ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — At the Center for Health Equity in St. Petersburg, we witnessed the birth of the area's next batch of doulas.
Dozens sat around tables taking in the information. According to organizers, many got scholarships for this training, which were paid for by Healthy Start at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and the St. Petersburg Housing Authority.
Ni'Chelle Lawson is one of the doulas-in-training. She told ABC Action News that she signed up for this three-day training course after her own experience with a doula in 2018.
"I was on a lot of medication and in a lot of pain and she was able to come in and be that sense of comfort," she said.
The program is being run in partnership with Commonsense Childbirth Inc. and local doulas like Courtney West.
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"We were really diving into what a doula does and what are the roles of a doula and how you show up in the professional sites of a doula," said West.
West has been a doula for six years, working with many people during pregnancy, including Lawson.
For her, the goal of this training program is to give people an honest look at this work, for better or worse.
"This is triggering work and how do you take self-care to yourself so you're able to show up authentically to be able to do this work," said West.
But ultimately, West said, the hope is that this program will reduce disparities for Black and Brown moms by arming the community with more trained advocates.
"You cannot birth the whole St. Pete, the whole Tampa Bay area. As good as I am, that's not my job. My job is to empower and birth all of these doulas so that they can go out into the community and do it," said West, "Because the more that they're out there, the more access we have, the more lives we save."
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And it's something Lawson said is needed now more than ever.
"It's a way for me to, one, give help to the people where there are so many people who are screaming for help even though they're not saying anything," said Lawson.
West also told ABC Action News that the best way to help support doulas in your local community is by donating your time, money, or space.
