NARM STUDY RETREAT
Intensive Preparation for taking the North American Registry of Midwives Exam
Six days of focused review the week before the NARM Exam, taught and guided by Vicki Penwell, a midwife with experience preparing over 160 students to pass NARM and become CPMs using this method of intense retreat review and practice the week before the exam. While there are no guarantees, a very high percentage of students who studied with Vicki have passed NARM the first time.
This special retreat offers six full days of study with a different practice multiple choice test each day, oral quizzes, individual guidance with test taking tips, and evenings spent in review, reflection, reading, nature walks and spiritual calm. The NARM Study Retreat is held in a quiet setting with no distractions, no TV, and best of all, you will have no responsibility except studying for your midwifery board exam! Personalized help can be given to each participant to learn their own unique learning style.
After all your years of hard work to become a midwife, give yourself every chance possible to pass NARM by setting aside the week before the exam to prepare for this most important milestone in your midwifery career.
Price includes food, lodging, transportation to and from airport, all materials, and brain-healthy snacks. If you have any special dietary restrictions, let us know.
Bio on your instructor: Vicki Penwell has been a licensed midwife for 30 years, and is a CPM. As director of Mercy In Action College of Midwifery and Primary Health Care, Vicki has trained hundreds of midwives over the years and along with her teams, provided for free deliveries for more than 12,000 poor women in the Philippines. She lectures internationally and has a chapter in Robbie Davis-Floyd’s new book Birth Models that Work.
Dates:
NARM Study Retreat
February 6-11, 2012
August 6-11, 2012
...and the week before each NARM exam in February and August.
Cost:
• Six days of intense formal study sessions to prepare for NARM = $500
• Seven nights and six days of food, lodging and local transportation = $450
• Time away from normal life & distractions to prepare for NARM = Priceless
Registration:
Register early to hold your spot as enrollment is limited due to our retreat lodging availability, and so that we can keep study sessions small and personalized.
Click here to register and pay fees
Contact:
email: vickipenwell@gmail.com
How to get here: Fly into Boise, Idaho and we will pick you up at the airport and drive you to the retreat site. You will travel on Sunday coming and going, and be here Monday-Saturday all day.
Click here to download flyer for the NARM Study Retreat - Idaho
NARM Study Retreat - Feb. 2010
Participant Review:
"Vicki's NARM Study Retreat exceeded my expectations! I initially signed up for the retreat in order to optimize my time before the exam and in hopes of avoiding major stress the week of the exam. I figured we would spend our time "cramming". What a surprise! Instead, we systematically reviewed what I had mastered and what I still needed to work on. Her patience was unending. The retreat has increased my confidence. And, instead of just preparing me for the exam, it has helped me prepare for going out on my own as a midwife, filling in the gaps and increasing my understanding of difficult subjects. Vicki is a living treasure. I am so grateful for the time I was able to spend learning with her. I couldn't have made a better choice about how to spend the week!"
~Aimee Fairman, CPM
Vicki, I really want to send a heartfelt thank you for the gift of yourself and your reteat. I truly believe that I would not have passed without the retreat. You really eliminated any hurdle that could have been in a candidates way. You addressed test anxiety, time restraints, test stratigies, along with review of knowlege. The level of confience you gave each one of us was priceless. You were our "test doula" and worth every penny.
Thanks again, Until our paths meet again.....My Best
~LaNette J. McQuitty, CPM
The NARM study retreat exceeded my expectations in every way and I am recommending it to all my friends and colleagues.. I learned so much that week about midwifery and test-taking strategies. I don't' think I've ever learned so much in such a short period of time. Vicki was an absolute pleasure to be with, and she was so supportive of everyone in our group. There was a nice variety of activities and I was always surprised at how the time flew by. Although we worked hard, we also had a lot of fun and there was a real feeling of comraderie in our group. On the morning of the NARM exam, I had almost no test anxiety at all, and the small amount of nervousness I felt was completely manageable using the techniques I learned from Vicki. I went into the test feeling relaxed and confident. This truly was a priceless experience.
~Sommer Halligan, CPM
By the end of the week spent with Vicki I actually enjoyed taking tests, had a new circle of beautiful midwife sisters, felt calm and well prepared, discovered what I didn't’t know and was able to do something about it. It was also a great review that built my confidence and showed me how much I had learned. Throughout the retreat the learning enviorment created by Vicki always felt safe, efficient, inspiring and fun. Most importantly I was reminded why I love being a midwife, how it’s not about me, and what this is all about. That helped put all the stress in perspective. In the end this allowed me to do my best on the day of the test.
When I sat for the NARM I felt well prepared, lots of questions felt familiar from taking so many practice tests and I glided through it calmly knowing what to do. I want to thank you, Vicki, for answering my prayers and showing up as a wise generous teacher in this point in my life....I know you said not to look at our number scores but I thought you should know that thanks to both you and your sister I had 13 points more this time than I did last time. I don't think I knew that much more knowledge, but I knew how to take a test and how to work with all the words I don't understand in English, which is 100% your retreat!!!!
~Marva Zohar, CPM
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have attended the NARM Study Retreat with Vicki and her family. The week was everything I'd hoped it would be, plus more. Over the course of the week, I found a perfect balance between reviewing material I was familiar with (although some I had tucked so deep into my memory I risked forgetting) and expanding my awareness by absorbing new material, from Vicki but also from the amazing group of midwives that came together for the retreat; all of us trusting in a process that leads us to being better midwives. The daily practice exams washed away my fierce test anxiety, allowing me to sit in front of the actual NARM exam with clarity and excitement. Taking a full week to dedicate to midwifery studies boosted my confidence going into the NARM exam and allowed me to see that the emphasis is on community and a desire to journey deeper into midwifery, at an individual pace.
I am extremely appreciative of my NARM Study Retreat experience. Thank you Vicki!
Together we created a wonderfully cooperative and supportive space for our study retreat, and Vicki's kindness and humor set that tone from the get-go. I so appreciate what the retreat offered, both personally and professionally. Not only do I believe that the rigorous schedule of practice tests and study sessions fully prepared me for both the content and nature of the NARM, but I also walked away with a handful of incredible new friends and fellow midwives.
Awesome! I am so thankful to you for taking the time to put this retreat together. It was a tremendous help to me in preparing for the NARM. I learned so much and put together so much in my head that before was justa jumbled mass of facts. You are a marvelous teacher. The format that you used was very helpful in alleviating my test taking anxiety. Lastly I appreciate finding out my strengths and weaknesses on multiple choice tests and strategies to read, analyze, and better understand the test questions. I know my scores improved substantially because I attended.
Blessings to you,
~Kristen Hock, CPM
Attending Vicki's study retreat made all the difference for me. It not only helped me review and cement the knowledge that I already had, but it helped me overcome my test-anxiety. Vicki had a very calm and reassuring way of helping all of us find our strengths and weaknesses in test-taking, and we got the opportunity to practice our new-found skills daily with her practice tests. Going over the answers as a group was very dynamic and helped me fill in the gaps. I felt so confident and prepared the day I took the NARM.... something I never could have imagined possible! I felt like I was walking on air after I left the NARM exam because I really felt that I was able to focus and apply myself without any nervousness. And of course, I PASSED! Thank you Vicki!
~Dani Kennedy, CPM
Thanks Vicki! I can say with all honesty that I could not have passed without the retreat.... all that study time with other midwives & having you to walk us through questions/things we needed to understand better (like pelvemetry :) was just soooo invaluable & to be honest, the practice tests made the NARM look like a walk in the park!
~Janna Grapperhaus, CPM
Well Vicki, what can I say, you saw my struggles, namely my phobia of testing, and my disbelief of passing the NARM. You were tremendously encouraging. I loved the way you had the NARM Retreat set up. There was never a dull moment! Your help was priceless, taking the fear right out of testing! I will recommend it to anyone that is so busy they find it hard to organize themselves to buckle down to the books. I still can hardly believe that it's behind me, and I passed! I thank God for you Vicki! God Bless you!
~Talitha Mills, CPM
Your retreat was truly the perfect way to bring together all the areas of study I had been foraging in for so many years. As a PEP process applicant, I had a broad range of experiences and my education was mostly piece-meal over many years. At the retreat, I was able to bring together everything I had been learning and doing all in one continuous, comprehensive, indepth review. Our days were so well designed around learning and absorbing. Even on the first day I felt like things were starting to sync and each day after was added to that. The focus on test-taking strategies revealed specific areas I needed to work on to tweak my score. Also invaluable was the feeling I had on the day of the test. I went into it feeling like "bring it on! I'm ready!", instead of feeling intimidated or unprepared. I knew it would be hard, but I also knew I had strategies for dealing with that. I believed that if I didn't pass, it would be because I just didn't know all they want me to know, not because I knew enough but was a poor test-taker. Thank you for putting together such a nourishing and thorough plan to get us ready!
~Rebecca Coolidge, CPM
I had such an amazing experience at the retreat and am referring EVERYONE in our practice planning to take the NARM. I feel that your coaching has helped so much in preparing. Thank you for your love and support on this last leg of the CPM journey! This week was one of the most memorable in my midwifery study and I am so grateful for the work you do to train midwives. You are a gift and I feel so blessed to be a part of this bigger picture.
~Amy Hendrickson, CPM
Vicki is an intuitive and effective teacher, and her teaching style caters to all different types of learners. I cannot imagine taking the NARM without having gone to the retreat! It made me see the "holes" that I had in my knowledge base, and helped bring to the surface all the things that I learned early on as a student. Vicki helped me recognize test-taking weaknesses that I didn't know I had. The retreat was a very safe learning environment; I never felt embarrassed if I made a mistake or didn't know an answer. All of the other women at the retreat were so supportive and eager to share their "tricks" for remembering a concept. When reviewing information that was confusing in my books, Vicki was able to explain it perfectly, in a way that made sense and really stuck in my memory. What a pay-off! I walked into the test with confidence, knowing exactly what to expect. I was calm and prepared. And, I passed!
~Kathleen Lorenz, CPM
I passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you soooooo much for everything! Your retreat is the bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Sandi Villafana, CPM
The NARM study retreat was exactly what I needed as a PEP process candidate who had done mostly self study. This retreat helped me focus, see exactly where my weak areas were, familiarize me with the formal testing process, and increase my confidence. The retreat is well organized and planned, with just the right balance of teaching, practice testing, and personal study time. Vicky Penwell is one of the most competent and engaging midwife instructors I have had the privilege of learning from. She makes great muffins too!
~ Roxanne Anderson, CPM
