Here are a few pictures and thoughts shared from the @ussumidwifery ‏ conference ‘Resilience: Showing strength in the face of adversity #usmsconf17‘… Thank you to everyone who came to see the great speakers at this conference. It was a great honour to present my work alongside some of the wonderful researchers listed on this programme…Having spoken at many conferences, I can also say that these student midwives really know how to look after their guests….Thank you @rai_allan and @Midwife2bHarps..❤

Taken from The knitted midwife’s blog: ‘The Royal College of Midwives has highlighted that the UK is still short of 3500 midwives.  This is an update to the published report here.  The update to the report can be seen here. Whilst this is an improvement on the 5000 midwives needed three years ago, this chronic shortage adds to the pressures that midwives are facing every day in their working environment.  Additionally there is a ‘retirement time bomb’ as over a third of the current midwifery workforce is aged 50 or over.’…these knitted midwives represent the midwives missing from the workforce.

All of the speakers at this conference were indeed inspiring, but one message seemed to remain strong throughout…

”BUILD a tribe – don’t wait to find one’ – Prof Mavis Kirkham

Reminds me of the #Findyourflock story last year

We also had @bevlovemidwife from @121Midwives tell us to “find our tribe”

One of the most inspiring parts of the day was seeing student midwife Hannah Cook get a standing ovation at #usmsconf17 … the future of midwifery is bright…..She will be re presenting her talk at this year’s Iolanthe Midwifery‏ awards conference….If you can….get there!

I too feel as if being a midwife is what I am…I also feel that it is written through me like a piece of rock. It is my professional identity. But having resilience as a midwife is not about ‘toughening up’ as @SagefemmeSB puts it…..

I am not even sure if resilience is the right word for what we are talking about here… Resilience is not a magic pill!

The most interesting conversations of the day in my opinion were around the ethics of caring for midwives, and bullying. There is still so much more to do….and I still see uncaring behaviors taking place. Are we an insecure profession?…trying that much harder to prove ourselves?…or are we embittered by another pill too difficult to swallow?…one this is for sure…

Thank you to everyone who engaged in my presentation and to those who continue to engage as my work as it continues…

If you would like to follow the progress of my work going forward..

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other ❤