ADVANCING HEALTH-CARE PRACTICE





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5.3     Introduction

Module 4 ended with you thinking about what helps you to make changes in your own life. Looking at the conditions that support change is important for two reasons. First, the information presented in previous modules and the best practices discussed in this module may challenge you to make changes in your own practice. We know that traditional health care does work for some people, but for many women facing the specific issues that we have discussed in this workshop, contact with health care may have negative consequences. By and large, the people who choose different health professions do so in order to improve the health and well-being of their fellow human beings. It can be difficult to know that routine or stereotypical ways of thinking about issues or practice may have had the opposite effect for some patients. It can be additionally difficult to undertake any process of change without the support of colleagues, managers or institutions. The second reason is that the list you created is probably similar to what women who are pregnant or parenting in high risk situations say is helpful in making changes in their own lives. The following is a list created by a group of women struggling with their use of substances.

  • Choice in what is happening to them, and assistance in seeing and making choices
  • Respect and a sense of their basic dignity as human beings wherever they are in the using/recovery process
  • Absence of judgment or shaming about their behaviour
  • Understanding that they are doing the very best they can at the time
  • Interest and support in what they are trying to or would like to accomplish, and our support in accomplishing that
  • Information on using and recovery
  • An opportunity to connect with other women who share similar issues
  • Positive and honest mirroring
  • Accountability and compassion
  • Support in re-framing their behaviour
  • The opportunity to get rid of socially imposed shame
  • The opportunity to question and change old rules/roles
  • Validation that they can take care of themselves (Addiction Research Foundation, 1996/7)
Health-care providers can play an important role in providing the necessary supports in making changes. Pregnant women across British Columbia who sought services related to their substance use and health put professionals at the top of their list of supports:




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