Community-Based Doula Impact on Maternal and Infant Health

What is a community-based doula? A community-based doula is a professionally trained doula who delivers culturally sensitive doula services to underserved communities at no cost to the birthing individual. During the perinatal stages of pregnancy, a community-based doula offers nonmedical support, emotional support, empowering childbirth information, lactation support, and advocacy. Community-based doulas have expert knowledge of community resources that support the unique needs of birthing individuals from underserved populations. Through Sharon’s story below, let’s explore what support from community-based doulas can look like.

Meet Sharon. Sharon was homeless due to ongoing domestic and family violence. Unfortunately, Sharon had periods of  unemployment given her less than high school education level. Due to a learning disability, she often struggled in school. Considering her experiences of domestic and family violence, Sharon has had no meaningful support system.

Recently, she discovered that she was pregnant with her first child – an unintended pregnancy. Without a plan, Sharon has not had any prenatal health care. Thankfully, she was connected to a community-based doula program during a visit to a social service agency. Sharon’s culturally sensitive community-based doula was able to establish connection and trust with her. The community-based doula was then able to address some of her basic needs such as housing, food, and medical insurance. With holistic support in place, Sharon and her community-based doula could focus on her maternal and infant health such as prenatal care. Later, Sharon’s community-based doula was able to identify a formal job training program that will assist Sharon in achieving her GED and gaining employment.

Sharon’s story is one example of how a community-based doula impacts a birthing individual’s maternal and infant health. As a professionally trained birth and postpartum doula, I have firsthand experience impacting maternal and infant health at a community level within a culturally sensitive community-based doula program. I have served birthing individuals who lived in poverty, were homeless, required support navigating and interpreting medical systems of care, lived with mental health and/or AODA illness, were victims of domestic violence, had cognitive disabling conditions, lived in food desserts, had unintended births, were single mothers, lived with preexisting medical conditions, developed perinatal medical diagnosis, required extra lactation support, lived with postpartum depression, and more.

At times, the lived experiences of birthing individuals are generational or situational. Whatever the situation, when birthing individuals from underserved populations receive the support of a culturally sensitive community-based doula, children thrive. In the long-term, the educational outcomes for developing children improve.

An inclusive community of professionals needs to establish connection and trust with our underrepresented birthing parents to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. Is our Fox Valley community ready to deliver a community-based doula program to our underserved birthing communities? Can we improve the long-term outcomes for children by creating a professional support system before babies are born? Can we give new parents support early on to see better birthing outcomes?  It is time to launch this type of collective professional support service in the Fox Valley community.

Be sure to visit this publication from time to time to check in on how Sharon’s maternal and infant health journey evolves with the support of her community-based doula.

In the spirit of connection and community!