COVID-19 Doula Resources—April 2020 Newsletter
Birth & Postpartum Doulas April 2020 NewsletterView this email in your browser |
COVID-19 UPDATESStrategies & Resources for Doulas |
YOUR DOULA CAREER STARTS HERE!PATTY BRENNAN’S DOULA BUSINESS GUIDE |
Newborn Isolation, COVID-19 CDC Guidelines and Infant Mental Health Blogger, researcher, doula trainer Amy Gilliland asks: “Under what circumstances would you consider never holding your newborn baby, depriving yourselves of that golden hour of brain development and optimal attachment?” Read this important and informative blog. Better yet, just follow Amy as she keeps us all cutting edge in the strangest of times.Resources for Navigating Trying Times Evidence Based Birth COVID-19 Resources. Includes Virtual Doula Support for Birth Families and resources for finding a “virtual doula” or virtual CBE class.And one more … A number of bloggers have written up ideas for “virtual doula support” during COVID-19 and we have been sharing those with you. This one, by DONA doula trainer Connie Sultana is especially thoughtful, detailed and thorough. When Birth Doulas Must Provide Labor Support at a Distance.Mutual Accommodations during COVID-19 Lifespan Doulas will make every accommodation possible for each person who has invested in an upcoming doula training or intends to do so. Here is how we can help:If anyone is currently on a payment plan and needs to pause that plan due to lost income, please just let me know. We can renegotiate your plan on the other side of this crisis. (On the other hand, if you are able to pay off a payment plan now, that would be greatly appreciated.)For those on payment plans who have completed some portion or all of their training, your certificates of attendance have been mailed to you so that you will not have further delay in proof of training.If anyone who has prepaid for a training now finds that they need a refund due to lost income, please let me know. We will waive our normal cancellation policy (30 days notice required and a $75 cancellation fee) through the end of June and provide a full refund upon request.For anyone considering investing in training, our posted Early Bird rates will not expire through the end of June. Last-minute registrations will be accepted, pending available space.Together these steps mean that there is no rush and no risk to commit to doula training. We are asking everyone to hang in there and know that we will work with you to make your dream of becoming a doula happen. As you know, we are a small business, as you may soon be. An abundance of refund requests, all hitting in a short period of time, has been a significant hardship. Unemployment is hard enough. Now, imagine a reverse income flow! If your training is cancelled and you have any possibility of rolling your registration forward, rather than requesting a refund, that extension is much appreciated. Thank you for your consideration and stay healthy! –PattyIt’s a perfect time to work ON your business. Anybody else want to have something to show for what you have been up to during these weeks (and dare I say, hopefully not, months) of being homebound? Get to work NOW on developing all the infrastructure you need to grow your own small business. One of the biggest challenges faced by all small business owners is to find time to work ON their business because they are too busy working IN their business. Between taking care of clients, family and self, there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Well, now’s your chance! My set of Doula Business Guide books can guide you through the process. That way, when life opens back up again, you will be in a great position to rock your doula business.Weekends in the 2020 Pandemic I am trying to make my weekend feel different somehow, now that every day is the same. I washed my hair and put jewelry on for the first time in a couple of weeks. I scaled up my outfit (meaning I got out of my super comfy lounge clothes) and my husband and I hit up the Starbucks inside our local grocery store as we picked up something for dinner. They had toilet paper which was unexpected but exciting. Then we went for a cruise in the country. In the afternoon I got on two different Zoom friend visits and went for a walk. Now we are making a simple but delicious dinner with some wine and going to watch the movie 1917 this evening. Not a bad Saturday after all.Birth Equity Locator March of Dimes’ Center for Social Science Research has released the Birth Equity Locator, a new interactive tool to help you visually explore the geographic associations among preterm birth, racial/ethnic disparities, and other social and economic variables. The purpose of this tool is to help health officials, researchers and policymakers examine the linkage among these variables to birth outcomes. |
Posted in Birth & Postpartum Topics, Newsletters
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