Guiding Principles
Sovereignty
Every individual has the right to be respected and supported to be their best, most powerful selves. Personal growth and development occur over our lifetimes, but pregnancy, labor, and birth provide us with a unique opportunity to explore ourselves on a deep level, heal past trauma, and give birth to ourselves. We believe in the shared human values of justice, mercy, and humility when caring for each and every individual.
Matriarchal Power
Our matriarchal ancestors have been guiding the ongoing birth of humanity since the beginning of time. This guidance is how we are all here. Society today has cast a shadow of capitalist patriarchy governing our bodies but pregnancy, labor, birth and family must be returned to the timeless tradition of matriarchal care. We believe in the empowerment of birthing individuals and their families through pregnancy, labor, birth, lactation, and childrearing and in female leadership, self-determination, autonomy, and decision-making.
Honoring our Past
Midwifery has a long herstory in our community, our country, and the world. Midwives are brave, smart, and heroic, as are the people they serve. We are one midwifery spirit, incarnated into millions of bodies over time, whose life purpose is to persistently work to create a safe, healthy supportive environment where we can feel hopeful, purposeful, and accomplished while honoring our brave, hardworking spirits and those spirits who came before us. We must acknowledge that Washington D.C. sits on the ancestral lands of the Anacostans, Nacotchtank, Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples.
Birth Justice and Equity
All pregnant and birthing individuals deserve access to culturally relevant midwifery-led, innovative, and evidence-based care. Diverse midwives serve diverse clients and are unified by our commitment to quality, safety, equity, and compassion. Honoring the autonomy of midwives and the people they serve and respecting the choices they make enhances access to quality care. We believe that racial justice and health equity can be achieved through radical community engagement, leadership, and shared, non-hierarchical governance.
Evidence-Based Practice
The WISDOM Collaborative is committed to evidence-based clinical practice. We also firmly believe that science evolves to find reason for the knowledge already held within us. We acknowledge and honor that midwifery is a magical blending of Art and Science, imbued by trust in our foremothers and our clients. We believe in honoring the wisdom of the ancient art of midwifery care while blending it with evidence-based practice of the 21st century. The WISDOM Pearls for Physiologic Birth are the evidence-based clinical strategies we use to promote optimal labor and birth outcomes. The Patterns of Labor is an innovative midwifery approach to honoring the process of labor and fact that this process has no timelines.
WISDOM Midwifery also believes in evidence-based, sustainable administrative practices that support client and provider wellness. We balance our use of time with an economic model that includes fair salaries and labor practices, with all midwives rewarded for their longevity and commitment to the model. Honest, innovative risk management strategies keep our clients and our providers informed, balanced, and well. See our Agreement of Shared Risk.
Optimal Nourishment
We know that the foods we eat and the thoughts we feed our brains are the foundation of our existence. We believe that every human deserves access to, and education about, optimal nourishment of the mind, body, and spirit. The Wisdom Collaborative emphasizes well-being that centers around whole food, conscious breath, and intentional movement. We are devoted to partnering with and supporting local farmers, CSA's, and DC's urban food collectives so that they can grow and revitalize our nation's communities.
See our WISDOM Midwifery Guidelines for Optimal Nourishment, Movement, and Lifestyle
Collaboration
“Collaboration” comes from the Latin root “collaborare” which means ”to labor together”. Collaboration across professional disciplines, cultural divides, geographic lines, and personal preferences yields the best outcomes in all settings. In the WISDOM Collaborative, midwifery care is expanded to include all midwives: CNMs, CPMs, and empirical midwives. A diverse group of birth worker providers working at their highest skill set is able to best serve a diverse clientele. Midwives consult and collaborate with our pediatric, Ob-Gyn, MFM, and many other partners to optimize outcomes.