Who Supports the Support Person?
A doula asked a simple question in a Facebook group:
“As a doula, have you hired or brought on a doula for yourself when you were expecting?”
One response stood out to me.
“Yes and no. I preferred having one, but financially it wasn’t attainable for most of my pregnancies.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about that answer.
If the people who dedicate their lives to supporting births can’t consistently access support themselves, what does that say about the system we’ve built?
But maybe asking why isn’t the most important question.
Maybe the better question is:
How do we build a birth community where the people who support everyone else are supported, too?
Because if we believe no family should navigate pregnancy, birth, or postpartum alone, then surely the same should be true for the people who walk beside them every day.
This is the work.
Not just supporting families, but cultivating a birth culture rooted in reciprocity. One where birthworkers are resourced, cared for, and able to receive the same depth of support they so freely give.
