Thanks, Anne, for your support. It's funny, but even though I'm geographically isolated (nearest LC for many years was 500 km (300 miles) away) I've always felt very connected with the breastfeeding community, both through LLL and through ILCA and the Canadian Lactation Consultant Association. I've been online for nearly four years (CompuServe) and enjoyed the contact with other LCs and Leaders on there (Pat Drazin and Cathy Genna both were wonderful resources and online friends and I'm delighted they are both here) but this list is a lot better, for the reasons I mentioned in a previous post addressing whether we are "professional" or not. I love the camraderie. I agree strongly with your comments about not creating barriers--I think the greatest thing about the LC profession is that it has helped immensely to break down the barriers between LLL Leaders and others working in the field (nurses, especially). We all realized, once we started meeting one another and actually talking TO each other, that each had expertise and that we could learn from one another. There seems to be an open-mindedness within this profession that isn't as noticeable in others, because we have come into it from such diverse backgrounds. There's a lot of creative thinking going on because of these different backgrounds--if everyone receives the same training there is less potential for this. Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC Peace River Breastfeeding Clinic Peace River Alberta, Canada