Dedicated to the Development of Doulas and Our Profession

Why The Doula Research We Need Doesn’t Exist: Part II – Medical Politics and Practices

As a young woman, I naively thought that the evidence was so overwhelming that we’d steadily see doula research in major medical journals. Nursing and medical students working on research degrees would pair with their professors and community members to answer these pressing questions. The fact that our answers could impact future generations would provide enough incentive. We could stop women’s bodies from being permanently damaged by outmoded obstetric practices an…

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 conclusions in any significant way. Birth doulas have the potential to be the most influential factor in lowering negative birth outcomes and optimizing positive ones for mothers and babies. We’ve known that for over THIRTY YEARS – that’s a whole generation of people who could have benefitted but didn’t.

No…

Who Are You And Why Should I Listen To What You Have To Say?

Demands for transparency in science and accountability for potential bias in researchers are relevant to doulas because so much of what we do is research driven. People want to know who is generating knowledge and how their backgrounds inform their findings. Since I’m about to embark on some rather provocative blog posts I wanted to share information that I think is relevant for my readers to know.

I was twenty years old when I unexpectedly went to my first b…

There’s 67 Different Doula Training Organizations! Uh oh! Or maybe not?

Recently, Kim James of DoulaMatch.net reported that birth and postpartum doulas have listed 67 different training organizations in their online profiles. Why are there so many? What are the implications for our profession?

If you think about it, there are few ways for someone to utilize the knowledge they’ve gained as a doula except to train other people. While some organizations have individual recognition for a member’s achievements, that’s about it. There…

It’s Your Turn to Make Doula History

Lately I’ve thought a lot about what’s left after someone is gone – and who tells their story. It has made me really think about who is going to write the story of our movement. Traditionally history is written by people after events have happened, after the world has already changed. It’s written by people who have the power to write and disseminate information – which is why so many of our perceptions of history are distorted.

What about us? What about our…

“To Heal and Protect”: Attending Birth Doula Trainings for Personal Reasons

A small but influential group of people attend birth doula trainings not to become doulas, nurses or midwives, nor to positively influence births in other jobs, but to help heal from their own birth experiences (Gilliland, 2016). In any 10 to 12 person training, one or two people are there primarily to make sense of their own births or to make sure their future births are better. Although small in number, their motivations influence the type of discussions that occur…