I’m shifting and unfurling in new directions, and I’m very excited about all the things happening right now. My word for 2023 is SERVICE in case you haven’t heard. The idea for a mailing list has grown directly out of the concept of service, and not just because I love to write, but that’s definitely part of it. These are my 3 areas of service when I’m thinking about my path forward for this year.
Childbirth Professionals
I want to be of service to my fellow childbirth professionals. In 2023 I’ll be serving as president of DONA International, which has already been a grand adventure from being appointed by the board as president elect in July of last year to now being president of this organization with all the service that entails. I’m honored and honestly humbled at the tasks as well as the seriously impressive team of individuals on this team! Robin & I are on the board together now, and are also committed to getting back to The Birth Geeks Podcast This isn’t just because we want to hang out together more, though that is a nice bonus. The podcast is another service to our childbirth professional community. We LOVE geeking out about our jobs and how we see things, delving into science, business, and all kinds of topics. The podcast makes us seriously happy because we get to celebrate, shout out, and chat with our fellow geeks!
My Local Community
I’m taking a step away from birth clients for this year that I’m serving as president, but I’m really excited to be able to continue mentoring local doulas on my team at Doula Group of Evansville. I’m especially excited to be able to focus more time on developing our online classroom more, as that’s been a project waiting on the backburner for quite some time. Did I mention our local advocacy efforts to push back against obstetric violence? Oh yeah, those wheels are definitely already in motion too! This is the biggest shift for me professionally, but with a team of 11 doulas, it definitely needs to happen so that I can focus my energy on being the manager and not the direct service provider. I’ve been on call almost continuously for the past 6 years (yes, I definitely heard all you birth workers groan). I’m going to spend more time networking and marketing to our local community. I’m excited to find ways to continue to be of service!
Service Writing?
Finally, I’m bringing a couple big writing projects to fruition this year. They’ve been waiting ever so patiently for me to have the time and head space to work on them. My therapist recently prodded me about them again, and Robin is always in my corner asking about them too—lovingly, of course. Ever since writing my chapter on Doulas & Obstetric Violence, I’ve had this percolating idea to keep talking about the unique doula perspective, and its happening now. I’m not sure what direction this is going to take entirely, but the project is done being ignored and is demanding my attention as well. Is this service writing for myself? For our wider community? Therapeutic for me to get this out of my head? Yes x3!
If you’re interested in receiving occasional emails with updates about what I’m working on and various service projects this year, join my mailing list! I’m hesitant to make any promises about how often I’m going to send it out, but I want to keep my people in the loop. I’ll plan to include travel pictures and not too much talk about my kids’ activities. I want to be of service to myself, to my local geographic community, & to the wider childbirth community. If abundance mindset, anti-patriarchy, medical questioning, anti-racist, science infatuated, meditation practicing, LGBTQIA2S+ accomplice, culture interrogating people are your cup of tea, then buckle up and come along for the ride with me!