For Hospitals
Your nurses are carrying more than they should have to.
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 I work with birth units to build the skills, culture, and support systems that reduce burnout, improve outcomes, and keep good nurses in the room.
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I'm Kelly Dungan — a Registered Nurse, Licensed Midwife, and Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer with over 11 years working in and alongside hospital birth units. I've spent my career at the intersection of physiologic birth and nursing education, teaching over 5000 birthworkers. I have heard their stories and their pain points, so I am now completing my MSN as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, with a focus on moral injury and burnout in healthcare workers. I bring both clinical expertise and an honest understanding of what it costs nurses to do this work.
 Staff Burnout & Debrief Support
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Birth unit nurses carry a disproportionate burden of secondary trauma, moral injury, and unprocessed grief. Most units don't have a systematic way to support staff after difficult births, unexpected outcomes, or the cumulative weight of high-acuity care.
I offer:
- One-on-one debriefs for staff members after acute or challenging experiences
- Group debriefs for teams following significant events
- Ongoing support structures for units wanting to build a culture of psychological safety
- Staff retreats for deeper reset and resilience work
This work is grounded in somatic nervous system principles and trauma-informed frameworks. This is not about checking a box, but a real intervention for the people keeping your unit running.
If you're interested in piloting a debrief support program with your unit, I'd welcome a conversation.
Physiologic Birth Education & Skills
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When nurses are confident in physiologic assessment and labor support, outcomes improve — for patients and for staff. Competent nurses experience less moral distress. Units with strong physiologic skills culture have fewer interventions and better transfer relationships with community providers.
Current offerings:
- Spinning Babies® Foundational Workshop (1 or 2 day) ~ the core framework for understanding how the baby's position and movement affect labor
- Spinning Babies® Integration Workshop (2 day) ~ advanced techniques and case studies for experienced Spinning Babies® practitioners
- Advanced Physiologic Skills (1 day) ~ palpation, intermittent auscultation, shoulder dystocia and breech drills, labor support with a nervous system lens
- Labor Support Skills (4 hours) ~ comfort techniques, tracking labor progress, nervous system-informed care, practical skills
- Foundations in Physiologic Birth (3 hours) ~ introductory seminar for new nurses and medical residents
All workshops are hands-on, skills-based, and designed for the realities of hospital birth culture — not idealized for out-of-hospital settings.
Consultation & Speaking
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Building physiologic skills takes more than a single workshop day. I work with units on the longer arc — mentoring charge nurses and preceptors, supporting integration of new frameworks into existing culture, and facilitating better relationships with community birth providers including home birth midwives.
This is especially useful for units navigating:
- Challenging transfers from out-of-hospital providers
- Staff resistance or division around physiologic care
- New nurses who need a stronger foundation than orientation providedÂ
I am also available for grand rounds, staff days, and conference presentations. Topics include moral injury in perinatal nursing, facilitating graceful home birth transfers, and integrating physiologic birth principles into hospital culture.
