Sunday, December 2, 2012

Brio Basics: Question from a Reader... Maybe

I received this e-mail, and I'm not sure whether the source is legitimate.  However, the questions are worth asking, even if it is a fishing expedition, so I've chosen to publish it here:

----

To make a long story short I am a volunteer lactation support volunteer with a local midwifery center that I am doing doula training with. They have never heard of Brio Birth, but are only vaguely familiar with Birth Professionals International, who I only heard of through Brio Birth. I was toying with the idea of becoming a Birth Educator of some form in addition to DONA certification since my husband thinks I spend enough time blogging for free I should make money out of it. I think the idea of paying for training makes sense, when I became a CNA I paid 350 bucks to take a two week course and it got me a job in hospital instead of a nursing home,  I did the same with phlebotomy training before applying at a dialysis clinic, and when I wanted to keep my distaster repsonse certification up I paid for CPR/First Aid through the Red Cross. So is there something I am missing about Brio Birth? Or did they steal an education program from someone else? 

What do I need to know?

thanks.
----


A bit of poking around on the internet shows the only occurrence of the sender's name or e-mail address being a random question on a Nurturing Hearts blog post a little over a year ago.  That does indicate that the owner of this address might at least be in the birth world, but I still am not feeling a great deal of trust in it.  If this person spends so much time "blogging for free", she must do it under a pseudonym.  I could further dissect the sender, but instead I'll focus on the questions.  Is there something she is missing about Brio Birth? Quite probably.  Did they steal an education program from someone else?  In a word, yes.  Their "amazing, beautiful materials!" were put together by educators who were never compensated for their contributions, and had to fight to even get credit in the book.  I wonder if that credits page still appears in the electronic copies that they distribute.  Their childbirth class curriculum and their instructor training program were put together, again, by others who were never paid or even credited for their work, despite expectations presented when they were "hired" and verbal contracts.  What does she need to know?

Well, she had my e-mail address.  Therefore, she must have read at least something on this blog. This blog is a decent start on what she needs to know.  She should check out the Files section, where she can find some very revealing audio files and documents.

What else do you think she needs to know?  Fire away!

16 comments:

  1. I can't seem to find a file on this site where the court documents are. If there isn't one, can you add it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Never mind. It was right in front of me. Sorry...didn't see it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'll take a stab at it! How about lieing!? Do you like that? Let's see how many times just these two people lied or bent the truth, shall we? 1. The first injunction. They had that completely incorrect many times. There was to be no reference of said doctor but there was. Or, they didn't take the blog down and change it and claimed it had to be business days to do it. Ummm...believe the judge said immediately. 2. We would have representation locally...ummmm nope gone 3. We would have a functionable, searchable website with store front and msg board center to interact with eachother and students. Nope still not there 4. "I only want the Hathaways to sell me briobirth.com...Bradleybirth.com" Kyle Thomas mis-speaking to Angela Hathaway October 2010. I point this out b/c that was never the name until we "brainstormed" in December 2010. He led us to believe this was the first time that name came about. LIE 5. Had a brio birth educator group that he turned into FB for IP infringements then turned around and said...we worked everything out. Led us to believe that the Academy took that group down and came out 3-4 months later he was the on who did it. LIE

    I am tired and could keep going on about the lies but don't you think 5 is more than enough? If you want someone to lie to you and you expect it and appreciate lies, then by all means sign up with Brio

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was told by Naomi that they are no longer at the top of Brio. Does anyone know if that's true? I'm getting really frustrated with all the smoke and mirrors!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The truth is coming out: https://www.facebook.com/events/221481587983859/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous 9:06, did they tell you who IS at the top then?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Did you see Ellen Contard's diaglogue with Brio on the Live Birth event page. Hysterical! https://www.facebook.com/events/221481587983859/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! They just deleted Ellen's postings. I'll see if I can upload as a google document.

    ReplyDelete
  9. If you want to share something from Brio's page, you better take a screenshot. The deletion is hot and heavy today.

    ReplyDelete
  10. If you go to the event page, on the bottom left under the RSVPs, there's a "report" option where you can report it as spam/scam. https://www.facebook.com/events/221481587983859/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, for many of the folks who were involved early on, the process went something like this: A promise is made that appeals to your deep passion and sounds incredible (i.e. best training and access to the best materials out there, or in the case of many of the earliest people, the promise of a large cash bonus if deadlines were met, a way to update and modernize a childbirth education approach we love, etc.). There is something in the situation that will cause a small, nagging voice in the back of your head that sounds a quiet warning, but you ignore it (i.e. why would the Bradley people want your help and what happens if they say no thank you). A bit of time goes on and the promise doesn't happen. Things begin to unravel. You ask questions. Brio folk (specifically Kyle) will backpedal, talk in circles and make another even better bigger promise, offering reassurance. Things will further unravel. Smooth, manipulative talking will hold you off for a bit, but your little voice will get louder and red flags will start to wave. At some point, if you ask enough questions or say something he doesn't like, you'll see the real Kyle, who will have a big tantrum, threaten and bully to get what he wants. Your red flags will scream too loudly for you to ignore and you'll realize that you're nothing more than a pawn in their quest to swindle as many people as possible, that that is all you ever were, and/or a source of income for them, and your usefulness to Brio is directly related to how you benefit them. Trust me on this: they are not interested in helping you, or anyone else, including birthing mothers. They are interested in helping themselves, and have no problem using fraudulent and illegal means to do so. It has happened over, and over, and over. Please, please, please stay away from this organization.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "Please know this" -- that's an excellent summary to how this played out. It is exactly how things happened to me and to others I personally know who fell for this scheme.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Glad to have watched it all from the sidelines from the start, and ya know what? I am hurt because it tore a whole in a very tight birth community, not just Denvers, but nationally.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, yes it did. I never would have been so anon on so many website had this not happened. I feel we really stepped back in sharing and helping mothers b/c of this debacle. And what's really sad is the general public doesn't yet see the fullness of what just happened. They think and feel brio is just so great, but soon it will come to light how crappy they are.

      "Please Know This" AWESOME!!! I had that little voice and mom yelled at me when I told her :( She is always saying I need to listen to that voice and that God gave it to you for a reason. I will never again fall for their scame or half truths.

      Delete
  14. The Indegogo account was not hacked. Indegogo stopped the campaign and refunded money. See http://i.imgur.com/Kk0x7.jpg - Brio Birth was dishonest about what happened with the campaign and why it was pulled. Understandable since the real reason was the "fraud and risk management team" considering it to be risky. The Brio lie may seem minor but speaks to the heart and soul of the people behind the curtain. I am confident that this upcoming "official statement" will have some sort of excuse and explanation that many will find reasonable enough. They're good with the smooth talking and inspirational appearance online.

    ReplyDelete
  15. They are absolutely still "at the top."

    ReplyDelete