Course Syllabus

Course Number: SCBW

Course Title: Self Care for Birth Workers

Course Description: Self Care for Birth Workers is an introductory course that provides practical advice to help birth workers meet the unique challenges of their work with resiliency and a sense of internal nervous system regulation. It draws on the teachings of Somatic Experiencing, a type of healing that is based on studies of how animals deal with trauma in the wild and making direct connections with the inherent understanding of the nervous system that most birth workers have gained through their experiences of attending births.  It offers simple exercises to guide birth workers to tap into the innate capacity of their own nervous systems, continually increasing their ability to meet difficult situations while calibrating their internal landscape with ease.

Learning Objectives:

1. Introduction to Resilience
2. Introduction to Somatic Experiencing
3. Learning who established the modern teaching of Somatic Experiencing
4. Know the connection between the nervous system and resiliency
5. Introduction to the Autonomic Nervous System
6. Tuning into Body Sensations
7. Learn 4 Somatic Experiencing tools:
   1. Create a Reminder for Yourself
   2. Overview Scan
   3. Take Time to Focus In
   4. Putting Words to Sensations

Learning Activities: 

1. Practice  Four Somatic Experiencing tools:
   1. Create a Reminder for Yourself
   2. Overview Scan
   3. Take Time to Focus In
   4. Putting Words to Sensations
2. Complete 4 step Self-Reflection Activity
   1. Resource
   2. Exploring the Activation
   3. Holding Opposites
   4. Release