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 120 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, mountain / forest lodge 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 lodging, transportation to and from airport, all materials, and brain-healthy snacks. You will buy your meals on site at the lodge where we are staying.
Bio on your instructor: Vicki Penwell has been a licensed midwife for 29 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
October 4-9, 2011
February 7-12, 2011
August 8-13, 2011
...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 lodging and local transportation = $350
• 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
phone: 208-991-3707
How to get here: When you register we will send you more details. 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. Please purchase your airline tickets to arrive morning or mid-afternoon coming, and later in the day going, to have time to get you to and from the airport.
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
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.
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!!!!