Description
My name is Kimberley Jones and I am one of the Midwifery Lecturers at Birmingham City University. I feel very honoured to be able to provide a reference for Helen in support of her application for the role of Associate Professor. In 2016 I commenced my undergraduate degree as a Midwifery student at BCU and was lucky enough to have Helen as one of my lecturers. In 2024 not long after commencing my role at BCU as an assistant lecturer Helen rejoined BCU as is now one of my colleagues who undoubtedly goes above and beyond to support her team, encouraging and supporting in our development with both research, teaching practices, internal projects and outreach programmes. I am very grateful for all the support Helen has offered to me during my time at the university as both a student midwife and now as Midwifery lecturer.Nishkam Civic Association:
Helen has supported with the creation of a positive professional relationship between Birmingham City University and the Nishkam Civic Association working within Birmingham. The Nishkam association was commenced in 2023 and provides Antenatal/ parent education classes to women and their families across Birmingham with support from funding by the Integrated Care Board. Helen and I, have had the pleasure of meeting with the Nishkam group on several occasions to arrange for BCU lecturers to attend Nishkam to volunteer hours supporting and running Antenatal classes. Helen has also liaised with Nishkam to arrange elective placements for a number of our second-year student midwives to experience education classes and services provided to some of the most deprived families in Birmingham. As well as antenatal classes, Niskham also provide free dental, pharmacy, mental health services and childcare. All of which students during their elective placements can rotate around for further exposure and increased learning opportunities. During our regular meetings Helen has also taken the initiative and opportunity to share the research findings around the use of the Snugby. Early thoughts and ideas have been around the creation of a Snugby library for women at Nishkam to use a Snugby and return it to the association for future women to utilise. Furthermore, Helen has aided in advocating for the promotion and continuation of skin to skin between mother’s and their babies to enable relationship building and increased breastfeeding success rates for women living in Birmingham. Allowing some of our most vulnerable mothers and families to benefit from this low-level intervention.
From the professional relationship that Helen has formed between the university and the Niskham association, we have also been fortunate enough to invite Niskham service users to the university to take part in Module assessment meetings and student assessments. This has greatly advantaged the Midwifery lecturing team in order to meet the requirements set out by the Nursing and Midwifery Council for service user input and involvement in the Midwifery programme and curriculum development.
| Period | 2024 → … |
|---|---|
| Held at | Nishkam , United Kingdom |
| Degree of Recognition | Local |