“Sex education” or “birth control help” we’re probably the keywords I thumbed into the Tumblr search bar. I was furious, finally home from junior high after a long afternoon spent in the school library being lectured by an outreach leader of a Lloydminster / Battleford's area faith-based abstinence group about the dangers of condom use and fear mongering about birth control options. I found the blog I had come across only a few months before- Chloë Lubell, CNM’s The Midwife Is In. Every Sunday she’d open her anonymous inbox for questions that ranged from “can I still use a menstrual cup if I get an IUD?” to “I've been having trouble peeing ever since I’ve had my baby- is that normal?” Her blog was a soothing reminder that evidence-informed options were still available to me and my peers from caring professionals, despite the bizarre messaging being received from the Saskatchewan education system. Her discussions on that blog expanded my view of what I thought reproductive wellness could look like.
Armed with my newfound knowledge and with a passion to share with my friends, I began finding the info we certainly weren’t learning in school or at home and collecting some of my first outreach resources: contraception and medical device inserts! These helpful flyers contained not only vital manufacturer instructions, but often compared data to other contraceptive methods and techniques. Condom leaflets, spermicide leaflets, combination hormonal birth control inserts, the Mirena IUD insert…I saved all of this info for reference and review, supplementing with online resources from Planned Parenthood and Scarlett Teen. Oh, and I'd love to know what the medical office assistants at the clinics I went to in North Battleford and Lloydminster were thinking- I would take a copy of every single birth control, contraception, and pregnancy options pamphlet I could find (as well as some HIV and Hep C brochures to peruse to stay up-to-date on local stats). Looking back, that might be considered quite strange for a 15 year old, but it was as helpful as it was necessary.
My high school graduation present package for my classmates...other classmates brought things like beach towels and water bottles, I got them condoms and consent outreach materials (and yes, there's a lot I'd change/add now)
Chloë of The Midwife Is In inspired me to look more into pursuing community health and outreach, but more than that she helped me understand that birth is part of the continuum of reproductive healthcare that deserves reverence and respect. As a teen trying to avoid pregnancy, exploring perinatal aspects of midwifery and the work birth doula’s frankly scared the shit out of me; pregnancy and childbirth still felt like a far off process that only grown folks had to worry about…(theory disproven by my best friend’s unplanned pregnancy as a teen a few years later). Still, deep down, I understood that birth work would one day come to focus in my life, and Chloë primed my future experiences for learning with her open advocacy of the principles of informed-choice, trauma informed care, and LGBTQ2S+ inclusivity.
Through online blogging spaces after finding Chloe, I was introduced to the work of Monet Nicole a birth photographer in Colorado and co-founder of Birth Becomes You. Monet documented birth experiences that I had never even dreamed could be possible. She shared births that happened at home, in hospitals, in birth centers. I heard the screams and laughs and whimpers and roars as parents worked so carefully and turned inward to travel to the stars and welcome their babies Earthside. I watched, on screen, the transformation of families and the first moments of a sweet, perfect babies coming into their bodies. From Monet's work, I was over the moon when internet-paths crossed and I was recommended the work of Jessica Austin with Birth Takes a Village- a Vancouver based doula who shared her work helping create space of these transformative birth experiences in my very own country of residence.
I delved into Jessica Austin’s blog, I was introduced to the Canadian doula landscape, and from there dove into midwifery options in my area. I was surprised to learn that midwifery care was available, but essentially inaccessible in my region. The spring before my senior year of high school I scored an interview with a pretty competitive local midwifery university program (that I completely bombed, by the way…I was 16, okay?!), and finally settled on pursuing a nursing degree at a university a province over after high school (that I promptly dropped out of…in retrospect, I recognize that feeling like I was “settling” on an option was a red flag). Not yet interested in doula work, I kept Jessica Austin and her full-spectrum doula service offerings in the back of my mind and her inspiring perspectives and content at the top of my feed as I shifted gears towards another one of my passions: connecting young people and families to the wisdom of Mother Earth.
Fast forward a few years: I’ve finished a diploma from Saskatchewan Polytechnic in my field and have a growing career in east-central Alberta working in environmental education. In order to better create outreach education content for my target demographics, I began looking into early childhood education courses through my local college. Somehow, Jessica Austin, the Vancouver doula (and now birth doula trainer in the city) who inspired me all those years ago, had made her way back to the top of my feed. Jessica was pregnant, and Jessica had breast cancer. Jessica was dying; that wasn’t exactly official yet of course, but after reading back through all her shared wisdom over the years I found myself desperate to learn more and was nagged by the thought that one day soon I could be far too late. I remember looking at her website's doula training offerings and thinking there was no way I could afford a Vancouver trip of that scale right now, and how I wished there could be some other way.
After completing 3 courses in childhood behaviour and development, a global pandemic hit. The pandemic seriously shifted my career prospects in my current position away from my passions of storytelling to families and children, and I began reflecting on my values and passions and what I wanted for my future. I began having dreams about my future and where I felt myself being called, yet I resisted. I tried rationalizing to myself that I had a perfectly fine career I’d be silly to abandon for doula work. Over and over, I was shown that while it was a lovely, well-maintained path, it was simply not the path for me. I was apparently meant to stomp my own trail…even when it feels like I’m hiking through a blowdown in muskeg sometimes.
When the snow came again in the first year of the pandemic, I read another announcement from Jessica Austin, the doula and doula trainer from Vancouver I admired so dearly.. In the next months she’d be leading an entirely virtual doula training, and registration was open. It was like a dream come true.
[Part 1 of 3- Reflecting on my Doula Training Experiences So Far]
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