Women of colour are at far more risk of serious complications during pregnancy and childbirth through factors relating to racism, sexism, income inequality, and a lack of access to resources. This invaluable guide equips birth workers with the training and knowledge to provide holistic, person-centred care for their clients of all backgrounds. You'll learn how to serve the specific needs of your clients, how to advocate for them as they navigate the challenges many black and brown women face, and how to understand your client's pain points whilst also nourishing yourself and maintaining a good business structure. Your emotional and spiritual wellbeing as a birth worker is of vital importance and this guide will nourish you in your training just as you learn how to support and advocate for others. It will provide several options on business structures so you may cater to clients from all backgrounds and also includes pre- and post-birth grounding techniques for you, your clients, and their families.
This guide provides vital training for doulas and birth workers looking to holistically support clients of colour and their families through their pregnancy and birthing journey. It provides guidance on how to advocate for clients whilst including important advice on maintaining a good business structure and looking after yourself.
The Social Determinants of Mental Health aims to fill the gap that exists in the psychiatric, scholarly, and policy-related literature on the social determinants of mental health: those factors stemming from where we learn, play, live, work, and age that impact our overall mental health and well-being. The editors and an impressive roster of chapter authors from diverse scholarly backgrounds provide detailed information on topics such as discrimination and social exclusion; adverse early life experiences; poor education; unemployment, underemployment, and job insecurity; income inequality, poverty, and neighborhood deprivation; food insecurity; poor housing quality and housing instability; adverse features of the built environment; and poor access to mental health care. This thought-provoking book offers many beneficial features for clinicians and public health professionals: Clinical vignettes are included, designed to make the content accessible to readers who are primarily clinicians and also to demonstrate the practical, individual-level applicability of the subject matter for those who typically work at the public health, population, and/or policy level. Policy implications are discussed throughout, designed to make the content accessible to readers who work primarily at the public health or population level and also to demonstrate the policy relevance of the subject matter for those who typically work at the clinical level. All chapters include five to six key points that focus on the most important content, helping to both prepare the reader with a brief overview of the chapter's main points and reinforce the "take-away" messages afterward. In addition to the main body of the book, which focuses on selected individual social determinants of mental health, the volume includes an in-depth overview that summarizes the editors' and their colleagues' conceptualization, as well as a final chapter coauthored by Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, that serves as a "Call to Action," offering specific actions that can be taken by both clinicians and policymakers to address the social determinants of mental health. The editors have succeeded in the difficult task of balancing the individual/clinical/patient perspective and the population/public health/community point of view, while underscoring the need for both groups to work in a unified way to address the inequities in twenty-first century America. The Social Determinants of Mental Health gives readers the tools to understand and act to improve mental health and reduce risk for mental illnesses for individuals and communities. Students preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will also benefit from this book, as the MCAT in 2015 will test applicants' knowledge of social determinants of health. The social determinants of mental health are not distinct from the social determinants of physical health, although they deserve special emphasis given the prevalence and burden of poor mental health.
There is a global crisis in maternal health care for black women. In the United States, black women are over three times more likely to perish from pregnancy-related complications than white women; their babies are half as likely to survive the first year. Many black women experience policing, coercion, and disempowerment during pregnancy and childbirth and are disconnected from alternative birthing traditions. This book places black women's voices at the center of the debate on what should be done to fix the broken maternity system and foregrounds black women's agency in the emerging birth justice movement. Mixing scholarly, activist, and personal perspectives, the book shows readers how they too can change lives, one birth at a time.
"Move over, Lamaze. HypnoBirthers say their form of deep relaxation takes the panting and pain out of labor." -Time Magazine HypnoBirthing®: A Celebration of Life Childbirth is not something to be feared; it is a natural expression of life. With HypnoBirthing, your pregnancy and childbirth will become the gentle, life-affirming process it was meant to be. In this easy-to-understand guide, HypnoBirthing founder Marie Mongan explodes the myth of pain as a natural accompaniment to birth. She proves through sound medical information that it is not our bodies but our culture that has made childbirth a moment of anguish, and that when we release the fear of birth, a fear that is keeping our bodies tense and closed, we will also release the pain. HypnoBirthing is nature, not manipulation. It relaxes the mind in order to let the body work as it is designed. The HypnoBirthing exercises—positive thinking, relaxation, visualization, breathing and physical preparation—will lead to a happy and comfortable pregnancy, even if you are currently unsure of an intervention-free birth. Your confidence, trust and happy anticipation will in turn lead to the peaceful, fulfilling and bonding birth that is your right as a mother. More than 10,000 happy couples have had their lives changed for the better by HypnoBirthing. More than 500 news organizations—including Good Morning America, The Today Show, Dateline, The Richard & Judy Show, Time, Newsweek, Parenting and Better Homes & Gardens—have joined the movement for better birthing. Why is HypnoBirthing changing the way the world gives birth? That's simple. Because it works.
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities. Patients' and providers' attitudes, expectations, and behavior are analyzed. How to intervene? Unequal Treatment offers recommendations for improvements in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of language translation, community-based care, and other arenas. The committee highlights the potential of cross-cultural education to improve provider-patient communication and offers a detailed look at how to integrate cross-cultural learning within the health professions. The book concludes with recommendations for data collection and research initiatives. Unequal Treatment will be vitally important to health care policymakers, administrators, providers, educators, and students as well as advocates for people of color.
"The 4th edition of Maternal and Child Health will continue to offer a comprehensive, trusted introduction to the field of Maternal and Child Health, however this new edition, with a new author team and new MCH expert contributors, will present the traditional MCH topics in a modern context that addresses race/ethnicity, an expanded family focus (including fathers), and a broadened approach that will appeal not only to public health professionals, but also to health professionals outside public health practice"--
In Mama Glow, maternity lifestyle maven Latham Thomas shares the tips and techniques to support a blissful journey to motherhood. She shows you how to make room for your pregnancy, assess your current diet, banish toxic habits, and incorporate yoga to keep your mind, body, and spirit in balance. Throughout, you’ll get tips to help reduce stress; alleviate common discomforts; demystify birth plans, labor coaches, and midwives; whip up pampering treats like homemade shea butter and coffee sugar scrub; and indulge in over 50 delicious, nutrient-rich recipes to nourish both you and your "bun." Mama Glow also features a postpartum wellness plan to guide you back to your prebaby body, troubleshoot breastfeeding problems, and embrace your abundant new life. Mama Glow includes: • Illustrated exercises for a fit, fabulous, and comfortable pregnancy • Fleshed-out cleansing programs to boost fertility • A simple formula for deconstructing those crazy cravings • Yoga sequences designed for prepregnancy, each trimester, and postpartum • Checklists for your prenatal pantry, finding a birth coach, and packing your birth bag • Glow foods to help you snap back to your fab prebaby body As your certified glow pilot, Latham will guide you through every stage of your pregnancy, giving you practical advice to make your journey a joyful and vibrant one.
Breastfeeding. The mere mention of it has many mothers wracked with anxiety (how will I manage with work, other kids, what if I don't make enough milk?) or guilt about not doing it (will I be hurting my child if I choose not to breastfeed? what will people think of me if I choose not to?). This hot-button issue is one we've talked about repeatedly in the media and in celebrity culture. Remember when Angelina Jolie posed for the cover of W nursing her newborn? Oh, the controversy! And when Barbara Walters complained about the woman breastfeeding next to her on a plane? She was forced to issue a public apology. Or what about when supermodel Gisele Bunchen declared that there should be worldwide law that mothers be required to breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life? All hell broke loose. This topic gets people riled up, and there has never been a narrative account that explores the breastfeeding big picture for parents and their children in today's world. THE BIG LETDOWN by author, journalist, and breastfeeding advocate Kimberly Seals Allers will change that for the better and open up a candid conversation about the cultural, sociological, and economic forces that shape the breastfeeding culture and how it undermines women in the process.
“An essential book” on PTSD, an all-too-common condition in both military veterans and civilians (The New York Times Book Review). Post-traumatic stress disorder afflicts as many as 30 percent of those who have experienced twenty-first-century combat—but it is not confined to soldiers. Countless ordinary Americans also suffer from PTSD, following incidences of abuse, crime, natural disasters, accidents, or other trauma—yet in many cases their symptoms are still shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and shame. This “compulsively readable” study takes an in-depth look at the subject (Los Angeles Times). Written by a war correspondent and former Marine with firsthand experience of this disorder, and drawing on interviews with individuals living with PTSD, it forays into the scientific, literary, and cultural history of the illness. Using a rich blend of reporting and memoir, The Evil Hours is a moving work that will speak not only to those with the condition and to their loved ones, but also to all of us struggling to make sense of an anxious and uncertain time.
