When the Doula Screws Up
Doulas are in a service business. Our success depends largely on how we manage our relationships with others. Many of us have excellent communication skills when things are going well...
Why I Left DONA After 25 Years
DONA International was my organizational home for many years. I was trained by Penny Simkin in 1996 along with my training partners, Karen Kohls, PT, and Ruth Ancheta, MA. By putting our three minds and specialties together...
Doulaing The Doula Toolkit for Gaining Entry to Hospitals
I'm excited to release the DTD Toolkit for Gaining Entry to Hospitals. It's been in the works for a few months, after two hospitals in my area began accepting my training certificates as legitimate credentials for entry as a birth doula...
COVID19 Podcast for Doulas!
COVID19 Podcast for Doulas! Listen to our podcast with all doulas need to know about COVID19, getting into the hospital and the implications for our profession and our clients! Dr. Amy Gilliland has listened to the CDC broadcasts, [...]
Advocacy Resources for Birth, Postpartum, and Palliative Care Doulas on COVID-19
Advocacy Resources for Birth, Postpartum, and Palliative Care Doulas on COVID-19 As doulas worldwide prepare for the arrival of coronavirus in their region, many of us are concerned about the ability to support our clients during their birth, [...]
Why Don’t We Have The Doula Research We Need? Part I of IV
Why Don’t We Have The Doula Research We Need? Part I of IV The Cochrane Collaboration updated their doula research review this year. They added four, only FOUR new studies – and none of them advanced our research [...]
Hospital Agreements: An Opportunity For Engagement [Part II]
Hospital Agreements: An Opportunity For Engagement [Part II] If a doula agreement is being waved in front of you, congratulations! It means that your doula community has gotten too large to ignore and is having enough of an impact [...]
Doulas Are Paraprofessionals
Doulas Are Paraprofessionals Encouraging professional behavior by doulas is one of the purposes of this blog, but it needs to be clear that the doula occupation is a paraprofession, not a profession. Community based, hospital employed, and independent practice [...]
We Need ALL Kinds of Doulas
We Need ALL Kinds of Doulas No we don’t. We don’t need doulas that lack integrity, who interfere with a mother getting an epidural or a cesarean, or who say nasty things to their clients about hospitals, doctors, [...]
Should Doulas Offer Free Services Is The Wrong Question
Should Doulas Offer Free Services Is The Wrong Question It seems every doula with a blog has weighed in on the “no free births” debate and every doula with an opinion has expressed it on Facebook. The debate [...]
