Jodie Palmer

I have felt similar to most of our students at MCU, in that I’ve always known that midwifery was part of my soul.  However, through the years, I have come to understand that my role as a midwife is much different than I had ever anticipated. 

I had always thought that if I was a midwife that meant having an active practice catching babies.  However, I have since learned that midwifery is a much broader calling than just catching babies.  A midwife finds herself standing at the crossroads of new birth—the birth of new lives, new hearts, new minds, new courage.  A midwife is a caretaker of change, a knowing companion along the path of newness. 

My experience as a midwife, in the greater sense, has taken me along this path.  It is a path that inspires in me a serious sense of responsibility to always be “becoming” myself, to always be experiencing growth, change, and newness in my own life. 

It is also a path that brings me a great sense of joy and fulfillment.  I feel that I am following my unique purpose in being at the “crossroads of change.” 

Even though I chose not to complete my formal midwifery training, I have found that life has brought me, and continues to bring me, the education and preparation necessary for the work that I do in midwifery.  

I received a Bachelor of Arts in alternative health sciences and a master’s degree in education from George Wythe College, a private liberal arts school specializing in statesmanship education (www.gwc.edu). 

For approximately eight years, I have been serving as a member of the board of directors for the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council, the national accrediting agency for direct-entry midwifery programs and institutions (www.meac.org).

I have worked in many capacities at the college level from janitor to president and everything in between.  

Previous to becoming president of the Midwives College of Utah, I was the director of a group home for boys struggling with addiction.  It was during this time that I came to understand that midwifery was much more than catching babies.   This was my “clinical training” in being a midwife of change. 

I now serve as the president of the Midwives College of Utah.  Serving in this capacity has been one of the most challenging and satisfying experiences of my life.  I find myself in the capacity of midwifing a significant organization, an organization with the express mission of impacting the future of maternity care and birth culture in North America in the twenty-first century.  It is an awesome responsibility that has been a source of great change and growth in my own life, all of which has been accompanied by plenty of labor pains. 

I was married in the spring of 2005 and am now the proud eternal companion of, Douglas R. Palmer.  After a long and ardent pursuit he finally tamed my heart and won my hand.  Gosh!  About time!  This has proven to be the best decision I have ever made. 

I am passionate about fulfilling my personal purpose. 

I am passionate about living a deep, full, courageous and gentle life. 

I am passionate about spreading love, beauty, liberty, abundance, peace, health, and courage of spirit across the planet.

I am passionate about having an “is that really possible?” relationship with my husband.

I am passionate about raising healthy, loving, passionate, and prepared children.

I see the future presenting us all with profound challenges, along with opportunities for significant contribution and joy.  I believe that Ghandi sums up the best way to prepare for this future—“you must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

May we all go forward working for:

Greater clarity of vision,

Greater pureness of heart,

Greater preparation of hand and mind,

Greater commitment to our higher good.

And in all of our working, may we accept and embrace the joy.