Doulas
The Felt Sense of Doula Work
In addition to my doula work, I am a copywriter for a continuing education platform for psychotherapists. In my role, I meet many expert therapists who are offering courses and I learn about their work. So far, I’ve learned about: How I Learned About Felt Sense A few weeks ago, I was interviewing one of…
Read MoreA Tribute to Penny Simkin
One of my most impactful mentors, Penny Simkin, left this realm on 4/11/24. Penny is known as the mother of the modern doula movement. She has star quality in the birth world. But to know her up close and in person — to learn how to teach alongside her — was a lesson in humility,…
Read MoreGrowing A Doula Business: My Journey into the Heart of Entrepreneurship
How I Started My Doula Business …and how the doula world has changed. A few months ago, I was talking about the nature of human beings: families, our brains, decision-making, and where our passions and inspiration come from. Next, I explored how we want to be heard and seen, which led into where your business…
Read MoreYou Can Do Better Than ‘Birth Junkie’
The Words We Use When you’re passionate about birth, you want to learn about it. You dive into books and podcasts. You search for blogs and videos on YouTube. You scour social media for people to follow. What should you be called for doing that? A “birth nerd?” A “childbirth junkie?” I see a lot…
Read MoreWhat Kind of Doula Role is Right for You?
What Kind of Doula Role is Right for You? Twenty years ago, few people knew what the word “doula” meant. Now, most people have heard at least heard of birth, postpartum, or death doulas. But did you know there are over 20 different doula roles? There are doulas for divorce, surgery, fertility, gender transition, cancer,…
Read MoreDecision-Making Part 3: Skills for Doulas
Decision-Making in Real Life: Role Plays and Reality This is the last of a 3-part series on decision making doula skills. In this post, I outline the process I used with my clients when working as a doula. The Decision-Making Role Play This process is done in a prenatal visit — a meeting done with…
Read MoreDecision-Making Part 2: Tools
Part 2 In a 3-Part Series In last week’s blog, I shared about decision-making and how it’s not what we think it is. In this blog, I share about various decision making models doulas can use when supporting their clients. We tend to think decision-making is very logical, analytical, and reasoned. But it’s almost the…
Read MoreDecision-Making Part 1: Faking You Out Big Time!
A new series of blogs on how we make decisions I read a newsletter article this week by Anne-Laure Le Cunff of Ness Labs. It was called “Why Smart People Make Dumb Decisions.” It’s all about how the brain makes decisions. Her article reminded me that I wanted to blog about decision-making in birth, so…
Read MoreInductions: Why Are They So Damn Hard?
Labor inductions are a topic that so many doulas struggle with. Why are they so challenging? And is there anything doulas can do to make them more manageable? First, let’s start with the basics: What Is an Induction? A labor induction is when labor is started artificially. Normally, labor starts on its own due to…
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