W.I.C. working with Doulas

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I just moved from Los Angeles to a small town in Missouri called Kirksville (pop. 17,000). I had a successfull buisness there called Bright Beginnings Birth and Postpartum Doula Services. The reason we moved here is that my husband is attending osteopathic medical school here. I am now the only Doula in town and not one person I have spoken to has known even what a Doula is. As you see I've got my work cut out for me. My question is has anyone ever worked side by side with the organization Women Infant and Children (WIC) or any other similar organization? If so, how did the arrangement work? I am making several connections with people in the community and if anyone has been a pioneer Doula in a small town some suggestions would be wonderful! Thank you, Leah

-- Leah Young (leahlovesbabies@yahoo.com), September 09, 2002

Answers

I have trained with the WIC program in the Baltimore area as a WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. I work mostly by phone to encourage breastfeeding efforts.

Was your hope to help gain clients through the WIC program as a volunteer doula? I have listed myself as such at a local military base WIC office to no avail. While getting my certification births, I did meet a young pregnant woman at the WIC office and took her on as a pro bono client.

Another idea is to volunteer with the nearest teen pregnancy program. -Barbara

-- Barbara Stratton (womancaredoula@aol.com), September 26, 2002.


I work with an agency called Companeras in San Rafael, Ca., and we work with WIC, particularly the lactation counselors. We both get referralls through the MediCal offfice, but it is mostly volunteer work. Maybe you could ask the local hospital or childbirth workshop if you could do a "what is a doula" presentation one night. Hope this helps!

-- Rebecca Bearg (badbadbecca@hotmail.com), October 07, 2003.

I was working with WIC in Montana when I first started on the certification process. They were great. I did an inservice with them and the county health dept. They were looking into doing referalls for me. Then I moved and later moved to Oklahoma where I worked for the Chickisaw Nation as their Breastfeeding Educator. They were very adament about NOT soliciting my doula business through work. Now I am in Alaska and do not work for WIC so don't know what their view is. Good luck.

-- Georganne Hampton (doula1@alaska.net), September 13, 2004.

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