Becoming a Doula
What are the pleasant and unpleasant aspects of being a doula for you? Are there any difficult parts of teaching classes in English?
The pleasant part of being a doula for me is sharing this special moment with the family. There is a very different space and situation in that moment, and even if you have a little effect at that moment, you become an unforgettable person in people's lives, and this means the world to me and is very satisfying. This is blissful! The unpleasant part of it is seeing the babies who are exposed to the routines at the hospitals. This part is very challenging.
No, there is no difficult part of teaching English for me.
How do you decide on your fees? Do you always have people to work with, or is it hard for people to reach out to you? Are you a full-time doula?
There is an approximate fee in the market, and this changes according to your experience and work. We don't have very high fees in Turkey compared to the doula prices in many countries. When you settle your business, you find people to work with, and people find you.
Yes, I am a full-time doula. I used to attend much more births when I first started (around 4-5 per month), but now I teach more than I accompany births. I can accept 1–2 births per month. It is not easy to arrange to leave your child at home when labor begins in the middle of the night.
How do doctors approach doulas presence during birth? Are there any doctors who aren't positive about it, and how does this affect your clients?
It changes according to the doctor's approach. Some doctors accept doulas, and there are still some that don't. When the doctor says no to doula support, there are three possibilities: Some families say, ''But I want my doula and to work with you as my doctor'' and convinces the doctor. Some families say, ''I really wanted to have you as my doula, but my doctor doesn't accept.'' And some families change their doctors because of this. After all, it is the family's decision.
Is it challenging to support people when you are sick, in your period, your mood is down, and your energy is low?
This is a great question. When you accompany labor, usually it takes a while, and sometimes you are up for a long time. This time and space belong to women, to the mother, so you need to leave everything behind to be present and serve without your excuses or personal matters. This is a balance that you get used to over time. Honestly, I have never been sick when labor started. I wouldn't go and let my backup go if I were really sick because that wouldn't be fair to the mother. I don't experience any energy changes in my periods, so I never experienced a problem with that either. I have to say here that it is very important to follow and go deeper in your inner self journey as a doula. You share a very special space there, and it is very important to leave your own burdens and life outside that space. When you do that, you can shift your mood with meditation and energy work.
Can you be a doula if you studied something totally unrelated at university?
Being a doula is not related to what you have studied. The only thing that may affect you is that being a doula is a job where your right brain is very active and you don't use the numbers much. However, some professions are all about numbers and the left brain. Then you would need more time in your spare time to use your right brain with practices like yoga and creative work. We established the Turkish Doula Alliance very recently, and this is something we also talked about there. Working with yourself and your inner self journey is essential to becoming a doula. So it is more about what you invest in beside your doula training rather than what you study at university.
Would you recommend becoming a doula to someone who is at the beginning of her carrier? If you do, do you have other recommendations besides that?
If you really like to touch people's lives, then yes, I do. But only by knowing the difficulties because it isn't easy to be on call. For 4 weeks, you need to sleep well, be careful with consuming alcohol, and arrange your child, your vacation plans, and your visitors. You need to compromise. You need to know all these things before you decide to become a doula.
I would recommend additional courses. For example, I have another training besides my childbirth educator training to become an educator about different subjects related to the inner self journey and personal development. You need to keep learning and progressing all the time.
How did you start to be a doula? How do you find your clients? How did you start working with foreigners?
When I was pregnant with my son, we went to a birth education class with my husband. I had my own company before as well, but I always had this instinct to do something that was more beneficial to people. Something that I can do to touch people's lives. Then, after the education, I realized that there is injustice for women and babies in the whole birth process, and this isn't supposed to be like this. Like in many things in the world, we forget to hear our inner voices about birth and going with routines. So I started my doula work since I wanted to remind women of their inner power. I started to work at Istanbul Birth Academy Bağdat Street branch right after I completed my training. I started to teach English classes there. Then I started to work on my own as a freelancer. I had references until then. I also created my website in English. So people find me by reference from the previous families I worked with and from my website. I still teach the English classes of the Academy.
