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How
to Become a Doula
Getting
Those First Few Births
Every
experienced doula will tell you that the first few births
are the hardest to get, but after attending several
births, you’ll start getting referrals and be
able to market yourself with more confidence. Meanwhile,
you need to attend some births now!
Maybe
you have attended doula training, but you haven’t
been certified by anyone yet. In fact, you may
need these births in order to complete your certification.
How can you get those first births when everyone wants
a doula with experience? And how do you get the experience
if no one will let you be their doula?
Mentoring
Mentoring
is an excellent way to get experience. Mentoring is
when you tag along to births with an experienced
doula, and she helps get you the hands-on experience
you need. She may ask you to take pictures and hold
the video camera—if that’s what this client wants. She
may ask you to get water or ice chips for mom.
I
spoke to Stephanie Soderblom, a certified doula who
frequently mentors new doulas. I asked her where she
met her doula trainees, how she decides
if she’s going to mentor them and what she lets them
do during the births.
She
told me that she couldn’t remember where she met her
first doula trainee, “…but we ended up…good friends.
She ended up being one of my doulas for my birth.”
The
second doula she mentored, “I met when she came to my
house when I held a Polly Perez/Suzanne Arms workshop...and
we hit it off... became friends... she then did her
doula training and I began mentoring her.” The doula
trainee she is mentoring now was referred to her.
When
you’re looking for someone to mentor you, call up the
different doula-certifying organizations (see
Chapter 2) and ask for referrals to doulas in
your town. You can also look on the web for doulas in
your area.
Whoever
decides to mentor you will probably interview you
in person first. Be sure to read section 7.8 ("Surviving
Interviews") before calling for interviews.
“I
ask some of the same questions my clients ask, and I
make sure that our philosophy and style is the same.
I can’t have someone hire me for my philosophy, and
then find out that my back-up doula or the doula I’m
mentoring is totally different. I ask things like, ‘If
a mother came to you and said she KNEW she wanted an
epidural, what would you say? Feel? Would you feel comfortable
working with someone who didn’t plan to breastfeed?
Planned to circumcise? Wanted a hospital birth? Home
birth?’ I try to get a feel for their philosophy, and
how they talk and interact. If I would feel comfortable
referring people to them, then I feel comfortable taking
them on and helping them with their certifying births.”
—Stephanie Soderblom CD (DONA), ICD
What
will you be doing at the birth?
Stephanie
told me that at the first births, “[My trainee does]
little more than observe and be my gopher…
they run to get drinks and heat up the hot sox and grab
me that towel from over there, etc.” This is your chance
to be at the birth without the pressure to perform.
At
the second birth, “I usually have them be more involved,
watching how they are and working WITH them more
than anything else.” Then, at the third birth, “I usually
step back and have them do all of the paperwork
with their own supplies. I become the back-up doula
more than anything else, more observing her and
being there for help and suggestions than
anything else.”
After
that, Stephanie told me, it’s up to them. “If
she wants more experience, fine. If not, pleasure working
with you. I love being a mentor... love, love, love
it. My experience has been very positive.”
After
you have attended a few births, you can tell your clients
that you’ve mentored with a local doula,
and tell them about her credentials. This will
help your clients see you as experienced and someone
they’d trust as their doula.
This article is
an excerpt from the fabjob.com How to Become a Doula.
Visit www.fabjob.com
for information.
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