00:00If you want to become a doula, it's not that so much the desire to be in the profession,
00:03so much as it's like this compelling pull from within. Because I have to say, it is not convenient.
00:09And here's the thing about callings, is that they're never convenient. Ask yourself if you're
00:14okay with losing sleep, because you're going to lose a lot of sleep, honey.
00:20Hey, Refinery29, it's Latham Thomas. I'm founder of Mama Glow. We're a global maternal health
00:25company. And guess what? We train doulas. And I'm going to tell you all about it. So come on in.
00:30So the really amazing thing about doulas is that they can work in any setting. Doulas do not
00:36substitute midwives or doctors, right? We work alongside as a team. My pathway to becoming a
00:41doula started, I think, with, you know, childbirth education in the home, in my mom's pregnancy,
00:47for sure. It extended into my own experience with my son being born. I ended up stumbling upon this
00:54amazing birth center called Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center. It was the only freestanding
00:59birth center in New York City. A freestanding birthing center is a space that is self-governed
01:04and run by midwives. The experience I had as a Black woman, where I had full autonomy over
01:10my body, over my health choices, was critical and my foundation for self-advocacy. How you're
01:17born really matters. Because it was calm, it was peaceful. There was love in the room. I
01:23was laughing and then I was in this transcendent moment. On the other side of that birth, 20
01:28minutes later, I said these words. I said, I have to protect this experience.
01:36If you're at a point where you're ready to begin your doula journey, take a course. Courses are
01:42structured in various ways. Some are weekend training programs. Some are several months. Some
01:48can last up to a year, depending on how they're structured. In our course, you get a certification
01:53packet, which you basically document all your fieldwork. So for the certification, it is reading
01:59of the books, writing of the essays, attending the three births, if that's what's required.
02:06And then it is doing your CPR certification, breastfeeding observation, newborn care. So
02:14after you do doula training, when you come out of there, you need to have a WhatsApp group.
02:18You need to have some sort of a private group space where you guys can stay connected. I think
02:23that's really important. When I first started out, I had a partner that was really good for
02:28our lives at the time. You could also have a larger collective where there's say like six or so
02:34of you. Also going on your social media and announcing, hey, this is what I do now. I'd love to
02:40serve. And offering maybe something like a 15 minute consultation that's maybe complimentary. These
02:48kinds of things could be interesting. Maybe doing an Instagram live where you answer questions,
02:53open the door and expand your lens on opportunity and bring in the skills that you already have to
03:00help bolster what it is that you're selling. For so many of us, it's very hard to talk about money.
03:06And
03:06this type of work, work of the home, what's particularly being classified as women's work,
03:12all that work is undervalued. So people do not want to pay doulas what they really deserve. And so in
03:20this work,
03:21you have to be able to know your worth and asking for a number that I can actually, you know,
03:27back up.
03:28And then when that comes, I'm ready to hold that. I'm ready to hold and live up to that number.
03:35A day in the life of a doula can be really interesting because some days it can be really
03:40calm and everything seems orderly. And then there's some days where everything is chaotic and lots,
03:48lots is happening. Typically speaking, folks may take on two to three clients, possibly four a month.
03:57But most people are taking one to two a month. In that timeframe, you have regular meetings.
04:02The initial meeting that you would have where someone gets to know you and decide whether they
04:07want to work together is generally a meeting where you come together either virtually or in person
04:13or in person, briefly to kind of just talk about your goals for your birth, a little bit about your
04:18health history and what you're looking for in a doula. After you've decided you want to work
04:22together, you contract. And then the appointments after that are generally three at minimum.
04:29Those are around an hour and a half each. Now in a post-COVID world, there's a combination of virtual
04:34and in person. Sometimes there's more, but a minimum of three appointments. And this is critical
04:41because you can't know anybody in less than that, right? Like if I come to your birth and we only
04:45met once, how am I going to be of service? Another key thing about doulas in this time that we're
04:51living through, where the U.S. is the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth.
04:57And then we look specifically at populations of color and specifically black women in this country,
05:03where we're four to five times more likely to die during childbirth or due to childbirth related
05:08causes. Having a doula can be not only life-affirming, but life-saving. We really need
05:14more doulas and we need people who want to pursue this work to help people at every juncture along the
05:21reproductive continuum. If you are feeling compelled to pursue birth work, now is the time.
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