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The Hull Volunteer Doula Project

I’ve been learning more about the Hull Volunteer Doula Project, which has just been launched. The program will train volunteer doulas who will be buddied up with vulnerable women in need of friendly support through their pregnancy, birth and post-partum period.

There is a high level of need for a service sch as this in Hull, and the impetus for setting it up has come from women and midwives in the area. It is co-ordinated through Sure Start, but will also work closely with the local maternity hospital and the community midwives in Hull.

To recruit the doulas, an advertisement was placed in the local newspaper. Free training, on-going support and the satisfaction of volunteer work was the carrot, and over 60 people applied for the first 10 positions. The final number in the first intake ended up as 11, and they had their first meeting last week.

The training will take place over two months, with my Active Birth workshop and 8 two hour sessions to follow. The doulas will be given training in pregnancy support, labour assistance and post-natal care. Once the training is complete and they have been assessed, they will be allocated to chosen women who are around six months pregnant, to follow them through for the rest of their pregnancies and then on into the early months with the new baby.

A second intake is planned for March next year, with both groups fully funded through Sure Start. It is an ambitious project and it will be interesting to see how it works. These doulas will not be paid for their work - it is a fully voluntary program, aimed at those who need support and have few financial resources. In this respect it is unique - all the other doula programs in the UK are geared for those who can pay for this service. These Hull doulas are also receiving more training that other doulas, which will be important as the women they will work with will have considerable needs.

Supporting other women during pregnancy and birth was always a traditional role for women in the village and it is good to see that these concepts are being resurrected, especially in an age when paying for services has become the norm. I hope this project is very successful and will make a difference to the women who receive the support as well as the doulas themselves.

Posted by andrea at October 21, 2005 06:23 PM