I spoke last year at GOLD Lactation on When Breast Isn’t Best. I talked about when, why and how breastfeeding can be challenging for sexual trauma survivors. But for GOLD Lactation 2019 (which happened a few weeks ago) I talked about the next step: how to deal with challenging patients. (I make this association because challenging patients are often trauma survivors who struggle with trust.) The 2019 talk came about because last year’s participants asked for hands-on support, strategies and help as their next steps toward trauma sensitizing their practice.

My 2019 talk is in direct service to that request. Because that’s what we all do, right? We serve people. Like, right now, I am here serving you. You are spending time reading this post because you feel as if it might help you do your good work, better in some way. (Thanks for being here, by the way.)

But the idea of service and serving others through our work can be easy to forget. We are constantly bombarded with information, new research, best practices & evidence-based interventions. It’s easy to forget that behind all of the science is people.

People.

Not a diagnosis, condition or situation.

A human being.

A real person.

They may be your patient or client but they are still a real person.

We are each here because we serve people. And if you’re not, then what is your purpose? Maybe that’s your challenge for the day or week you read this. To really consider what your purpose is.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below.

P.S. In case you didn’t get a chance to get to GOLD Lactation 2019, I wanted to share a brief interview with me about my talk and a bit of what I touched on. I hope it serves your purpose in some way. Click here for the interview over at YouTube by GOLD. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter for even more video, audio and practical strategies.