Last month, my fellow Student Midwives and I had the privilege to plan and host a midwifery conference, something that all final year student midwives are required to do. It was titled ‘Enabling Vulnerable Women’, and we discussed how the midwifery profession can continue to provide the best care for women who have more complex needs. It was attended by all the midwifery students, including the new cohort starting in September and was supported by our lecturers.
We invited a variety of guest speakers. These included amazing senior midwives from our local hospitals and Elaine Hanzak, an amazing speaker and author. She spoke about her experience with severe mental health problems following the birth of her son and how she recovered. The whole crowd were moved by her powerful speech and it really taught us the impact health professionals can have on individuals.
Some of the speakers also included the actual third year students who spoke about interesting topics such as maternal suicide, domestic abuse and substance misuse.
The day was very emotional yet mentally stimulating, and I think we all learnt a lot. It was also a very proud moment for us all as we had organised the whole events by ourselves. Everyone who attended was very supportive and it was really helpful. It was such a great opportunity to organise a conference like this.
It also taught us a lot of skills that will help us to achieve the attributes of a Staffordshire Graduate. We had to organise our time effectively by ensuring room bookings and speakers were booked, whilst also trying to create invitations and discuss topics to be spoken about on the day. These are just some of the things we had to do, whilst also trying to do our assignments…nonetheless, we did it! I really think it is a great opportunity to be able to do this as it really helped to bring our whole cohort together, whilst sharing our knowledge with each other!
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