have been meaning to send this for a while.  It is from JHL 9 (4), 1993. by Kathleen Auerbach, one of founders of Lactnet and early editor of JHL.
 
Twelve Commandments for Lactation Consultants
* Thou shall consider thyself a good person, regardless of the loud or even under the breath aspersions cast by other colleagues or superiors.
* Thou shalt not criticize directly or behind the back of thy colleagues, whose style of caregiving may differ from thine own.
* Thou shalt hold thy tongue and prevent thine eyes from rolling heavenward when informed of the actions or words of health care workers with whom you work or whose reported recommendations to a breastfeeding mother - which could be characterized as less than appropriate - require you to attempt to "pick up the pieces" of a breastfeeding experience gone bad.
* Thou shalt regularly seek the opinions and experiences of thy colleagues when a particular situation stumps thee; there is no shame in gaining the insight of others before offering advice.
* Thou shalt freely offer thine insights when a colleague seeks them, at the same time remembering that the person who knows the client best is the person working with her.
* Thou shalt strive to independently maintain current knowledge in thy chosen field, depending not on the continuing education offerings thee attends each year for all thy new knowledge. [in other words read your journals and Lactnet!]
* Thou shalt offer to refer a client to a colleague with additional expertise in order to provide the most complete care available in thy community, reminding oneself that no one person can be all things to all people.
* Thou shalt return a client to the original lactation consultant or other caregiver from whom she was referred when the problem requiring such referral no longer requires special assistance.
* Thou shalt freely acknowledge what thee does not know to clients and colleagues when such a response accurately reflects the limitations of thine own knowledge; only the Supreme Being knows all.
* Thou shalt remember that thy family deserves they love, time, and attention before and after business hours and that without their care and support thy lactation business could not continue.
 * Thou shalt take time for thyself, not allowing the needs of others to so overwhelm thee that thee cannot "give" anymore.  Plan some vacation time each year hat has nothing whatever to do with "the business"; and, when thee takes such a vacation, leave thy business cards at home!
* Thou shalt love thyself for all thee is, not just for all thee does.
 
PS: my computer doesn't recognize 'thine' as a word, LOL, so this is really old :-)  Pat in SNJ
 

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