Tideshifts is a year-long, virtual container for midwives and student midwives practicing in any setting in any location. Thoughtfully designed to build a nourishing, collaborative, non-hierarchical collective, our time together will be spent learning, processing, and supporting each other. Far from being another “course” that spoon-feeds “expertise” to a group, the Tideshifts cohort will be a space of radical co-creation where each individual is celebrated as a source of inherent wisdom and strength. The cohort is kept intimate so that we can be authentically in relationship with each other, establishing connections that both feel safe enough to facilitate the deep work required of us and meaningful enough to sustain us long after the end of the program.
Our programming moves in 6-week rhythms wherein group sessions are alternated with weeks of 1:1 support. Rhythms are composed of four components: Currents, Estuaries, Harbors, and Shoals:
Currents
The first week of each rhythm, our Currents, allows us as a group to wrestle with clinical issues (such as, but not limited to, “management” of second stage of labor or premature rupture of membranes), the emotional and physical demands of midwifery (such as, but not limited to, dealing with loss and grief in birthwork or surviving horizontal violence in our places of work and education), and practical “business” concerns (such as, but not limited to, how to attract ideal clients or set boundaries). Every topic addressed during our Currents is responsively chosen according to the needs of the particular cohort. Occasional guest speakers will join us for Currents.
Estuaries
The third week of each rhythm, our Estuaries, we review cases together. Each member of the cohort is responsible for presenting one case for review per year. The focus is on supporting and processing whatever the presenter needs to be seen and integrated while nururingly encouraging critical thinking and growth for all of us. Whenever possible, cases will be thematically paired with the topic from that rhythm’s Currents.
Harbors
The fifth week of each rhythm, our Harbors, we will roundtable on a reading we have chosen by consensus-based decision making. Reading choices will be curated from a list of books that contextualize our practice of midwifery (such as Medical Bondage by Deirdre Cooper Owens or Killing The Black Body by Dorothy Roberts) or infuse it with a spirit of everyday abolition (such as Let This Radicalize You by Mariama Kaba or Radical Dharma by Jasmine Syedullah).
Shoals
The second, fourth, and sixth and final week of each rhythm, known as Shoals, provide a third of the cohort to have 1:1 mentorship sessions with Robina. Each member receives 1 Shoals session with Robina every 6 weeks for a total of 8 sessions over the course of the year.
Tideshift members also receive access to a private Slack community to further deepen our connections and support for one another, and discounts to in-person birthworker retreats, the first of which is tentatively scheduled for Fall 2024.
