Midwifing student midwives: Student Midwife Support Circles as ritual practice
The challenges facing midwifery students which lead to burnout and attrition are well evidenced, as are mitigation strategies aimed at building resilience and reducing stress. An innovative practice developed to address these issues is the implementation of monthly Student Midwife Support Circles (SMSC) as a co-curricular activity open to midwifery students of all year levels. SMSC are facilitated by a known midwifery academic and provide a regular, supportive, nurturing, student-focussed space for debrief and connection. Each session centres on a topic (e.g. communication or challenges in practice) and students are invited to sit together in circle to engage in a semi-structured but flexible session comprised of a variety of activities including guided meditation, craft and storytelling. The SMSC concept has several objectives: to facilitate peer support; build a sense of belonging and professional identity; and develop resilience, self-efficacy and reflection. The creation and cultivation of a space, such as the SMSC, that develops self-care and compassion for selves and others has the potential to minimise burnout and compassion fatigue experienced by midwifery students. Together these components are integrated in a way that facilitates the creation of sacred space through ritual practice. This is primary to the underpinning conceptual framework of the SMSC that considers the student journey into a professional role as a ‘rite of passage’.
The enactment of rituals creates stability during this time of transition and the rituals convey the values and beliefs inherent in the new role. Participating in SMSC, exposes students to role modelling of essential midwifery skills such as: practicing presence; acknowledging the spiritual nature of rites of passage (childbirth); and developing the skills to ‘hold space’ for those in the liminal space. In addition the SMSC provides the space and tools to keep students grounded in their liminality in a safe and compassionate manner. This presentation will explore the concept of SMSC; and share both personal experiences of facilitation along with evaluations from SMSC participants. It will offer an alternate framework for clinical support and debrief that is easily transferable for use in other contexts.