Maggie O'Brien – författare

O'Brien explores major themes of life, death & belief in a warm-hearted, easy style that is both beguiling & funny . Her undemanding intellect brings 'ologies and 'osophies out to play. An unworldly mischief is afoot here. You can't help but think out of the box.

She says, When I grow up I want to be a Jester. I make no apologies for my love of wit and rhyme; theyre the tools of the Jesters lost art. I want to express passion and explore universal themes in such a way as to reach those who dont like poetry. I hope my work will be enjoyed by those who feel excluded by the High Art reputation of poetry. If I can bring them food for thought, laughter and maybe even some solace, itd be great.My verse comes from who knows where?. Its dictated to me in the very early morning and in a half- sleep half- waking state I scribble it down. Since I hear it before I see it written, I guess its best read aloud.

"No popular culture. No gossip. Loved it." -Clare Stephenson "l like the history in this book" -Michael Nally We spend a summer with an unlikely collection of strangers for whom, for whatever reason, the past is important; but it is more important than they imagine. The strands of their lives unexpectedly interweave. Each is a piece of a living jig-saw. They eventually put us in the picture. These extraordinary, ordinary people share with us a world where life’s casual and inexplicable mysteries are discussed and accepted as commonplace. O’Brien explores themes of life, death, belief in a warm-hearted and easy style that is both beguiling and funny. Her undemanding intellect brings ‘ologies and ‘osophies out to play. There is an unworldly, fascinating mischief afoot here. You can’t help but think out of the box.

Rhyming comes naturally. This is probably because, pre-school, my grandparents taught me the rudiments of reading & writing using songs and rhymes. Poems spill from my mind, ready-made. I rarely change anything. From a loving but humble background, my work is referred to as ‘down-to-earth’ and seemingly ‘shakes off the posh’stigma of the title ‘poet.’ ”Here are two online reviewers of my poetry.“Maggie has such resonance with words. They touch the soul that feeds and nurtures our love of life.” Lynne Payne“I’m pleased that someone does still write poetry with music in it as it is supposed to be!” C. Parsons- Tennessee

This book inspires and acts as a resource for midwives, leaders, managers and students within maternity services who strongly desire to create positive cultures, whilst providing advice to individual professionals about available support.Research, reports, and investigations over many years into maternity services have proven that midwifery culture is sometimes lacking. This results in women, midwives, and student midwives being subjected to disrespectful behaviour including, in some instances, bullying. The consequences of this are that some maternity unit staff are unable to speak up, causing these maternity units to become increasingly unsafe, with high sickness and turnover rates amongst midwives and a high dropout rate among student midwives. These facts are widely documented and recommendations have been made about improving the culture of these units.The book summarises the evidence that a lack of respectful professional behaviour exists and identifies what constitutes bullying both in terms of the researched definition and behaviour. It goes on to explore resolution looking at the importance of safe staffing levels, psychological safety, models of midwifery care, coaching, Schwartz rounds, value-based education and leadership. This book also focuses on compassionate leadership, using case studies of where culture change has been achieved.This book is unique in addressing the gap in the literature on how to improve the midwifery culture and achieve respectful relationships in maternity services. The authors explore realistic ways, explain the reasons why some maternity units have a positive culture, and identify good practices that currently exist.It is a must-have for midwives, student midwives, educators, maternity health care assistants, nurses and student nurses as well as for all other health professionals and students in leadership and management masters’ programmes.