AIMS Journal Vol 34 No 2 The Sound of Violence

Page 44

Each ‘task’ in the book is clearly explained by individual artists, poets and writers and full of inspiring examples and illustrations. The directions lead you step by step and even have prompts to help you over the hump of writer’s block or feeling stuck for artistic ideas. It starts with a simple ‘list poem’ – all you need is a pen and some paper and not much time. Ideal for a new mother but also a highly effective way to engage with your thoughts and suppressed feelings. Poet, Holly McNish, urges you to write ‘uncensored’ responses to open questions which help you access the deeper recesses of your mind. Other suggestions are more colourful, such as Laura Godfrey-Isaacs’ ‘automatic drawing’ session. The idea is to make art, drawing from your subconscious. Laura helps you tap into meaningful memories, thoughts or feelings and transform these into colourful representations; a swirl of lines or shapes, layered with collage or decorative washes or patterns – whatever takes your fancy. She encourages this to be abstract – a free-form response that liberates you from the need to be precise or skilful, rather than a faithful representation. A more playful option that I loved was Machine Me, by Pia Jaime. She suggests making a collage of magazine images to create a mother machine – a sort of robot that performs all the tasks expected of a mother - cleaner/lover/gardener/ therapist, etc,. You will end up with something that looks like a human Swiss Army knife, with a part for every demand. The image left me feeling simultaneously proud and exhausted, which is fairly accurate I suppose. There are more targeted activities to help address specific problems, such as ‘pain drawings’, where you’re encouraged to create an image of your pain; give it shape and colour and externalise the experience. As well as being accessible for individuals to use, this book includes some really good resources for anyone wishing to set up a maternal mental wellbeing journaling group. And despite the project’s origin in supporting maternal mental wellbeing, I really think that this book could be used by anybody because the concept is so broad and applicable to any stage of life. I love the quotations from inspiring writers, including Sylvia Plath. Susan Sontag sums up the value of journaling perfectly: ‘In the journal, I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself.’ Reviewer Keren Williams is a midwife and mother of 22 year old twins.

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AIMS JOURNAL, Vol 34 No 2, 2022

AIMS Campaigns Team Update - Continuity of Carer Implementation: always seeking to move forward In this update, the AIMS Campaigns Team explains how we have been working with others this year to support the implementation of Continuity of Carer. AIMS looks forward to a time when we no longer talk much about a continuity of carer model of care, because this will be the standard model of care offered to all women and families.We take the opportunity here to summarise why this is so important for us.

AIMS has been campaigning for ‘continuity of carer’ for many years now, but since the beginning of 2022, we have been working with other charities and service user advocates [1] to bring focus to this most important of maternity services improvement topics. AIMS believes that the focused care of ‘a midwife for me and my baby’ is an essential foundation for truly safe, personalised and equitable maternity care. This midwife is the ‘key account holder’ for each of us seeking to access and navigate what can sometimes feel like extremely complex modern maternity services. As our pregnancy, birth and postnatal journey unfolds, it is in the context of our relationship with this midwife that our decisions about the care we wish to receive will be best informed and best made. This highly-trained midwife, with an excellent ability to signpost us to the information we need, should have the autonomy to work in a way that recognises our individuality and all that we bring, with the full support of a multi-professional team and wider organisation. You can see what this model of care looks like from a service-user perspective here. This, for AIMS, is the crux - the foundation of each of the maternity transformation programmes underway across the UK, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is only by offering someone to walk alongside us, for our whole journey, that a safe service can be truly received, based on the best possible understanding of us and our needs. AIMS recognises that this transformation is not a light undertaking. It requires a commitment to radical

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Articles inside

Placing the Ockenden Report in context

3min
page 50

An Introduction to AIMS Position Papers – Birth Activist Update

3min
page 49

Our key priorities for 2022/23

2min
page 48

to move forward

6min
pages 44-45

Respectful Vaginal Examinations Project – Co-Production in Action

6min
pages 41-42

birth and beyond by Laura Godfrey-Isaacs and Samantha McGowan, Illustrations by Merlin Evans

3min
page 43

Labour of Love: The Ultimate Guide to Being a Birth Partner

6min
pages 39-40

Continuing to Push for Midwifery Continuity of Carer

6min
pages 46-47

The Ritual of Body Shaming

6min
pages 35-36

Emotional Freedom Techniques for Obstetric Violence

12min
pages 31-34

Obstetric Violence – What is it?

12min
pages 8-11

This Hurts: how the media portrays childbirth matters

16min
pages 26-30

Guilty

8min
pages 18-20

Obstetric Violence: Where is the Law?

8min
pages 23-25

Birth Without Violence: a reflection

4min
pages 21-22

Newborn resuscitation without violence

13min
pages 14-17

action

5min
pages 12-13

The label of ‘high risk’: the promise of gentle and attentive care, or a first violence in pregnancy?

13min
pages 4-7
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