Of Doors and Thresholds
This month marks a transition of sorts for me. After today, October 31, 2013, I will no longer be able to say I am an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). After a 20-year run, my certification has run out—and I made the conscious decision to let that happen.
IBCLCs are the “gold standard” of professional lactation care. They earn the right to use those initials by amassing practical experience and book knowledge, and officially prove they are ready by sitting for an all-day exam. The test is very clinically based—“what would you do in THIS situation?” It includes pictures—“What’s going on here and what would you do about it?” It is a grueling exam, and is cause for celebration upon receiving a passing score.
Every five years, the IBCLC must recertify in order to retain the right to use the initials. Every other recertification can be accomplished by taking 90 continuing education credits through conferences or other educational means. But at least once every 10 years, the IBCLC must recertify by sitting for that exam again.
I first took that exam in 1993 and again in 2003. I would have had to take it again this past July in order to stay certified. Even two years ago, I was already stressing out over the preparation I’d need to do just to be ready for the “book learning” needed to pass the test. While I could have done that—though it would have required a lot of time and energy that I didn’t have—it was the clinical experience that I was no longer getting. You can’t learn that from a book! You can learn tips and techniques, but that alone is not enough. You have to have the experience actually working with a mom and her baby for that book learning to move from the head to the hands.
I am not a practicing lactation consultant and really haven’t been one for a while. When we moved from a metro area to a rural area 19 years ago, I also made the move from active lactation consultant to a much more passive role. The change was not intentional, at least at first, but as the need for making a living grew and the demand for my services was nowhere near what it had been, I naturally began the transition out of hands-on lactation consulting.
I continued helping mothers breastfeed, but more and more it was in an indirect role—helping other La Leche League Leaders find information to share with mothers when THEY needed additional help. And I broadened my professional maternal and child health world beyond just the breastfeeding experience.
So…. I opted NOT to sit for the exam this past summer. There’s a little twinge of nostalgia for the loss of those initials, rather like the occasional longing for the “old days” when life was somehow simpler. “Longing” and wanting to actually go back are not the same things!
When life propels you in a different direction—and you find that you really love the new path you find yourself on—then the transitions are just those stepping stones to new experiences and new ways to find satisfaction in what you do.
To those who continue in the IBCLC profession, my hat is off to you! I believe in the profession, and I believe in the process required to be—and remain—certified. And I’m better for having been able to use those initials for 20 years—partially because they helped lead me to the work I’m doing today.
And so as of October 31, 2013, my IBCLC “door” closes, and that’s okay. It’s just been barely open the last few years. When one door closes, another one opens…. Or, in my case, AS one door is closing, another is wide open waiting for that first step across a new threshold. And that’s a good thing.
© Melissa Clark Vickers 2013
December 14th, 2017 at 3:52 pm
[…] Some transitions are beginnings; some are endings. It is one of those ending transitions that has triggered this writing today. I’ve written before about an earlier transition of letting go of my International Board Certified Lactation Consultant status. […]