This

When I first trained, my mentors offered a series of courses that were ALSO spaced out over time in a series of a 3-days (15 hours), 2-days (10 hours) and 2 days (10 hours) - with competency tests that were embedded.  I liked the fact that there was several months in between because it enabled me to absorb the information. My mentors required me to take the courses first before working with them.  Personally, I feel that I learned more because I had already been working for many years in international nutrition and the information was far more relevant to me and I paid more attention to the details than if I had not had that background.  While I like this model better than a 5-day cram course (in which I know I would have lost most of the details of the information), I still find it much more difficult to absorb information from any multi-day course than from a one-day workshop.  When my mentors closed their business (and one of them I am happy to say is doing wonderful work in a hospital now where she has been moving them towards the Suzanne Colson style approach) there were no local courses.  So, I am very pleased that our Internship Coordinator adopted the 5-hour sessions for the interns.

Nevertheless, I always felt that the interns deserved better than having to piece together short cram courses and online learning sessions to be able to fulfill the prerequisites for sitting for the exam.  So I am thrilled that there is now a 90-hour course in White Plains offered by nearby that is by Donna Kimick and Regina Camillieri that fulfills all of the requirements for the Exam Blueprint. It will be great that interns won't have to piece their fundamental education in lactation together.  Moreover, the course is not crammed into 90 sequential hours, there are breaks in between 3 day sessions which I think are crucial for processing information.  Rather than being "competitive" with NYLCA, this is a marvelous opportunity for developing complementary niches and I think that the comprehensive course fits well with the highly focused workshops that our Internship Coordinator has developed and is planning on developing. 

What I have also been very pleased to notice is that there appears to be a great deal of initiative among the interns.  They work WITH each other and have pulled together study and discussion groups.  

Almost all of the NYLCA founders who began in the early days of the IBCLC, are still very actively involved and very collaborative.  This collaborative business model (and I consider this a business model even though NYLCA is nonprofit because most of these NYLCA founders are small business owners) actually seems to work very well by elevating the profession and by creating an INCLUSIVE approach that serves mothers and trainees well.  

Freda Rosenfeld, is also to be applauded because she is such an energizer bunny. She was instrumental in developing a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Parents so that parents know what to expect from professionals offering lactation services as well as what responsibilities parents have to TREAT them as the professionals they are.  One of the key items she included was that lactation consultants refer if they cannot see a client within a certain period of time AND should refer to others when the problem exceeds the scope of their abilities.  She serves as a role model for many interns and colleagues and I must say her business is always thriving because she does treat her colleagues as collaborators rather than competitors.  

These and other founding members of the NYLCA have developed something far stronger and more enduring than any cookie cutter approach to lactation services -- they have fostered a collaborative, congenial, and professional environment which services parents and new members to the lactation community well.  I stand to continue to learn much from these women.

Sincerely, 

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome

ATOM RSS1 RSS2