Hi! I’m Rachel, the founder of Divine Journey Doula.
Over the last year since I started this path, I’ve gotten the question countless times: What made you want to become a doula?
I understand the question, especially since I have not birthed any babies myself. I’ve never had my own incredible birth experience that I wanted to share with others; and I’ve never had a traumatic birth experience that I want to help others prevent.
The simple answer is this: I am passionate about helping women learn more about their bodies, connect to themselves, find their strength, and tap into their innate power.
If you want the long answer, here is my story.
After high school, I initially went into the field of education. In fact, I have THREE degrees in education, and I have 7 years of experience as an elementary school special education teacher. And I absolutely adore teaching and working with my students, and I hope to always continue working with students in one way or another.
But I have always felt that I’m meant to do something even bigger. I just never knew what.
That is, until the spring of 2024. I had been meditating and journaling about this question for quite some time, asking for guidance and clarity on my purpose and my career path. I didn’t have the answers yet, but I knew they were coming.
I have always thought pregnancy and birth were incredible and beautiful. I’ve loved watching birth videos and hearing all about pregnancy and labor from those who have experienced it firsthand. Still, I had never truly considered working in the perinatal space – until one interaction changed that.
One day, I had the chance to attend a women’s circle. I was fairly new to doing things like this, and it was a little out of my comfort zone, but hey- when you’re trying to grow you have to do things that push you a little bit. One of the exercises was a partner activity where each woman would take turns witnessing (basically just watching) while the other partner danced/moved/etc. After the circle, I was talking with my partner and she said something that profoundly changed the direction of my life. She said that during that particular exercise,
“I saw you as my doula, supporting me and helping me bring life into this world.”
That one sentence changed everything. I thought about it the entire drive home and that night. The very next day, I began to research more into what a doula does, what it entails, and how to become one. Later that week, I signed up for training through Bebo Mia. I chose this program specifically because it not only focused on birth, but also on fertility and postpartum and it was a longer training (16 weeks) instead of just a weekend training. I also felt aligned with their mission of inclusivity and diversity, making sure all birthers and families feel supported, regardless of their race, economic status, sexual orientation or identity, age, BMI (which is BS btw) or any other factors.
I want to say that I jumped deep into the doula hole immediately after that. But, that’s not exactly how it unfolded for me. I was still working full time as a teacher, finishing up my last few weeks of my Education Specialist degree, trying to maintain my health/fitness and mental wellbeing, and doing my best to show up as a good partner, friend, sister, daughter, and dog mama.
However, as summer rolled around, I became more entrenched once again. Somehow, everything in my life kept pointing back to this work.
I was preparing to embark on a women’s retreat in Mexico, and the suggested reading list focused on topics such as women’s empowerment, sexuality, reproductive health, and sisterhood. I became enthralled with learning about the menstrual cycle and the womb, fascinated by the complexity and perfection of our inner systems that help us to create and sustain life. I recognized more and more the need for us to understand our own bodies and advocate for ourselves, particularly when navigating the US medical system.
Since then, I have become intimate with my own cycle, understanding my own hormonal changes and the phases of my menstrual cycle. I’ve learned how to read my own body cues and listen to what my body (& soul) need to feel supported at different times. It’s still a work in progress, but having this deep connection to my own body has only grown my love for helping other women connect to theirs as well.
Learning so deeply about the menstrual cycle opened my eyes to another world of which I was previously unaware. This led to A LOT of questions.
Why weren’t we taught about the menstrual cycle phases in school? Why weren’t more women aware that we’re actually only fertile for a very short time during our cycle, and that there are other (non-hormonal) methods of birth control with far less side effects? Why were women’s health issues so often written off with women prescribed SSRIs or birth control pills that mask symptoms instead of treating the root cause? Why aren’t we talking about how fertility rates have declined, and ways that we can actually support our bodies’ natural fertility through diet & lifestyle factors, as opposed to opting first for the most invasive and expensive procedures?
Don’t get me wrong – birth control pills and assisted reproductive technology have been incredibly helpful and life changing for many people and populations. BUT they have become overused at the expense of maximizing our health (but this is a whole other issue).
This new knowledge and research fueled my excitement and passion for helping couples navigate their fertility journeys, whether it be through diet/lifestyle changes and/or through medical interventions. Even within the medical field, there are so many more questions we should be asking (and getting answered) that are often overlooked.
We see this same trend throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. Our system fails so many birthers and their partners by not giving them the knowledge, support, or resources that they need. The risk is even greater for women of color, especially Black women, and for individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community, who often get left out of these conversations.
This is the work that lights me up. Connecting with women and individuals who want to conceive or are already pregnant, listening to their stories, teaching them about their bodies and about the miracle and physiology of conception and birth, helping them advocate for themselves by knowing what questions to ask and ways to speak up, and creating an environment for them to make autonomous decisions about their own bodies from an empowered place.
It may seem like I have only started on this journey, and in some ways that’s true. But in other ways, I feel that I’ve been meant for this my whole life. Every experience I’ve encountered has helped me become the person I am today and has lit small fires that have now been fanned into this fiery passion.
I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me and how things continue to unfold. I am so grateful to be on this path, and to continue helping others feel empowered and connected during the perinatal time and beyond.
I am also so grateful to all who are reading this. Wherever you are at in your journey – preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, or even if you have grown children or never want to have children at all – I see you and I honor you.
May each of us continue to connect to ourselves & each other more deeply each day.
With love & gratitude,
Rachel