"Become an Educator, travel the world!"

I went through the 13 month training process to become a Creighton Model FertilityCare Practitioner (FCP) back in 2017-2018. The training process for all FCPs involves an 8 day Education Phase, followed by a 6 month Supervised Practicum, another week long Education Phase, and a second 6 month Supervised Practicum which includes a site visit from your supervisor and a final exam. Phew! At the end of my second Education Phase, the director of the program approached me and said that she thought I should consider becoming an Educator some day. At the time I didn't fully understand what that meant but her confidence in me was really meaningful so I just tucked that away in my heart and spent the next 8 years honing my skills as a Practitioner, working with women & couples and helping to build our FertilityCare Center.

Fast forward to this past summer. So many surprises, God moments, whirlwind fundraising and arranging of details for my family and I found myself with the insane opportunity to become a part of the Educator program this year in Omaha, NE, through the St. Paul VI (SPVI) Education Program! FertilityCare Educators can only be trained through the SPVI Institute in Omaha. They train about 3-5 new Educators every couple of years so the opportunity is very rare and the way God really had to work out the details for this to come together in my life was pretty amazing. It's safe to say the real MVPs in the entire process were all of the family members and friends who pitched in for my family while I was away for 10 days, most of all my superhuman husband.

A FertilityCare Educator is an experienced FCP who maintains certification through the American Academy of FertilityCare Professionals and undertakes an additional 13 month training process to be able to teach and train future Practitioners. Educators can supervise FertilityCare interns, lecture and assist as faculty on education programs throughout the country (and the world!), and also (my long term dream and vision) establish their own education program. I got to meet some truly remarkable and experienced Educators in Omaha this week. These women have taught as faculty on dozens of education programs and supervised interns throughout the world! Their joke to us was, "become an Educator, see the world!"

My experience in Omaha was a total immersion educational experience. I arrived Friday night and registration began early the next morning. Every day began with Mass at 7:15am, a short break for breakfast and then right into lectures for the day. Every day went until 8:30pm. The days were long and full. The program ended with a closing banquet late the following Saturday night. The students who had traveled to Omaha for this year's educational program were a combination of:

• Students who had come to be trained as FertilityCare Practitioners

• Doctors who had come to be trained as FertilityCare Medical Consultants

• Doctors who were completing their surgical fellowship with SPVI Institute

• Doctors who had come for the "dual program" - to become both a Medical Consultant and a FertilityCare Practitioner

• 3 FertilityCare Practitioners (myself included) who had come to be trained as FertilityCare Educators

There were students there (literally) from ALL over the world! There was a group of doctors and practitioner interns from Brazil, from South Korea, some students from Russia, Spain, Columbia and many other places around the world!

Some of our lectures, especially with Dr. Hilgers, the founder of the Creighton Model System and creator of Naprotechnology, were all together in a big group. Many of our Educator lectures were just the 3 of us Educator Interns. The last few days of the program we spent assisting in clinical groups and even getting to give 2 different lectures! Each of us Educator Interns were assigned 3 Practitioner Interns who we'll be supervising throughout their training process. I'll be under direct supervision and guidance from my own supervisor the whole time. I'll even get to travel to their home locations and complete their "site visits". Creighton Model System is totally unique in it's intense, standardized training process that includes a site visit from your supervisor to directly observe your process in working with couples and provide feedback.

I'll spend the next 13 months supervising my Practitioner Interns remotely (none of them are located in Michigan!) and helping them as they begin teaching Creighton Model System to women and couples. In April, I'll be returning to Omaha for the second education phase. For now, I'm so grateful to be back with my babies, no longer drinking hotel coffee and sleeping in my own bed. I'm also so excited to see what the Lord has in store for this season of my life.

I made a slideshow of my experience here if you'd like to see some photos from the week!