Community Based Doulas and Black Maternal and Infant Mortality Crisis (P.S.D.B.)

Course Title: Community Based Doulas and Black Maternal and Infant Mortality Crisis  

Trainer: Jazzmine Brooks, Jai Olive Wellness

Timing: 2 hours, Offered One Time Per Semester

Description: According to DONA International, community-based doulas are trained birth workers that provide culturally appropriate and kindred-spirited non-clinical emotional, physical, and informational support before, during, and after birth. Programs such as these improve prenatal care, raise chestfeeding rates, decrease unnecessary medical interventions, increase positive birth experiences, and improve parenting skills. Black doulas play a critical role in combating discrimination and racism in medicine and services, improving autonomy, and increasing the pregnant person's health efficacy and empowerment to advocate for themselves and their family. Jazzmine Brooks “Rural Black Doula ™,” full-spectrum doula, Doula Liaison to the Title V Doula Project with Everystep, and Ph.D. student at Iowa State University, works with Black and POC families and doulas across the state of Iowa to engage in work that centers Black families and elevates the voices of Black and POC communities within birth work. This workshop will cover the historical and contemporary relevance of community-based doula programs, the collaborative efforts in Iowa between Black doula programs and state and local agencies to increase positive birth outcomes, ways to center Black and POC communities in rural child welfare practices, and a case study to engage around access, availability, and representation that is equitable and culturally responsive to rural families. Participants will leave with tools to engage with community doula support and ways to dismantle inequitable systems for historically marginalized populations.

Prerequisite Required: Leaning in: Maternal and Infant Health

Competencies Addressed: Community Resources and Support; Relationship-Based Family Partnerships; Dynamics of Family Relationships; & Effective Home Visits.