The Pinay Doulas Collective are always ready to support you.
Here are the 5 Reasons to Have a Pinay Doula at Your Birth.
- WE ARE THE ONLY DOULA ORGANIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
The Pinay Doulas Collective is the only doula organization in the Philippines to date. As an organization, we uphold the highest standards of practice and code of ethics from our mother doula organizations abroad, and ensure that each member of the Collective abides by it.
Because there are six (6) of us currently active, we have established a strong back-up system for all our clients. We assure our clients that you will never be alone in case your main doula or back-up doula are, for any reason, unable to attend your birth. In addition, you can rest assured that your back-up doula will work under the same standards of care and support as your original chosen doula.
Doula Jen and Doula Ros working with a mom in labor.
- WE ARE TRAINED UNDER MANY ORGANIZATIONS
We received our training from various countries namely the United States of America, Canada, Singapore and Indonesia. Our teachers include Penny Simkin, Robin Lim, Debra Pascali-Bonaro, Gail Tully, Katherine Bramhall, Natasha Marchand, Bianca Sprague, and Ginny Phan to name a few.
When one doula of the Collective participates in a new training as part of continuing education, we always have a re-echo sessions to share the learnings to the group. This cornucopia of experiences enriches the organization and allows us to learn about birth, and doula support in a more rounded manner from many perspectives and points of view.
Doula Ros receiving warm hugs from her teachers as she completes her birth doula training in Bali.
- WE EXPERIENCED DIFFERENT KINDS OF BIRTHS
As a group, we have experienced all types of births. Some of us had unmedicated births, waterbirths, childbirth with epidural, induced labor, and cesarean sections. Some of us practiced “childbirth without pain”, hypnobirthing, and the like.
We also have our slew of experiences in relation to (in)fertility, postpartum depression and breastfeeding. By bringing our experiences to the Collective, we open our hearts and minds to a better understanding of the different kinds of births and its intricacies, and the various situations that mothers face in her reproductive years.
- WE NEVER STOP LEARNING
We inspire each other to continue learning. We have monthly meet-ups to share experiences, techniques that enhance our skills, readings, tools, and many more.
We have created a culture of learning within our Collective that drives us to keep attending conferences, women’s circles, engage in fora, and connect with birth workers and parenting experts all over the world about all things that can help us become the best doulas we can be.
The doulas with Waldorf Education mentor, Horst Hellman.
- WE SHARE OUR RESOURCES AND KNOWLEDGE
Our wealth of materials grows exponentially with each doula generously contributing to the Collective.
One example how we share our resources is our growing library of books and materials. As our client, you are welcome to borrow reading materials that can help you in your journey. In case your main doula does not have her own copy of a book that you want to read, her doula sisters are always happy to lend a helping hand, and of course, a copy of the book!
When we are at a birth and we are also weighing how we can best help the mother, we also look for the support of the Collective to help support the mother best.
As sisters in the Pinay Doulas Collective, we have created a strong circle of support—support that embraces us in our everyday; support that we always bring forth in our work as fertility, birth and postpartum doulas.
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Doula Ros Padua is a Certified Birth Doula under DONA International (Doulas of North America). She is also a Certified Breastfeeding Peer Counselor of Breastfeeding Pinays, Inc. and a teacher at Kindermusik Philippines. Doula Ros is now training to be a Lamaze-Certified Childbirth Educator.