Doulas
The Felt Sense of 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 the experts about a course she…
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 Business: My Journey into the Heart of Entrepreneurship
Welcome April! A new month means it’s time for a new theme. Leading into the year, the theme was all about the nature of human beings: families, our brains, decision-making, and where our passions and inspiration come from. February, I explored how we want to be heard and seen, which led into March, which was…
Read MoreYou Can Do Better Than ‘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? That’s what I see.…
Read MoreSo You Want to Be a Doula?
So You Want to Be a Doula? Twenty years ago, few people knew what the word ‘doula’ meant. Now, most people know what a doula is But there are so many kinds of doulas…birth, postpartum, death or end of life, full spectrum, even divorce or surgery doulas. What is the difference between all these types…
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. 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 clients at the…
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. We tend to think it’s very logical, analytical, and reasoned, when in fact it’s a very emotion-based process. Check out Decision-Making: Faking You Out Big Time! to learn about the parts of 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.” Her article reminded me that I wanted to blog about decision-making, so here we are. Decision-making is the process we use to…
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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