Pregnancy Sickness Support's third biennial National Volunteer Conference is coming up in May 2016 and i would love to see you there!

The focus for this year's conference is delivering a gold standard service with a full day of training and networking for volunteers to develop their skills and knowledge.

The day is open to current and future volunteers so if you are not yet registered but have been thinking you would like to use your experience of NVP/HG to help others this would be the perfect opportunity to find out all about it and get registered.

I have handed the blog over to Karen who is the Support Coordinator at Pregnancy Sickness Support to tell you all about the day and why you need to be there!

Firstly to introduce myself… I’m Karen and I work as the Support Coordinator at Pregnancy Sickness Support, the charity supporting sufferers and their families experiencing pregnancies complicated by pregnancy sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum.

My role at Pregnancy Sickness Support is to be the main point of contact for people getting in touch with the charity for information about nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) and hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) or seeking support from the Support Network. I deal with requests for information from sufferers, health care professional and the media. I speak to sufferers and match them with volunteer peer supports as required, I also manage our wonderful volunteers; answering questions, providing additional information as well as recruiting and training.

As part of the PSS development programme we deliver training sessions and conferences to health care professionals and to our volunteers on a biennial basis. After a very successful health care professionals conference in May 2015 this year we are holding our third national volunteer conference.

We’ve chosen Bristol as our host city and a lovely venue close to transport links and amenities. We welcome current and future volunteers and we hope that it will everyone will  leave feeling empowered and informed as well as having developed new friendships and bonds within the HG community.

During the day attendees will have the opportunity to meet PSS Staff and trustees, learn more about our work and discuss future developments of the charity and support network. The conference aims to be a hands on training day for volunteers enabling skills and knowledge development alongside networking and sharing opportunities.

PSS Trustees are hoping to arrange a social evening the night before and with the conference being held the day before International HG Awareness Day we hope that you will join us in fundraising and awareness raising during the conference and the following day.

Without the vital work of our volunteers we wouldn’t be able to offer support to current sufferers and their families. We are always looking to recruit new volunteers as the number of calls to our helpline and requests for support increase daily. If you have experienced Nausea and Vomiting in pregnancy or Hyperemesis Gravidarum and you would like to use your experience to reduce isolation and improve the quality of life for women currently suffering we would love to meet you on the day give you all the info you need to get involved. If you have not experienced the condition but would like to support the work of the charity and raise awareness of the condition we have other volunteer roles available and can give you further info on the day.

You can book tickets by following this link.

If cost is a barrier to attending we do have bursaries available.

Babes-in-arms are welcome in sessions as well as breastfeeding or breaks can be scheduled in. Unfortunately we can’t accommodate toddlers or older children within the sessions but if your partner or grandparents are bringing your other child(ren) and staying with you in the hotel there are loads of attractions/activities in and around Bristol.

If you would like any further information about the conference or volunteering for the charity please contact me

T: 01208 872801

E: [email protected]

W: www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

This blog post is going to sound rather formal compared to my normal tone but that’s because it’s had to pass through the Plymouth University Ethics proccess and my research supervisor (yes, even this sentence!)… but the good news is my research survey is now ready for women to take part in if they want to!

Regular readers will know that I’m doing a Master's Degree in Clinical Research and for my research project I am exploring women’s experiences of receiving treatment for Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) in either a hospital ward environment or a Day Care unit setting. (By Day Care unit I mean any setting where you got fluids and went home the same day, even if that was just a chair in a waiting room or in A&E... I want to hear about it all).

If you have received treatment in either of these settings in the UK in the last 2 years then we would like to invite you to click the below link which will take you to further information at the start of the survey to see if you would like to take part in the research. Once you have read the information about the research there is a box to give informed consent and then it will take you to the survey. If you have any questions about the research then my contact details are on there to give me a call or email before, during or after you’ve taken part.

And please do give as much detail about your experience as possible!

TAKE ME TO THE SURVEY