BirthPro Values and Land & Labor Acknowledgment
A living document
Before the Acknowledgment
A student wrote to me recently: "I feel like you may understand this on a deeper level - how do you just 'not care?' I find myself caring so deeply and being so deeply affected, how do you turn it off?"
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That question touched me deeply, and it's part of what started me naming these values out loud instead of leaving them unspoken. Many of us are coming to this work from childhoods of hurt, and sharing our strength and our struggles is a gift, to each other and to ourselves. I value my community and their love tremendously, and I've grown through our love and interactions.
​Integrity.
Choosing courage over comfort. Choosing what's right over what's fast, fun, or easy. Practicing my values, not just naming them. And when I fall short, which I will, I own it and try to do better.
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What that looks like, concretely:
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I embrace that I don't know everything, stay curious about what I don't, and give myself and others grace as we learn and grow.
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I see the good and the brilliance in people, and I lean into vulnerability by telling hard truths kindly and directly.
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I assess what's actually healthy and doable for me, and I follow through on what I say I'll do.
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I honor our shared autonomy. I try not to be "the authority" or hold power over anyone I work with.
Belonging.
Seeing and holding dear the essence of you and me. Believing our shared time on this earth is richer when we lift each other up. And when belonging isn't reciprocated, or turns toxic, having the courage to hold a boundary instead of staying anyway.
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What that looks like, concretely:
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I hold people for who they are, not what they do.
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I let myself be seen, vulnerability included, even when it's uncomfortable.
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I give people information and trust them to hold it, even when some part of me thinks it'd be easier not to.
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I hold boundaries that let me show up as myself instead of shape-shifting to fit in, and I extend that same respect to yours.
This is a living practice, not a finished one. I won't always get it right. But here's my real answer to that student: I don't turn it off. I hold boundaries. I assess what's actually healthy and doable for me instead of overriding it. That's not caring less, it's caring in a way I can actually sustain, here and everywhere else BirthPro shows up.
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If some of this language sounds like Brené Brown, that's not an accident. I have all of her books on my phone, and I listen to them on repeat. Her work didn't hand me these values, it gave me a way to actually practice the ones I already had.
The Land
BirthPro's training takes place across the United States — virtually, locally, and in communities we are still growing into. Wherever you are reading or hearing these words, you are on land that belongs to Indigenous people. We encourage you to learn whose land you're on at native-land.ca.
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We are grateful to the Native nations whose land, water, and knowledge have sustained life in every place our community reaches — including the Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples of Rhode Island, the 39 sovereign nations of Oklahoma, and the nations of Arizona including those represented through the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona. We name these places because they are home to doulas in our community. We do not name them to contain the acknowledgment — Indigenous sovereignty extends far beyond any list we could offer.
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These nations are not historical. They are present. Their people are birthing, healing, and building today — often without the support they deserve.
The Labor
We also carry the truth that this country was built on the forced labor of enslaved Black people. The hospitals, the roads, the institutions we navigate as birth workers — many were built by Black hands that were never free, never compensated, and never fully honored.
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That history did not end. It became policy. It became a maternal mortality crisis. Black birthing people in America are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white people. That is not a gap to be closed with better data. It is a wound that requires reckoning — and repair.
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We name this in a birth training because we believe doulas who do not understand this history cannot fully serve the communities in front of them.
What We Are Actually Doing
We know acknowledgment without action is insufficient. This is where we are in our practice:
We prioritize Indigenous and Black doulas for scholarship access to our training — because representation in birth work is not optional for the communities most harmed by the current system.
We require all BirthPro graduates to complete Black Brilliance, a culturally responsive anti-racism module, because certification without this foundation is incomplete.
We center Indigenous birth perspectives as core curriculum — not a guest appearance, but foundational teaching led by Indigenous educators from our own community.
We are in ongoing relationship with doulas, educators, and community members who hold us accountable to these commitments.
A Note to White Doulas
It is not the job of your Black and Indigenous colleagues, clients, or peers to educate you about racism. That labor is exhausting, it is unpaid, and it has been extracted from Black and Indigenous people for far too long.
If you believe you are not racist, that belief is part of the problem. We are all raised in a racist system. That is not an accusation — it is a starting point. Owning that is not an act of self-flagellation. It is the first honest step toward doing less harm.
Your guilt is not useful to anyone. Your accountability is.
Do the reading. Pay for the education. Sit with the discomfort. And then show up differently — in the birth room, in your community, and in the systems you have access to that your Black and Indigenous colleagues may not.
That is what this training asks of you.
We Are Still Learning
We will make mistakes. We are committed to being corrected and to continuing anyway.
If something in this acknowledgment misses the mark — please tell us. We mean it.
If You Want to Go Further
We don't want this to end here. A few places to start:
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Find whose land you're on — native-land.ca
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Pay a voluntary land tax — honortax.org
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Shuumi Land Tax — sogoreate-landtrust.org
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Follow and fund Indigenous maternal health advocates in your region
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Support Black-led birth organizations and doula funds in your community
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Read Elements of Indigenous Style by Gregory Younging
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Ask yourself regularly: whose comfort am I centering, and whose safety?
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Take our anti-racism training for doulas.
As our community grows, as relationships deepen, and as our understanding evolves — so will this acknowledgment.
