Dear Doulas: it’s time to level -up.

Dear Doulas –

We have another problem, and I am coming to this conclusion after a year of attending conferences and continuing education courses.

I had the honor of attending the COAND conference this year, (Colorado Association of Naturopathic Doctors,) with a conference theme of “Healing Healthcare.” Now you might think-why does a doula attend a conference for doctors? Well, because I was invited to attend, and the knowledge and connections that I can make by attending these conferences are priceless. It is an honor to be invited and to be respected as a professional.

We are ALL part of the solution to healing healthcare, and I am surprised when I have to explain that to other doulas. Because I don’t have to explain myself (and my role) to the doctors and other health professionals. THEY are starting to understand our place, and just recently at the DoulaCON conference Dr. Bill Chun gave a keynote address speaking specifically to the role doulas have in changing and improving outcomes. He believes, as a OBGYN, that doulas are the x-factor. He (nor any other doctor) can’t change a system from the inside. The only hope is to change it from the outside, client by client, and by doulas showing up as an active, respectful member of the care team.

So WHY are the majority of doulas not understanding the role we have? Why are doulas not taking part in building relationships with care providers and other health professionals? Why are doulas not making it a priority to further their education and professional development? Why do doulas complain about taking continuing education courses, and complain about costs to attend conferences? Do you not understand the VALUE of growth and knowledge?

IT IS IMPARATIVE to our jobs that we (doula) understand the importance of continuing education. We must stay up to date on many happenings of our industry. If we serve the role as advocates and helping our clients communicate better with health professionals, then we must understand both sides, and be able to speak to health professionals in their language and speak to our clients in theirs.

Doulas have a unique role in health care, as we are not employees of the health care system, but we must work with healthcare providers on the regular. We need to understand that in order to be respected and seen as vital members of the care team, we must recognize our scope and also level up.

Healthcare providers DO NOT need to spend their time telling us that a procedure is out of practice.  We look dumb and unprofessional. I see so many doulas coming out of training and spending time with a client to build up a defense against an medical procedure or an intervention, and make a birth plan to stand against the provider, all to learn that the provider and facility stopped doing that procedure (as common practice) long ago. But those trainers and the doulas are not current in their knowledge about what is actually happening in practice. Choose your training wisely and make sure your trainers are active in the industry and understand what is current practice.

Doulas need to step up their learning game and make a commitment to learning and growing their professional practice. Doulas need to budget their business to include a substantial amount of resources on their continuing education and growth. Professional growth is never a hinderance to the practice, so I do not understand the lax attitude towards more education.

IF we want healthcare to take us seriously and TRUST us as a member of the care team, we need to level up. Soft skills, business skills and even conflict resolution can be and SHOULD be a big part of continuing education for all doulas and allied health professionals.

If we want to truly make a difference (and we can), perhaps we are the only ones that have the opportunity to make change – we have to step up.

Churchill said “With great power comes great responsibility….” and I believe that we have a great responsibility to better ourselves in order to provide the service our clients deserve, but to also impact outcomes for the generations to come. It starts with us, and perhaps ends with us too.