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Let’s Talk: Doulas as Peer Supporters

Author: Keira Grant, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Lead

I just got out of the first session of a free, 30-hour Peer Support Core Competencies training offered by Support House. The virtual training is offered twice a week for 2 hours, over the course of 7 weeks. 

If you’re wondering what the catch is to a free, 30-hour training – I’ve been trying to get a spot in this course for about a year. A maximum of 30 participants are accepted in each cohort. Every time I got the email notification saying that registration was open, I would race to sign up, only to discover that the course was already full.

Nevertheless, I persisted. I recognized that this training is an important aspect of my professional development. In my birth and postpartum doula practice, peer support is already a significant aspect of what I do. Often this support to realize mental well-being during pregnancy and postpartum is the most life-changing dimension of my support journey with a family. The information on communication and debriefing in my dual stream course laid an important foundation, but about a year ago, I found myself wanting to strengthen this aspect of my practice.

I’m proud to say that I have many hours of therapy under my belt, and I think more people should be proud to say this. In my case, therapy, along with mindfulness, and finding the right medication have been the trifecta that keeps my mental illnesses in remission. I often find myself drawing from my own therapy experiences and insights to support clients with their challenges ranging from settlement and refugee trauma, to relationship challenges, isolation, and overwhelm. This is the basis of the peer supporter role.

Peer support training provides a framework for facilitating mental health and wellness discussions whereby the facilitator draws from their lived experience to support their peer in realizing self-determination and empowerment. In a way, it is kind of like being a mental health doula. Whereas mental healthcare professionals treat mental illness, peer supporters empower people to have a holistic and positive relationship with their mental health and wellness.   

Peer support’s evolution also mirrors the rise of modern doula practice. Doulas emerged as a response to obstetric violence and birth trauma, and peer supporters emerged in response to psychiatric violence and human rights violations. The social changes of the 1970s that sparked a movement to reform birth also sparked a movement to reform psychiatric care, and services led by psychiatric survivor-consumers began to proliferate. Now, peer supporters are integrated into care teams in many mental health care programs.

The perinatal journey is full of many joys, but mental health challenges are often a part of the experience. The expectation that pregnancy and new parenthood are unilaterally joyful experiences can make perinatal mental health challenges more confusing for our clients and make it harder for them to reach out for help. Being a doula and a peer supporter is a match made in heaven. We are already operating in a person-centered model emphasizing autonomy, empowerment, and the uniqueness of each journey. Peer support is rooted in the same philosophy. As doulas, we are often the first person clients open up to when they are struggling to maintain mental well-being, or need to process a traumatic birth. I am grateful to expand my skills in providing this powerful form of care.

While many professional roles for peer supporters are jobs in mental health clinics and organizations, a growing number of peer supporters work in private practice in consultation with a regulated mental health care professional (e.g. an MSW-RSW). I look forward to being able to offer peer support sessions as an additional service of my birth and postpartum doula practice. 

January 28 is Bell Let’s Talk Day.  While the day has been justly criticized for using mental illness to market a brand, it does succeed at taking mental illness out of the shadows and giving it the spotlight it needs. “Let’s talk” is also a perfect phrase to capture the collaborative and equality-based model that is so integral to the philosophy of doula care and peer support. 

Are you exploring ways to build your capacity to talk to your clients about mental health? If you don’t have time for a 30-hour course, I encourage you to seek out other opportunities. Self-directed learning modules offered by Support House are a great place to start your quest. Talking, listening, and helping clients realize true well-being is one of the most transformative services we can offer. 

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