Trauma-Informed Support | Dayton Birth Doula

Providing Trauma Informed Doula Support in Dayton

and Trauma Informed Perinatal Hermana Support Anywhere

Courtesy of Whitney Brewer

How I was trained in Trauma-Informed Care (TIC)

I received Trauma and Resilience-Informed Birth Education (T.R.I.B.E.) through ReStoryative Somatics in Dayton Ohio in 2023. This was a comprehensive training designed by long-time doula and Somatic Trauma Resolution practitioner, Amy Chavez. It included:

9 full days of training (1 per month over 9 months)

1-2 follow up meetings per month to process and reflect on the material, both personally and professionally

6 Principles of Trauma-Informed Care

(as stated by SAMHSA.gov)

How Do I Bring Them to My Practice?

1. Safety

*Help to keep you feeling safe physically and emotionally during childbirth

*Remind you of your body's wisdom and ability to birth your baby

*Recognize signs you may be triggered or suffering at any point during your birth

*Guide you in grounding techniques so you can feel centered enough to communicate your needs to your birth team

2. Trust and Transparency

*Give information about doula's scope of practice and skillset

*Abide by the doula's scope of practice and ethics

*Get to know you during your pregnancy and develop good rapport with you and your birth partner

*Demonstrate honesty, consistency, and reliability

3. Peer Support

*Connect you with peer support groups if needed

*I am in community with other doulas for support so that I can continue to support you effectively

4. Collaboration and Mutuality

*Work collaboratively with you, your birth parter, your midwife/doctor and your nurses as a member of your birth team to help you achieve the birth you dream of

*Emphasize your voice, questions, and concerns

*Help facilitate good communication between you and your medical team

*Do my part to create a mutually respectful environment with your birth care team

5. Empowerment of Voice and Choice

*Listen to you as an expert of your own experience

*Educate you about options in birth so you can figure out what's important to you

*Support you in your birth plan and help you obtain the information you need to make informed decisions if something changes

*Help you hone in on your own particular methods and abilities for relaxation and strength

6. Cultural, Historical, Racial, Gender Awareness

*Valuing the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, spirituality, culture, and gender and the knowledges and philosophies each brings to the world and to the birth room

*Having awareness of my own assumptions and biases

*Acknowledging the prevalence of black and brown families feeling disrespected and misunderstood in the birth room and doing my part to prevent it
*Understanding that historical/generational trauma (particularly racialized and sexualized trauma) plays a role in infant/maternal health disparities

White Doula For Black Mothers: What does this really mean?

[Excerpt from poem FOR THE WHITE PERSON WHO WANTS TO KNOW HOW TO BE MY FRIEND by Pat Parker]

"The first thing you do is to forget that I'm black.
Second, you must never forget that I'm black."

I often think about this poem as I support a woman of color during her pregnancy and birth. We start with an innate connection that no faulty political structure can take from us: We are women together in this world. We are mothers. (Usually, that is -- we doulas must also acknowledge that not everyone who gives birth identifies as being a woman or a mother.) During the vulnerability of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum this poignant shared experience of woman-ness can come to the forefront.

But there is an important part of her experience that I do not share: her blackness or her brownness. No matter how many books I read, no matter how much I learn about a group, no matter how many relationships I form, I won't ever be black. She won't ever be white. As a doula and as a woman, I have a deep awe for this. What does that mean? I'm not exactly sure yet.

A Big Lesson

The biggest thing I got from my T.R.I.B.E. training that should be part of any trauma training is the real and intentional examination of yourself in community with others unlike you. It teaches you about others, but more importantly it teaches you about yourself.

Growing up, my whiteness in a way was invisible to me. For many of us white people our customs, knowledges, assumptions about the world, dialect and language, social mores and etiquette, expression, mannerisms, aesthetic taste, and so much more -- we often don't see as culturally specific, it's just "normal".

At least, that's how it was for me until I married into a Mexican family... and married to a philosopher specializing in critical philosophy of race and Latin American philosophy no less. While our compatibility is somehow strong, our differences have often been the stuff of comedy (and exasperation). But this and my training both have all revealed a lot to me about myself and my own family and culture.

The Impact on My Work

Taking this training that emphasized the importance of authentic relationship with others outside your own race and culture has been invaluable to my ability to work with and alongside black and brown doulas and families. ("Authentic" relationship -- that's a topic to flesh out in and of itself, isn't it? but let's keep going anyway.) I learned to be in collaboration with them holding both humility and dignity, for we all have something to learn from others and we all have something to bring to the table to fight against racism and fight for social justice. But first, it helps when we know ourselves.