Dream Journeys...

Dream Journeys...is a Professional Education Module for Midwives and psychotherapists interested in Prenatal Psychology. It teaches Imagination Methods with Elements of GA, NLP, ART & BA. The lecturer is Eva-Maria Mueller-Markfort, Grad. Midwife, Prenatal Psychologist and BOnding Analyst. 

Dream journeys:

A new way of caring for pregnant women, to further the prenatal relationship with the child, and to deepen the mother-child bonding process, adapted to the daily workload of the Midwife. The maternal maturation process can be supported in this way. Experience shows that both have a positive influence on the process of the pregnancy, the birthing process and the breastfeeding relationship. The founding of the family is made easier, to the contentment of the fathers as well!

Currency: 

Pregnancy and birth are being felt by most women as unsettling and frightening. Therefore more “easy solutions” like induction plus pain elimination up to a caesarean section are perceived as salvation, and as such promoted. In this way unfortunately the mother-child dyad is being disturbed, with serious consequences for the new born baby and the mother. The breastfeeding relationship will be greatly impaired, followed by more bonding problems. Many years of experience with 1:1 care given by the Tutor has shown that an early feeling of security by the Midwife  in the handling of the pregnancy, the unborn child and the mother will lead to a better physical and psychic health for both of them, and more work satisfaction for the Midwife

Aims:

In the clinical sector, a medical/surgical birth oriented handling of mothers and children is being taught. In the course of this further education programme Midwives will be able to acquire a different approach to pregnancy and childbirth. The participants will learn techniques and their implementation, to help pregnant women to develop their stress coping abilities and to reduce their fears, in order to gain more security in dealing with their bodies and their unborn child. This for instance can be seen as a preventive measure for a secondary caesarean section. The psychic and spiritual part of coming into being of mankind, much forgotten, is being put into the centre of the course. The newly acquired knowledge can be put into use immediately, and in this way gives a new sense to the Midwife for a more intensive prenatal care, and will deepen the Mother-Midwife relationship.
E.g early tentative contractions can be detected well in advance and understood as an early cry for help from the little child and therefore adequately addressed. Repeated US/echography will often be seen as unnecessary by mothers.

 

Dream Journeys… in brief

Dreams and their interpretation, seen as the royal path towards healing in therapy by Freud, are integral parts for many therapies. From here, Hanscarl Leuner has developed the use of day dreams and of imaginations, or inner pictures.
This type of work aims at two different levels of action: firstly, at the mother's with her own repressed problems, including earlier confinements, which will impede the access to her child, and secondly on the level of the early bonding with her little child.
Procedure: the client is lying down with closed eyes in a light trance-like condition, taking actively part in the event, e.g. she walks through a wood, climbs up a mountain etc. In this way, unconscious, repressed events from the past can be resolved on the symbolic level. In most cases, these will not stand any longer in the way of a good maturation process during pregnancy and birth, depending on how much time is being given until the baby’s birth.
As for the mother-child bonding, the inner contact with her child will be enhanced on a very deep level. The little child, as it is being noticed and addressed by the mother, develops a sense of its own autonomous person, and a feeling for the mother as protector and partner in its process of growing and maturing during pregnancy, and during the oncoming birth.
This type of work with pregnant women is particularly suited to Homebirth Midwives and independent Midwives offering prenatal care, in order to reduce certain pregnancy risks and to promote salutogenesis. It extends the range of our offer for care, especially as a counter weight to the medical-technical controlling function of doctors.
Basic knowledge of psychology is helpful, but will be communicated. Main part of this course will be practical exercises under the surveillance of the tutor. Midwives will learn a new dimension in their work, a deeper perception for the small, unborn child, its contentment and its fears, its utter confidence- “we will manage this together, mama”- and its deep knowledge of the things which affect its mother.
10 hours of self-awareness by regressional/prenatal therapists of their choice will be expected from the participants, in order to start learning to handle their own shortcomings. This will enable them to clear some of those unconscious parts which influence their daily work. Moreover it will help them to better understand the pregnant women and the little children, and their expectations and dependance in this very close relationship with their Midwife.
Let us bear in mind: it is our most noble duty as midwives not to deceive the confidence, which the women have in their midwife, but to honour it as a precious gift.

Dream Journeys… Date

PART I: 20-22 MARCH 2015

Theme: Positioning of the participants, basic psychology, introduction to Guided Affective Imagery, case studies, tutorials/exercises, reflection on theory-practice.
Learning target: Insight into psychological background, basic understanding and acquisition of imaginative techniques, first safety tools in application, limitation of application

PART II: 27-29 MARCH 2015
Theme: Feedback, supervision, consolidation of imaginative exercises, safety anchor, introduction into NLP, reflection on theory-practice
Learning target: Deepening knowledge of imaginative techniques, basic understanding of NLP, insight into prenatal psychology, understanding of maternal-infantine reactive correlation

PART III: 17-19 JULY 2015
Theme: Supervision, influence of the new techniques onto the relationship between the pregnant woman and the Midwife, introduction into Bonding Analysis, exercises, preparation tests
Learning target: Bonding Analysis (BA) for Midwives, reflection and critique of methods, more security in the application of the new techniques, positive self-evaluation, understanding of the necessity of self-reflective further development

PART IV: 4-6 SEPTEMBER 2015
Theme: Supervision, deepening of the imaginative techniques taught, evaluation, critics, repetition, final test
Learning target: Overview of knowledge and evaluation of the methods, greater understanding of the infantine independent existence, extended comprehension for the mental mother-child contact, building networks

PART V & PART VI: OCTOBER 2015
Theme:Further development and perfection of professional skills. Review of the final tests, proposals, tutorials, critics, future prospects
Learning target: Enhancement of the professional self-image and the psycho-social abilities, process consciousness, openness for methodical further advancement

General Information
Target group: Independent/Homebirth Midwives and similar professionals, psychologists, psychotherapists
Participants: Maximum 6 persons/ group
Education hours: In total: 18 hours each part, Total Learning Hours (inc self study: 55 hours/part) 
Schedule: Friday 11h00 – 18h00
Saturday 11h00 – 18h00
Sunday 9h00 - 13h00
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
CERTIFICATION: PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION CERTIFICATE issued by COSMOANELIXIS,
Prenatal & Life Sciences Educational Organization
FEE: 450 euros each part
For your registration send an email to education@cosmoanelixis.gr 

Teaching/Learning methods
Lecture, discussion, practical exercises, group discussion, presentation, participants` contribution, working groups, plenum
This further education course concludes with a final exam and the completion of a paper on a practical application gained during pregnancy and a final visit in the after birth period.
References and professional literature: Psychology, Guided Affective Imagery (Hanscarl Leuner), Mother-Child Bonding Analysis (Hidas/Raffai), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Ambulatory Regressional Therapy (ART)
The tutor will supply copies of resumees of NLP and ART, as well as various papers needed in the course of events.
Accredited by the German Health Authority of the County of Warendorf in accordance with the Professional Order for Midwives (§7 HebBO, NRW) with 18 points per part.
Recommended by DFH – German Professional Association for homebirth, www.dfh-hebammen.de

It awards 5 credits towards the Professional Postgraduate Certificate (PPC) Prenatal Psychology &/or the Professional Higher Education Certificate (PHEC) Prenatal Psychology offered by cosmoanelixis.

Eva-Maria Mueller-Markfort
Although a native German, Eva-Maria got a degree as Nurse-Midwife at Brussels Free University in 1968. Working in Belgium, France and Saudi Arabia, where her two children were born, enriched her knowledge about other cultures. Home birthing since 1992 back in Germany, she took on further education mainly on the psychological level to change the usual medicalized system of prenatal care in her daily work to ensure a better birthing outcome in cases of prenatal contractions and repeated or transgenerational caesareans. Co-Founder and President of the German Association for Homebirth (DFH), she engages herself to keep the old part of midwifery alive.