Birth Story Medicine®

"When I was a young nurse-midwife, certified but not yet initiated by the power of birth itself, I used to teach 'fantasy birth' classes.  In labor, I had a profound awakening and vowed to tell the truth and to bring change to how women are prepared for birth. While on the cesarean operating table, I realized that the naive positivity and promises I believed (and taught) were the seed for my own rapidly manifesting emotional birth shock, trauma, and postpartum depression. I sought counseling from a midwife, cesarean support group, and therapist, but found only superficial listening. This prompted me to earn a Masters in Psychology /Counseling from Antioch University, with an emphasis on perinatal issues and group dynamics.

"Eight years of searching for answers and self-acceptance had passed since my initiation through birth; after meeting many teachers and authors and participating in conferences and ceremonies, I had a second epiphany which made me laugh out loud:   'All this time I thought I had to heal my birth, but now I see my birth healed me.'  Perhaps this was the pivotal moment I morphed from the seek to a wounded healer."

Thus began Pam's now three-decade-long devotion to the study of emotional birth trauma and the development of the Birth Story Medicine philosophy and process that has helped many find their way "home" to self-acceptance and self-compassion following their initiation through childbirth or birth work.

Following the publication of her best-selling book, Birthing From Within, Pam created a profound movement in multi-sensory, holistic, and mindful childbirth preparation and developed the concept of childbirth mentoring (versus teaching).