It’s time to let your inner doula out of the closet! Let 2021 be the year you invest in your new doula career that doesn’t feel like going to work. Online training works especially well for breastfeeding mothers and those for whom travel back and forth to in-person training presents a hardship. (Plus, it has the added advantage of seeing everyone’s face.) In this issue:
What have you learned about yourself during the pandemic?
Keeping hope alive and prevailing …
What does virtual postpartum support look like?
Kick start your doula business with free OR paid enhanced listings in our Doula Directory
Top 5 Questions about Becoming a Doula (free webinar)
The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor’s lovely new office space
Birth & Parenting News
YOUR DOULA CAREER
STARTS HERE!
PATTY BRENNAN’S
DOULA BUSINESS GUIDE
A new year brings hope.
Change is in the air. For many of us, the pandemic and government response to it, have altered our lives dramatically–from losing loved ones to the disease, to loss of businesses we built from scratch, job losses that may never come back, loss of personal freedom, and more. That’s a lot of people hurt and facing an uncertain future. So it is a bit facile to simply say “Happy New Year.” Yet, there may be opportunity for positive change in this moment, if we can fight pandemic fatigue and hold onto hope. This will pass.
I was with a niece and nephew, both in their early twenties, over Christmas. We had an interesting conversation revolving around the question “What have you learned about yourself since COVID?” Both reported that they learned (emphatically) they do not like working from home. What have you learned about yourself during COVID? How will that shape your future choices?
When anxiety threatens to overwhelm, I find it helps me to focus on gratitude and my many blessings daily. And I ask myself, “why am I alive today? What is my purpose?” Then, remain open to the answers that come. This practice does not negate the pain or make the challenges we are facing easier, but it does acknowledge the power each of us has within to prevail. Happy New Year everyone!
Will 2021 be the year you (finally!) complete training to become a doula?
I have had feedback that many of you think about taking doula training for years before taking the leap. There are among you empty-nesters (ready for some “me time”), and folks ready for a new career doing work that doesn’t feel like a job. And then there are those who simply recognize the doula within who resonates with all things birth, mama and baby related. A persistent secret identity. It’s time to come out of the closet! Invest in yourself and join us.
Breastfeeding Basics for Doulas is a 3-hour class that fulfills a certification requirement for birth doulas. It will be offered January 26 and April 13 (Tuesday 6-9:15pm).
All workshops are online. One delightful surprise in 2020 was discovering the capacity for building community in an online training. You simply need a computer with audio/visual enabled. Nurse your baby as needed, no problem. No need to travel to and from Ann Arbor. Save on hotel rooms, etc. Payment plans available.
Virtual Postpartum Support: What does it look like?
See the linked document below to explore the answers to the following questions. What does a postpartum doula do? What challenges are families facing? Is virtual support better than no support? What can you do virtually (see list below)?
Inform about normal newborn behavior
Educate about infant care
Teach infant feeding
Screen for Perinatal Mental Health Disorders
Listen to birth story
Check about postpartum physical changes
Help family adjust to baby
Food preparation, shopping, baby laundry
Make referrals -> create the village!
The article also includes a week-by-week support guide (topics to address as the weeks roll by) and tips for doula self-care. Download Virtual Postpartum Support Guide.
Are you trying to kickstart your doula business?
Get listed in our Doula Directory! We have free basic listings available for birth and postpartum doulas (all doulas welcome, regardless of where you trained) and enhanced listings for a $50 annual fee. If you have invested in the Doula Business Builder Deluxe Training Package that we offer, you may have forgotten that you get TWO enhanced listings as part of that package. Get found by folks looking for a doula by increasing your visibility online.
Do you have questions about becoming a doula?
We have answers! Join Patty Brennan for a live FREE webinar on Tuesday, January 5 at 7:30pm (EST). Pre-registration is required. Top 5 Questions about Becoming a Doula.
Our monthly webinars are an easy way to discern whether doula work is right for you. Can you make a living at it? Is certification required to become a doula? Should you focus solely on birth or postpartum work or do both? Do you have the qualifications to become a doula? Join us and get your questions answered.
The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor
New location … same great services and training!
All businesses have adapted and are thriving. Please visit our respective website for updates. Meanwhile, lactation consultant and breastfeeding educator Barbara Robertson has found a new home for her business, now located at 2300 Washtenaw Ave, Suite 200, Ann Arbor, MI. While she can’t host groups yet, a full range of support services for families is available now. In addition, Barbara has expanded her professional education opportunities to include:
Patty is the owner and visionary force behind Lifespan Doulas. For 40+ years, she has been a doula, midwife, educator, author, nonprofit executive, and entrepreneur. Patty has personally trained over 3,000 people to become doulas. She is the author of The Doula Business Guide: How to Succeed as a Birth, Postpartum or End-of-Life Doula, 4th Edition, and accompanying Workbook.
A new year brings hope.
See the linked document below to explore the answers to the following questions. What does a postpartum doula do? What challenges are families facing? Is virtual support better than no support? What can you do virtually (see list below)?
Get listed in our 
Do you have questions about becoming a doula?
As you may be aware, the Center for the Childbearing Year closed, after 21 years, at the end of October 2020, a COVID casualty. The Center was home to 
