The purpose of this exercise is to help you see how mixing causes might impact different mothers we help, and how a Leader can avoid mixing causes.  Each of the following situations has potential for mixing causes.  You might think of others common to your location or specific to your own experience.  Please use this exercise as a “jumping off point” to stimulate your own thoughts and/or your discussions with Leader(s). 

For each situation, ask yourself:

• What mistaken impression might a mother make about what LLL believes or supports?
• How might mixing causes in this situation discourage a mother from returning to LLL?
• How would you ensure that what you say stays within LLL’s guidelines for how/what Leaders say and do? 
• How might you respond if a mother’s question is uncomfortable for you due to your own strong personal beliefs?

Some possible situations:

1. You are a midwife and a Leader. The hospital where you work has offered you a room for LLL Series Meetings.
2. You are a nutritionist (or you have strong feelings about a particular diet), and you are planning Series Meeting 4.
3. You are the Leader of a Group meeting in the evening. In the daytime, you operate a day-care business out of your home. At your Series Meeting, a mother asks you about care for her child.
4. Your personal beliefs forbid using birth control, and a mother calls you with a question about contraception.
5. You have sacrificed a second income to stay home with your children. A mother asks you for information about pumping after she returns to work.
6. You live in a small town and everyone knows . . . (the church you attend, the political causes you support, etc.).
7. A member of your Group wants to sell . . . (slings, toys, etc.) at your meetings.
8. Another nonprofit group with similar goals asks your Group to participate in its upcoming presentation/affair.

Here are some resources you might find useful:

Leader's Handbook, 4th revised edition. LLLI, 2003; pages xvi, 46-47, 194-95, 212-14

“Mixing Causes,” Leaven, Feb-Mar 03
Political and religious beliefs

“Mixing Causes or Not?” Leaven, Jun-Jul 99
Involvement with other non-profits; personal businesses

“When a Leader’s Beliefs Become Mixing Causes,” Leaven , Apr-May 99

“How Leaders Can Avoid Mixing Causes,” Leaven, Oct-Nov 97
At Series Meetings and when helping mothers on the telephone

“Guidelines for Active Leaders Who Also Work as Paid Lactation Consultants," Leaven, May-June 1990