With the World Doula Week nearing its end, we hope you now have all the necessary information about what is a doula and how can they help a mother. For the uninitiated, the World Doula Week is celebrated annually from 22nd March to 28th March all across the globe. The Week was actually started as the Doula Day on March 22nd 2011 and gradually expanded to World Doula Week. This annual initiative was started back in 2011 in Israel by a Doula herself and childbirth educator, Ruti Karni Horowitz.
And we recently got in touch with Divya Deswal, a doula and co-founder of digital platform My Child First, to know all about how one can become a doula. Following is the video wherein Divya explains how one can become a doula.
Divya explained, “There are many trainings available around the world for which you can choose and pick the one you want. As per your skills, you need to know a general physiological birth- what does it feel like, what is the process. You need to know the comfort measures and how you can support the woman. So you could look at training which not just gives you all the technical and academic information, but does your training of what support feels like. Because the hallmark of a doula is all about support. You can look for programs which are culturally sensitive and which apply to your community. so, anybody can become a doula- all you need is heart and hands.”
Another doula present at the discussion, Neha, explained further,
“Could have a programme to teach someone how to be a great friend? It’s kind of like that. It’s easy to pick up doula skills- to offer physical and emotional support. But to understand friendship or love, you have to experience it. Similarly, what you offer as a doula, you are able to do that only if you have truly experienced that. So I think the training programme has sensitized us to understand that nuance of doula work. And that is what really differentiates a good doula from someone who has just done a training programme and knows the skills.”
If we have piqued your interest in becoming a doula, then you must definitely give it a try!
