Dear Members,
Our jubilee meeting is now 4 weeks ago and the year is rapidly coming to an end.
We would like to take a look back with you at the year and the anniversary meeting in November, which kept us very busy.
We would like to thank Swen Galster, Sven Hildebrandt and Ludwig Janus, who were very active in the planning group and contributed to the success of this anniversary event!
We would also like to thank Katrin Wahl, who made the presentation of the past presidents worthy.
Even though some technical difficulties were encountered, we look back gratefully and happily on the online event that was produced in Stolpen. We have also entered a new dimension of online possibilities and hope that you at home have also benefited from the special and lively form of the event.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the translators who ensured the success of the event on an international level. We have evaluated the experiences we were able to gather and they will be taken into account in future conferences. All presentations will be written down in articles and published in a conference volume/yearbook.
We will organise the jubilee celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Society, which had to be postponed, when there is more external planning certainty again! The good old German saying “postponed is not abandoned” should guide us here.
We look back to an eventful year: our online events, both within the association and the symposia in various cooperations, had a very good response! One week after our anniversary meeting, the APPPAH Conference took place online and also the annual meeting of ENCA (European Network for Childbirth Associations). In the annual reports of the individual countries it became clear that the restrictions that were introduced for pregnancy (mainly lack of live or online courses) were introduced across Europe and are still maintained today. This also includes the restrictions on childbirth (partner may not be present or only partially present).
Johanna Schacht stepped down as head of the extended board at the end of the year. Paula Diederichs has thankfully taken over on a provisional basis for the next year. We would like to thank Johanna Schacht in particular for her many years of service and commitment in the office as well as on the Executive Board, where she worked with dedication for many years. During her time in the office as “Secretary” she set standards for good member-oriented advice and wrote regular, scientifically oriented and researched newsletters.
Swen Galster is leaving the office at the end of the year to pursue his primary professional goals and visions. The Executive Board would like to thank Swen Galster for his outstanding commitment, which went far beyond the tasks of the office. He had taken over tasks of the treasurer in 2017 after Wolfgang Bott had resigned. In addition, he took over tasks of the secretary, Galina Tcyganok, as she went on maternity leave. In 2018, he was provisionally appointed as secretary by the General Assembly. With the beginning of the new legislature in 2019, Kola Brönner officially succeeded Galina Tcyganok. In spring 2020, Elfi Elliot officially took over the position of treasurer. Swen Galster has been instrumental in designing and programming the new website and leading the way in our board work with his suggestions, ideas and critical questions. His focus was and is on the goals of the association and its future viability. Apart from the many small and large details, we will miss him very much in this task. We wish him all the best and much success for his plans!
Announcements /Events in the ISPPM:
Amara Eckert has launched “online networking meetings” and “online lectures”, following the activities of APPPAH — our American partner organisation.
The online networking meetings on different topics are open to all members and initially planned once or twice a month. Registration takes place via the homepage. For the first meetings we have approached topic moderators. For all further networking meetings, you as an ISPPM member are invited to offer a networking exchange on a specific topic of your choice, which belongs to the topics and statutes of the association. Please send us an email with your proposed topic: amara.eckert@h‑da.de and kola.broenner@isppm.de . We will collect the topics, which we will then put together in chronological order and announce.
Unfortunately, the first networking meeting announced for 19 December 2021 with the topic “The pre- and perinatal perspective in (psycho)therapeutic and pedagogical work with children” has to be postponed to 9.1.2022, 15.30 — 17.00.
Another networking meeting will be offered by Prof. Dr. Otwin Linderkamp with the topic “Despite Corona: Physical contact of premature and mature newborns with their mothers is vital!” probably still in January. You will find the date soon on the homepage.
Furthermore, monthly online lectures will be offered from January. The first lecture with subsequent discussion and Q&A session will be offered on 24.1. from 17.00 ‑18.15 by Hakan Coker with the topic “Birth Education and Birth Teams”. Dr. Hakan Coker is a gynaecologist, obstetrician and birth educator at the Istanbul Birth Academy /TR, which he founded together with his wife Nese Karabekir. After his lecture at our anniversary conference, we were approached by some participants for another and, above all, longer event with the possibility of discussion. We are pleased that Dr. Coker is now offering this opportunity. German translation will be provided.
All events are free of charge for members, for non-members a fee will be charged.
Announcement of the 2022 International Meeting:
Olga Gouni and Nese Karabekir have created a world-wide organising team that is planning a new and forward-looking concept of a Global Conference 6–9 October 2022. In addition to the online conference (Prenatal science partnership — global conference) in October, there will be activities and offerings throughout the year. Topic “Prenatal sciences, the human-earth connection and life substainability” Again, all members are invited to actively participate with practical, theoretical and creative contributions!
This conference will be held in English and may be translated regionally.
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And now we would like to thank all of you who support and enable the aims and work of the association with your membership!
We look forward to your suggestions and to a creative and active new year!
On behalf of the Board, we wish you and your loved ones a blessed Christmas and all the best for 2022!
Amara R. Eckert and Kola B. Brönner
Appendix:
Books, films, radio programmes and online lectures (further education of members on the homepage).
L. Janus: Link to the Handbook of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology http://www.springer.com/978–3‑030–41716‑1
L. Janus: Link to the Symposium Homo foetalis 2019 http://geburtserfahrung.de/homo-foetalis-et-sapiens
Ludwig Janus (2021): Mundus foetalis. The prenatal dimension in history and social consciousness. Heidelberg. Mattes
“Mundus foetalis” is a recent addition to the book “Homo foetalis et sapiens”, which presents and explains the persistence of foetal experience in humans themselves, i.e. in each of us.
Artur R. Boelderl, Peter Widmer (eds.) (2021): Von den Schwierigkeiten, zur Welt zu kommen Transdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf die Geburt. Giessen. Psychosozial Publishing House. With contributions by Dagmar Ambass, Artur R. Boelderl, Mikel Dufrenne, Annemarie Hamad, Ludwig Janus, Jacques-Alain Miller, Catherine-Olivia Moser, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernhard Schwaiger, Antonia Stulz and Peter Widmer.
Nicole Strüber (2021): Coronakids: What we need to do now to protect our children from the mental consequences of the pandemic. Weinheim. Beltz
G. Bekhman, J. Turner, T. Turner, O. Gouni (2021): The phenomenon of violence from domestic to global. From pre-conception to after-birth and beyond. 3rd revised edition. Redmi note 9
Presentation by Jane English:
Experiential Meaning of a Cesarean Birth with the great pioneer of “Born Cesarean” research Jane English, Ph.D. Lecture and extensive discussion of the topic on 29 January 2021 from 15.00 — 17.00 at the Institute of Prenatal Psychology and Medicine, Heidelberg. “Stories from a Journey through a Different Doorway. An illustrated lecture on almost fifty years of exploring the implications of having been born non-labor cesarean”.
DVD: Ludwig Janus: What I would still like to say … I have so much to tell. Klaus Evertz in conversation with Ludwig Janus: The experiential meaning of birth and prenatal experiences. 2 DVDs Auditorium Network 2021
“Today, however, the time is ripe for an integrating summary of this so extensive but still dissociated knowledge. Ludwig Janus, with his psychotherapeutic background, has helped to understand and shape these scientific developments in recent decades, as has Klaus Evertz, with his art-therapeutic background. Dr. med. Ludwig Janus”
The dark side of surrogacy
WDR 5 Radio ‚Programme “Lebenszeichen
Broadcast from 01.08.2021, 29:03 minutes
Author: Ayşegül Acevit
Editor: Doro Vogel
The mother-child relationship begins long before birth. Surrogate motherhoods deny this bond. Ethically controversial, they are banned in Germany — but have become a billion-dollar business model worldwide. What are the consequences of this commercialisation?
Is it permissible to do everything possible to father a child? What do religions have to say about this and what kind of creation of human beings do we want to be responsible for?
Listen to the radio programme (available until 30.07.2022):
www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr5/sendungen/lebenszeichen/leihmutterschaft-100.html.
Full manuscript of the program:
www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr5/sendungen/lebenszeichen/leihmutterschaft-104.pdf
ARD, Dokus im Ersten
Wished Child from Kiev
A film by Bettina Wobst (Ukrainian surrogate mothers)
Around 15 percent of all German couples are involuntarily childless. According to German law, the only option for them is adoption or a foster child, but many do not want to accept this because reproductive medicine now makes much more possible.
The report accompanies a German couple travelling to Ukraine to collect their child. Filmmaker Bettina Wobst asks: How does this business with baby happiness work? Who are the surrogate mothers who speak confidently about why they sell their bodies? What problems do the intended parents in Germany have to deal with? And what future awaits their dream child from Kiev?
Watch the film (43:27 minutes, available until 19.04.2022):
www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/dokus/sendung/wunschkind-aus-kiew-100.html
References to video lectures of the APPPAH: www.birthpsychlogogy.com ,
There on Learning Center: Frontiers in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology, APPPAH’S Prenatal and Perinatal Learning Center (birthpsychology.com).
- 40 Years of Scientific Discoveries with Dr.Thomas Verny, MD Founder of APPPAH, 5‑part Lecture
Series
- Essential Teachings in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology with William Emerson, PhD
The Leading Edge Institute by Kate White is back online: Leading Edge Online Series | Prenatal and Perinatal Healing Online (teachable.com) “What is a “Leading Edge”? Simply put, the “leading edge” is a term coined by Ray Castellino that means a primary therapeutic window for healing and repatterning imprints that are overwhelming, and running unconsciously in our lives. While working in our leading edge, we can bridge and integrate the energy that has been frozen or encapsulated in our bodies with the skills of presence, conscious awareness and the bodily, felt sense. You can learn to recognise your leading edge, and gain skills and practice to change the pattern!”