Supporting people through their fertility experiences.
From Fertility - a course in reproductive experiences for doulas and birth professionals
Guest blog …The Wonder of Home Birth and Overcoming Negative Stigma
I myself, was born at home. 1987, New Year's Eve, my parents getting ready to go to a party.
Fast forward 28 years and there I was, in the Midwife Lead Unit of an inner city hospital, birthing my first baby. It was an 'easy' birth, or so I kept hearing. From floor, to shower, to wheelchair - where I was finally given my new baby to hold, for the first time.
3 lessons about boundaries
Why are boundaries so important for you as a doula?
Your boundaries are YOUR rules detailing what is appropriate in your relationship with your client and in the scope of your work. This ables us to look after our own needs whilst supporting someone else.
There’s a doula for everyone
“If doulas were a drug it would be unethical not to use it” (Dr John Kenell)
I strongly believe this to be true! But what does this mean for those who’s finances don’t afford them a doula? And who do we make birth work pay in a patriarchal capitalist society that necessitates us charging “our worth” and yet devalues our “women’s work”?
I was recently chatting with one of The Original Birth Connection Birth Worker Training Programme trainees about this and I thought it would be useful to others to share some thoughts.
Whilst in ancient history doulas were in effect slaves without income, modern doulas, or birth workers, aim to make a living supporting birthing women and people, in order to support themselves and their families.
LGBTQ+ history month and embodied birth work
Celebrating LGBTQ+ history month and the importance of embodying intersectional feminism in birth work
Scope of practice and autonomy in birth work
What is a doula's or birth worker's scope of practice and what does it mean to work in our autonomy in a medicalised, patriarchal system?