First ever National Conference on Pregnancy Crisis takes place in Romania

The first ever National Conference for Supporting Women in Pregnancy Crisis took place at the beginning of October at Caraiman Monastery in Bușteni, Prahova County.

The conference was organized from October 4 to October 6 by the St Alexandra the Empress Counseling Centre and brought together 30 participants from all over Romania and the Republic of Moldova including managers and representatives of pregnancy resource centres, psychologists, social workers, volunteers, members of other organizations, and individuals who wanted to open such a center or simply work with women in pregnancy crisis.

On Friday, October 4, the participants shared ideas about their work, experiences, joys, and the difficulties they face.

On Saturday, the program included four sessions:

Session I “Project Management and Pregnancy Help Center Management”, speaker: Alexandra Nadane, executive director of the “St Alexandra the Empress” Counseling Centre, Bucharest.
Session II: “The Social Worker’s Role in Assisting Women in Pregnancy Crisis”, speaker: Mirela Andrei, social worker of the “St Alexandra the Empress” Counseling Centre, Bucharest.
Session III “Working Protocols in Pregnancy Crisis Counseling. The Counselor’s Role in Pregnancy Crisis cases”, speaker: psychologist Andreea Olteanu (PhD), assisting trainer of counseling at the Institute of the Romanian Society for Experiential Psychotherapy (SPER) and President of the Association for Child Development and Family.

The last session, entitled “Goals and Plans for the Future”, was dedicated to creating a working group for those involved in pregnancy crisis assistance to support them in developing professional pregnancy help programs.

In order to train and assist people involved in this line of work the “St Alexandra the Empress” Counseling Center will organize monthly webinars on different topics of interest.

The next National Conference of the Pregnancy Crisis Help Centers will be held in October 2020.

Photography courtesy of St Alexandra the Empress Centre