Mothering Touch Blog - Doulas

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Resource List on Systemic Racism in Perinatal Health in Canada

My motivation in compiling this list was to find Canadian resources for participants in my birth doula workshop.

As a white Canadian, I tend to minimize the effects of racism within our institutions. American or British resources do not help me confront these issues, because I can reassure myself that “it’s not so bad here.” So I set out to find specifically Canadian resources to help me come face to face with the racist past and present of our country. I wanted to focus on health care, and particularly perinatal care, because these are the issues I am called to work on in my profession as a doula, childbirth educator, and doula trainer.

I have only included items that can be freely and easliy accessed (no scholarly article behind pay-walls), and I have chosen shorter items, because they are more likely to get read!

I welcome comments about anything from this list that you watch/read. This list is not final – I hope to continue to add to it and update it. I welcome contributions to the list, if you know of articles or videos you would like to share. Send them along!

Eva Bild, CD(DONA) BDT(DONA) LCCE
Victoria, BC
eva@motheringtouch.ca

 

 

Institutional/Systemic Racism in Hospitals in Canada

https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/Health/UniversityManitoba.pdf

Episode from CBC radio – White Coat Black Art: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/i-am-a-white-settler-why-that-matters-in-health-care-1.4545454/it-s-the-hardest-conversation-we-can-have-confronting-racism-in-health-care-1.4545477

https://portal.cfpc.ca/ResourcesDocs/uploadedFiles/Resources/_PDFs/SystemicRacism_ENG.pdf

 

Indian Hospitals (This is the term that was used for these now historical institutions.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUOuUo79zU8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLiyhvZTXXo

https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/a-brief-look-at-indian-hospitals-in-canada-0

https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/books/separate-beds

 

Perinatal Care – Indigenous Families

https://diversityhealthcare.imedpub.com/canadian-indigenous-womens-perspectives-ofmaternal-health-and-health-care-services-asystematic-review.pdf

https://www.nccih.ca/docs/health/FS-AboriginalMaternalHealth-Smylie-EN.pdf

https://www.jogc.com/article/S1701-2163(16)34325-0/pdf

https://openpress.usask.ca/northernhealthcare/chapter/chapter-5-indigenous-birth/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324574736_Indigenous_Birth_in_Canada_Reconciliation_and_Reproductive_Justice_in_the_Settler_State

 

Forced Sterilization – Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-november-13-2018-1.4902679/indigenous-women-kept-from-seeing-their-newborn-babies-until-agreeing-to-sterilization-says-lawyer-1.4902693

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aasDnMQcSvI

 

Perinatal Care – Black Canadians

https://www.chatelaine.com/living/black-birthing-experience-canada/

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/black-maternal-health-canada_ca_5ed90ae3c5b685164f2eab93

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399118309601?via%3Dihub

https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/black-women-canada-higher-risk-preterm-births-256639

 

Anti-Black Racism in Canada – History

“Anti-Black racism is a particularly pernicious, borderless, and unique form of racism that has its roots in the Transatlantic slave trade. Slavery evolved into what Saidiya Hartman terms the “afterlife of slavery,” the modern-day, virulent, enduring forms of structural racial injustice and the different forms of structural inequalities that African descended people here in Canada and in other parts of the world continue to experience today.”

http://spacing.ca/toronto/2020/06/09/if-black-lives-truly-matter-in-canada-an-apology-for-slavery-is-only-a-first-step/

 

Anti-Black Racism Reading List

https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/anti-black-racism-reading-list

 

Webinars

From the Canadian Public Health Association: Transforming our Response: Practical Tips on Providing Trauma Informed, Culturally Safe Care

Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lttfFKqT3yQ&feature=youtu.be

Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVcg5-DH9mk

Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em3Gc4ggO2c

 

Indigenous Cultural Safety Collaborative Learning Series

http://www.icscollaborative.com/webinars

 

San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training

This course costs $300 for anyone who is not employed by a BC health authority. But it is very highly recommended.

http://www.sanyas.ca/training/british-columbia/core-ics-health

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Becoming a Doula

Learning comfrot measures

What are your plans for this year? Are you up for learning something new? Developing some new skills? Starting a new career? Finding a new passion? Why not take a Birth Doula Workshop?

What is a Birth Doula?

A Birth Doula is a person who accompanies pregnant families through late pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting. The doula’s role is to provide informational, emotional and physical support. The doula helps the parent or parents to find the information they need to make decisions about their care. The doula provides a listening ear, a compassionate voice, and holds space for the parents to process their experience. The doula holds a hand, wipes a brow, provides a cup of tea or sips of gingerale, rubs a back or massage a foot, suggests positions and movements to ease a long labour.

The doula’s focus is on the parents’ emotional well-being. Doulas do not diagnose, prescribe or recommend. Knowing that the midwife, doctor or nurse is taking care of the safety of the parent and baby, the doula is available continuously, throughout the childbirth experience, to ensure that the family feels safe and supported.

What do you learn in a Birth Doula Workshop?

I LOVE teaching Birth Doula Workshops! It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet with a group of people who are passionate about helping, who honour and respect the power of childbearing parents, who are curious about the process of labour and birth, who are compassionate and caring.

We talk about the anatomy and physiology of pregnancy and birth. We talk about the process of birth, both the physical and the emotional unfolding that happens. We try out and practice many different pain-relieving comfort measures – breathing, massage, visualization, positioning, movement. We discuss medical interventions, pros and cons, indications, how to help clients cope with them.

We also discuss starting a doula business, how to create a referral network, how to find clients, how to interview clients.  We help you plan your startup. A panel of practicing doulas comes in to meet with you and share tricks of the trade.

We discuss the emotional aspects of doula work, how to support clients through disappointment, or depression, or loss, how to find resources, and how and when to refer, so that it’s not all on us. And we talk about the postpartum period, and breastfeeding, and the new baby, and how to say goodbye at the end of the relationship.

We spend four days together, immersed in all this juicy, subtantial stuff. It is SO satisfying!

Who can be a doula?

Anyone! Anyone who is prepared to be compassionate, respectful, open-minded, open-hearted. Anyone who is ready to be on call for weeks, and ready to stay up all night, and press on a sacrum until your wrists and thumbs ache. You don’t need to be any particular age, or gender, or to have any particular education. You do not need to have had children. People of all sorts become pregnant, and they need people of all sorts to support them.

Are there laws restricting who can practice as a doula?

No. Not in Canada. Anyone can call themselves a doula. But I encourage you to get proper training and to become certified. Do your research. Make sure that the organization training you and certifying you is credible. Consider: is it an associaton of doulas which works for its members, or is it a privately-owned business trying to turn a profit? Is it an organization whose training and certification will be recognized in other provinces, states or countries?

Does the trainer you are going to learn from provide any mentoring or support after the workshop? Will they help you find clients? Will they support you through certification? Do they run meetings for doulas to meet and connect and network? (Yup. I do those things…)

DONA International

The doula organization I have been certified with for over 20 years, and for which I train doulas, is DONA International. DONA was the first international doula organization. DONA developed the Standards of Practice for doulas which have been studied, determined to safe and beneficial, and which have become the industry standard. DONA has certified thousands of doulas in over 50 countries around the world.

How can I find a Doula Workshop?

Funny thing that. I happen to be teaching a doula workshop in Victoria from March 6-9, 2020. You can read all about it here.  

I offer one bursary (full and partial) in each workshop to folks in financial need. As part of my efforts towards Reconciliation, I offer one full bursary in each of my workshops, to an Indigenous person. Please contact me directly – eva@motheringtouch.ca

If you can’t be in Victoria that weekend (too bad, it’s a great time of year to visit), you can find a DONA International Birth Doula Workshop here. 

I have so many more questions!

If so, contact me. I love to answer questions about being a doula.

 

In the Doula Spirit,

                 Eva

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Why do I Doula?

Have you ever considered becoming a Postpartum Doula? AJ Hadfield, our friend, Postpartum Doula and Doula Trainer has written a guest blog post explaining her love for her job. We have a Postpartum Doula Training happening here at Mothering Touch with AJ in June.

 

My name is AJ Hadfield and I am a postpartum doula.  I have been fortunate enough to do this work for the past 13 years.  When I first started, I had a vague idea of helping mothers and snuggling babies.  I didn’t understand how much my clients would teach me and how being a postpartum doula would shape and define the second half of my life.  Why do I doula?

  • Because I understand now that good support at the right time can make all the difference for a new family
  • Because helping couples adjust to parenthood is important, valuable work
  • Because being around new babies all the time is the best!
  • Because watching people become parents is about the best thing in the world
  • Because I am constantly humbled by the power and strength of new mothers
  • Because I recognize the value in giving a parent permission to take a breather
  • Because I get to watch a big brother meet his baby sister for the first time
  • Because I recognize that guiding a new mother on her breastfeeding journey is never the same experience twice
  • Because being part of a family’s postpartum journey is a privilege
  • Because sometimes a mother needs someone by her side to say it’s OK when she’s making the hard choices
  • Because sometimes a new dad needs someone he can cry with, who won’t be sitting across from him at Thanksgiving.
  • Because sometimes, in my small way, I know I have made a difference
  • Because it always makes me smile to get a text with a picture of a poopy diaper and the question ‘is this normal’?
  • Because I know helping to normalize what is overwhelming to new families is important and,
  • Because I know that celebrating what is trivial to most people is also important
  • Because watching a baby latch on and suckle for the first time never gets old
  • Because I know that sometimes, my training and observant eye can help a mama get the support she needs when she needs it most
  • Because helping a parent figure out the intricacies of their baby wrap is always fun
  • Because even on the hard days, when I question whether I’ve supported in the best way I can, I still can’t wait for tomorrow and the chance to do it all over again, and
  • Because I love getting the email two years later, asking what I’m doing in 9 months and knowing I get to be with this family all over again

I am a postpartum doula – I love what I do.

 

If you have questions or are interested in registering for the Postpartum Doula Training happening June 1st to June 4th, 2018 go here or give us a call!

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Special Event – Pelvic Floor Health

Applications of physiotherapy in the re-education of the pelvic floor and abdominals in the perinatal period (and beyond…)
Laura Werner MPT, BKin Registered Physiotherapist
Sponsored by the Doulas of Victoria
Friday January 15, 2016 at 7pm
Mothering Touch Centre
975 Fort street, Victoria BC
Admission $5 (Doulas of Victoria Members – Free!)

All birth workers, doulas, midwives, physicians, nurses, anyone interested in the perinatal period, Welcome!!
OBJECTIVES

  • review the anatomy and function of the pelvic floor and abdominals
  • identify common, but not normal, dysfunctions of the pelvic floor and abdominals that can occur in the perinatal period
  • indicate appropriate referrals for physiotherapy assessment and treatment
  • discuss an evidence based approach of physiotherapy for pelvic floor and abdominal dysfunction
  • identify appropriate referrals for physiotherapy assessment and treatment

BIO

Laura Werner is a Registered Physiotherapist with specific post-graduate training in the management and treatment of pelvic floor, abdominal, pre and post pregnancy, uro-gynecological and lumbopelvic dysfunction. She earned her Masters of Physiotherapy Degree from University of British Columbia in 2008 and her Bachelor’s of Kinesiology Degree in Athletic Therapy from the University of Calgary in 2002. Laura is an active member of the Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia.

After taking postgraduate courses in pelvic floor rehabilitation, she sought the training of Marcy Dayan, who has taught and worked extensively in this field. Laura mentored intensively with Marcy and was asked to join her practice. She worked at the highly regarded Dayan Physiotherapy and Pelvic Floor Clinic for over 5-years. Laura has also worked for the renowned Multidisciplinary Vulvodynia Program at Vancouver General Hospital.

Laura balances her professional life with her family of 5 (husband and their three children). Laura is a great advocate for lifelong learning and appreciates the challenges of work life balance. She is an avid yoga practitioner and former instructor. She is also a Certified PhysicalMind Mat Pilates Instructor.

Laura Werner
Registered Physiotherapist
Shelbourne Physiotherapy – Cook Street Clinic
308-1175 Cook Street Victoria, BC
250.381.9828
www.physiotherapyvictoria.ca/laura-werner-pelvic-floor-physiotherapist/

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When Survivors Give Birth : A workshop with Penny Simkin & Phyllis Klaus

When Survivors Give Birth:
A workshop with Penny Simkin & Phyllis Klaus
Presented by the Doulas of Victoria – workshop proceeds being donated to The Umbrella Society (see bottom of page)

DAY 1: When Survivors Give Birth
Friday, September 19, 2013, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health, 2400 Arbutus Road, Victoria B.C.

 This workshop is intended for:  Doulas, midwives, doctors working with childbearing women, nurses working with childbearing women, psychologists and other mental health professionals, perinatal social workers, anyone who works with trauma, sexual assault, and domestic violence shelters, any other professional servicing childbearing women.  It is the prerequisite for the Advanced  Counselling Skills Workshop which takes place on the next day.

A not-to-be missed opportunity to learn from renowned experts Penny Simkin PT and Phyllis Klaus MFT, LMSW, authors of the book When Survivors Give Birth.  Join other maternity care, mental health and allied providers to focus on the issues of the least understood of pregnant clients.  Advance your understanding of an all too common issue for childbearing women and families—a history of early sexual abuse and/or other trauma.  Expand your care practices for women at risk of poor physical and psychosocial childbirth outcomes.  Improve your response to women who express emotional concerns about childbearing.

Topics:

  • Definition of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and other child abuse
  • Common manifestations of any type of child abuse on the childbearing woman
  • Unique manifestations of sexual abuse specifically on the childbearing woman
  • Neurological and behavioral sequelae of child abuse
  • Impact of childhood sexual abuse on conscious memory
  • Impact of childhood sexual abuse on the adult woman
  • Impact of CSA on pregnancy
  • Impact of CSA on labor and birth
  • Relationship between the woman and her caregiver

DAY 2 – Advanced Counselling Skills Workshop
Saturday September 20, 2013 – 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health, 2400 Arbutus Road, Victoria B.C.

REQUIRED READING:  When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on the Childbearing Woman by Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus.

This Advanced Counselling Skills Workshop is intended for:  experienced maternity care providers, mental health and allied providers.  Attendance in DAY 1 is a prerequisite to attendance in Day 2.  

Topics:

  • Counseling strategies to prepare nulliparas with fear about the upcoming birth
  • Counseling after a traumatic birth
  • Counseling the pregnant woman with a previous traumatic birth
  • Modification of common childbirth preparation techniques for CSA survivors
  • Impact of CSA on postpartum recovery, breastfeeding, and postpartum mood disorders
  • Self-help techniques to reduce distressing symptoms

To Register:   Click here to register online (PayPal or Credit Card via PayPal) or register by phone by calling Mothering Touch at (250)595-4905.

Course Fee: (includes refreshments, lunch and door prizes)
Day 1: $135 (plus GST) before September 1st.   After September 1st – $150 (plus GST)
Day 1 AND 2 : $250 (plus GST) before September 1st.    After September 1st – $275 (plus GST)

For Additional Information
click here to to email Doulas of Victoria
or call Mothering Touch at 250-595-4905

DONA International Continuing Education Credits HAVE BEEN APPLIED FOR

Books will be available for sale.

Workshop leaders:

Penny and Phyllis

Penny Simkin PT is a renowned author and speaker.  Penny has devoted much of her forty year career to exploring the impact of early trauma on pregnant women in our maternity care system and developing strategies to avoid retraumatization during birth and facilitate the process of healing.  The workshop provides information, insight, and practical advice for individualizing prenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care.  Penny’s book, When Survivors Give Birth, co-authored with Phyllis Klaus CSW, MFT is the essential guide to the topic.

Phyllis Klaus, MFT, LMSW is a licensed psychotherapist, marriage, family, therapist, and social worker.  Formerly at the Milton H. Erickson Institute in Santa Rosa, California, she currently practices in Berkeley, California, providing psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and counselling to individuals, couples, families, children, and groups.  She has worked with the concerns, both medical and psycho-social, of pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period for the past 30 years, and has been involved in research and the training of maternity caregivers.

DONATION OF PROCEEDS

We are delighted to announce that after administrative costs, all proceeds from this event will be donated to the Umbrella Society and designated for a special fund for the childbearing women that they serve.

Umbrella is a small and savvy peer outreach organization, serving people in the Greater Victoria area for whom substance use has become a problem.

Executive Director, Gordon Harper, and his team work tirelessly and with tremendous dedication to serve some of the most marginalized members of our community, providing help to about 750 individuals with mental health and addictions struggles every year. Most of their clients are between 19 to 29 years of age.

We are pleased to note that donated funds will not be used for any kind of staffing or administrative expenses. Rather, they will be held in a special account and spent according to parameters outlined by Umbrella’s steering committee, and used exclusively to service the childbearing women they serve.

The Umbrella Society is thrilled to have our support. As Gordon Harper so eloquently wrote in his thanks, “there are moments when even a small gift, a small act of kindness, can make all the difference in the world.”

Thank you for your participation in this workshop!

For more information about the Umbrella Society,  please visit their website:
www.umbrellasociety.ca  

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Breastpump Inservice

 

Breastpump Inservice

Thursday, May 30th

7 – 8:30pm

The Mothering Touch Centre

975 Fort Street

It’s about helping Moms.

 

When it comes to pumps and pumping, what’s new & old?

What are some issues moms need help with?

What are some helpful tips?

 

Come and share your experiences with such things as:

      • Transitioning to home with baby
      • What’s available in the community
      • Use and care of various pumps

Light refreshments provided by BfM-svi.  Please let us know you are coming to help us prepare.  Call Audrey  (778)678-0747

Click here to download a PDF poster for this event.