Why I Needed to Create a Full Spectrum and Inclusive Doula Training
I created Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (BADT) after not seeing reflections of myself in existing doula trainings– yet there are so many doula training programs out there. I was also motivated by my knowledge of disparities and the hard realities of life for many birthing people.To be clear, though, I wasn’t looking to get certified. When I started, I went into doula work as a full-on activist - like “Hey, I’m here, and I'm not with any system, nobody can tell me how to doula!” Shout out to being a Prison Birth Project doula where I learned so much as a new doula!
At that point in my life, I had spent 4 years in that mindset. I wanted to be an example of not having to be certified to be successful and to make an impact. There were a lot of people coming up to me saying they wanted to be a doula but didn't want to certify or couldn’t find a program they felt connected to. They wanted to train with me!
I had started my non-profit community doula program, For the Village, Inc, in San Diego and trained people in that space, growing a community of doulas. So, my vision grew, and I really started to think about training in a more expansive way. I knew that if I were to create a training, it would have to be something that I would want to be a part of. It would have to deviate from the norm in the sense that the format, context, topics wouldn’t be your typical run of the mill training.
After being involved for a brief time with a very white-centered postpartum doula agency in San Diego, with very rich clientele and being treated like shit, I wanted to create a system for people that don’t align with whiteness. The vision didn’t exist, and it had to be built up from the foundation. I began creating what I wanted to see, and I learned that other people wanted to see it, too. The more I come up, the more my whole community comes up. It’s exciting, and stressful, but it’s worth it.
Identifying What Would Be Different About BADT
I wanted to make the training financially accessible, so I decided there would be an option for monthly payments, as well as keeping the costs low relative to other trainings. Additionally, I considered scholarships and maintaining an option for folks to join at even lower price points. I also realized that I wouldn’t want this program to be just 3 days - like, I wouldn’t want to do 3 days of training and then just go into the field, forgetting everything I’d just learned. So, I made it longer! I also decided to build this training out online so that folks near and far could participate from home, and they’d have the option to watch the videos at their own pace, forgoing live attendance as a requirement.
When I started to build the topics out, I knew I wanted to go beyond birth and postpartum, the traditional topics that are taught in doula training organizations. The topics kept flowing– food insecurity, the LGBTQ+ community, loss, and so on. I wanted to include all of the things, so I started putting thoughts to paper and created my training!
Inequities are everywhere and everything relates to reproductive justice - a person’s identities and social location, food insecurity, housing, transportation, healthcare access, insurance, community, language, religion, cultural practice. Being an advocate is a necessary role in the doula space, and I wanted to teach my students how to embody this role, while also learning about themselves along the way. Through the BADT lens, doulas are not just showing up to hand hold. We are showing up in these spaces to help prevent a bad situation and to impact systems. For example, we are aware of the statistics surrounding Black Maternal Health; the birth statistics are abysmal in the United States. So we have to ask - what are we here for?
Creating an Expansive Curriculum and Community
The training at BADT prepares you to be a Full-Spectrum Birth Worker. A full-spectrum birth worker supports an individual during any reproductive experience (e.g. pregnancy, postpartum, fertility & conception, gender-affirming surgery/transition, miscarriage, abortion). Being a full-spectrum birth worker is a political statement of inclusivity. So, even if you don’t specialize in every reproductive experience, you have the context and knowledge to support someone needing your services, or know where to send them.
We talk about the fact that there are different needs for different people. When we talk about trauma-informed care, we have to be specific about these individuals' needs versus the next person. BADT encourages students to become knowledgeable about what the individual is going through, given their intersecting identities. We explore the needs of different communities, and what advocacy might look like for different situations.
Anyway, after putting pen to paper and really creating this training in my image, it’s been 3 years now and it’s fair to say that BADT has really taken off. I think it’s really because we’re providing something that other people aren’t. Even down to the logo - it is not pastel colors, it is not flowers, it does not elicit the need to be soft and subtle. That is not what BADT is. We are an organization that will make you see yourself in new ways, creating space for reconciliation, growth, and community.
Centering BIPOC and Queer Communities
We center our BIPOC and Queer communities, and we also speak to and invite in our white and cis-het allies and accomplices. Through our Racism and Privilege in Birth Work coursework, for example, we talk about understanding the nuances of racism and privilege. Like, if you don’t know what's going on, then realize that there’s privilege in that. If you are not experiencing oppression on a daily basis, you may be unaware of its impacts until that veil gets lifted and you start to see things in a new way. Our goal is for all students to be aware of systemic dynamics, so that they can go into interpersonal relationships with awareness.
There is a crisis in the world of the patient, and there is also a crisis in terms of being a person of color and a birth worker. There is a difference in how POC birth workers are able to create a sustainable career in this space. There is such a need, but POC are not able to make sustainable lifestyles from this. I see a lot of Black, Brown and Indigenous doulas that are not able to pay their bills. Like, there is only so much free and low cost work that you can do, AND free and low cost doesn’t pay the bills! The conversation of creating sustainability is not being had enough, and it’s one I am committed to and BADT will continue to engage with.
I really like to create opportunities for other people. The doula world tells people that you have to be able to do the work for free for a certain amount of time - which is ridiculous. BADT is here to support you in building a life and a business that values your whole self.
So, with BADT, with For the Village, and with everything else that I do, my goal is to provide pathways for the expansion of inclusivity and reproductive justice for our communities, and to teach wealth building and the tools for a sustainable profession in birth work so that those who want to can continue to do this important work. Thank you for being here with us! We’d love to see you in class– any and all of them!
Sabia Wade (she/they) is a Black, Queer CEO with a mission of building bridges for a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable world through Reproductive Justice, distribution of financial wealth to BIPOC communities, and investing in emergent and innovative businesses.
As a self-proclaimed Birth Neoterist, Sabia is executing change in Reproductive Justice to create a new future for birthing people. Learn more about Sabia at https://www.sabiawade.com/.