Listening to Mothers (and Battling Over Birth) was groundbreaking. Now Let’s #Listentodoulas

In 2002, Childbirth Connection published the first of what became a series (5 to date, with the latest published in 2018) of Listening to Mothers Reports and Surveys. It was 2018 when Chinyere Oparah, Linda Jones, Dantia Hudson, Talita Oseguera and Helen Arega published Battling Over Birth: Black Women and The Maternal Health Care Crisis in California. This is a must read for all who work in maternal health, healthcare, are parents and, of course, doulas. Their summary of 100 Black birthing experiences in California tells important stories about lived experiences.

These are two landmark projects that illuminate the experience of birthing people in the United States.

If you’re a doula, I highly recommend reading the complete reports the next time you’re caught up on sleep! You can read highlights of the Listening to Mothers Reports, but every word of Battling Over Birth needs to be heard, felt and understood.

We know we need to listen to the experiences of both birthing people and consumers of health care – the stakeholders who are meant to benefit the most from our care systems. I’ve been listening closely over these last years to the experiences of doctors, nurses, and those who are burning out in our care systems. As an advocate for relationship-centered care and a teacher of mindful compassion and anti-bias, trauma-informed care to care professionals, I know that those providing care are often unseen. Their suffering is inseparable from the systems they serve and the outcomes of their service. Compassionomics, the work of Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli, is another great read. They argue that compassion is the key to affecting more positive patient outcomes as well as improving the financial health of organizations and the well-being of providers. I promise we’ll give this more space in another blog.

(Book club anyone? Sign up to join our communities, where these and other opportunities to learn, lead, and listen are taking form!)

In this moment, I’d like to put out a call to #listentodoulas. This is a time when doulas are being recognized as holding the key to improving the very issues hindering the optimal care in our country that Listening to Mothers, and Battling Over Birth have called out. Okkanti is joining with an independent research organization and other research partners (please connect with us if this speaks to you!) to give voice to these care workers, who like many care workers, can feel invisible.

We’re building the stories and experiences to understand the needs of doulas who are the “middle of the night heroines/heroes” of our pregnancies and early parenting. We’re uncovering and solving for the gaps in our industry – the things that get in the way, the pay that doesn’t cover the expenses, the insurance we need and the care systems that support us. We’re building a place where doulas belong, no matter where or how you practice.