CLC

I took the CLC class in February. I was excited about this class for several reasons. I was excited to move from informed peer to a certified lactation counselor. It gave me a personal sense of validation towards the work I was doing. I was also excited to get a deeper understanding of the technical knowledge behind why it is so important to breastfeed. I decided to travel to Pennsylvania to take the class. I have family not far from where the class was, so I was able to get some help with my son while I went to the class during the day.

CLC is a great experience and way to get 45 lactations education hours in a one-week time frame. It is A LOT of work. Lots of research is going to be presented and it is mostly lecture which a few instances to collaborate with class mates during the week. So be prepared to absorb as much as you can and rely on your short-term memory for the exam on Friday.
The exam had me shook. I didn’t have the time to spend studying like crazy in the evenings outside of the homework because when I got from class for the day my son wanted ALL my attention. I really was so unsure about how I did. Jenn had found a scholarship for me to attend the class, so I was TERRIFIED of failing and wasting resources. Turns out I had no reason to worry. Not only did I pass, I got a 91%!!! I guess you could say I’m kind of smart.

One of the major drawbacks of the course is I found that it was not culturally inclusive enough. Most of the time I felt like I was in a class taught by white women, to white women, so they could help other white women. It just wasn’t representative in the difference’s women of color experience. Yet, half of the class’s participants were women of color. It was clear from the conversation among us that others noticed this too. Yes, there were a few photos of women of color sprinkled in and I recall maybe one slide of data that broke out the racial differences in outcomes but that’s about it.
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I couldn’t help but wonder if this feedback had ever been received. I also wondered about the diversity of the organization. I went to their website and found that there was very little. Which made sense based off of how I experienced the class. Don’t get me wrong, I gained a lot for taking this course and I feel like nothing but great things could come from making it more racially inclusive.
None the less… I’M A CLC NOW YA’LL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!