Calling ALL Doulas who work in Wisconsin!
Kay'La Mumford of Birth and Embrace Communities in Milwaukee and I were talking about how no one really knows who the other doulas are; no one really knows who is working on legislation or policy that will affect us; and without being organized we have no way to influence a collective future.
This event is for ALL DOULAS - palliative care/end of life, postpartum, sleep, birth/labor, prenatal care, and complex illness navigation doulas. If you use the word "doula" to describe yourself to other people, we want you in the room.
I went to my first birth 41 years ago and its time for tomorrow's leaders to emerge. This summit is an opportunity for us all to listen to one another and then see what happens!
I truly believe in "emergent strategy" - that the right direction and strategy will emerge from the people who are most affected. My Research Fellowship is through the Center for Community and NonProfit Studies - where I have learned many things about fostering and creating community in today's landscape. Doulas are a profession as well as a social movement; in recent history it's hard to recall a similar juxtaposition. We stand for
patient/client/female empowerment as a movement. Yet in our professional role we focus on the individual before us. Because we are a commodified movement - one that has been required to prove itself by showing people will pay for the service - we are not pure like other social movements (i.e.environmental preservation, humane animal rescue). So we don't get the same legitimacy as a social movement, nor do doulas get the credit for the complex duties they perform in the labor
room.
Who understands? Other doulas! So please join us in the summit on September 1st!
