Expanding Our Horizons: LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency Resources for Birth Workers
As doulas, it is important for us to continually learn and expand our knowledge base, so that we can provide the best, most well-informed care to our clients. One area where many doulas would like to get more training is the area of LGBTQ+ cultural competency. Below are several useful online trainings and websites for doulas who would like to learn more about serving clients in the LGBTQ+ community.
Online Trainings:
- Providing Culturally Sensitive Care to LGBTQ Families
- This is a 7 hour web-based course. This course explores the diverse nature of LGBTQ family structures and examines issues that commonly arise for gestational parents, nongestational parents, and in relationships from conception through early parenting.
- This course offers guidance for creating a welcoming and affirming practice and CEU’s through the American College of Nurse-Midwives or the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (7 contact hours).
- Queer Birth Project
- The mission of Queer Birth Project is to support LGBTQ families and the professionals that serve them, during family building and early parenting.
- Queer Birth Project offers online trainings for birth professionals who want to learn more about working with LGBTQ families.
Websites and Blogs:
- Radical Doula
- This is a website and blog that was created “as a resource for doulas and other interested in the intersections between social justice and birth activism.”
- Doula Trainings International
- DTI is an organization that trains birth and postpartum doulas. They have a strong focus of training doulas who come from marginalized groups, such as trans doulas and doulas of color. They even offer scholarships to train doulas from marginalized groups, such as the Birth Workers of Color scholarship and the Trans Health Initiative scholarship to train transgender doulas.
- Birthing Beyond the Binary
- This website focuses on “reproductive justice by and for queer and trans* people.” Thought the site appears to still be in its infancy, on their homepage the creators talk about hosting webinars, creating resource lists and care provider listings, and partnering with other queer and trans focused organizations. Keep an eye on this site or join their newsletter to stay in the loop about what they’re up to!
We hope these resources are helpful as you continually learn more about serving clients in the LGBTQ+ community!
Beth Hardy, P
CD(DONA), SCMT, MT-BC is a birth doula, postpartum doula and board-certified music therapist, serving clients in Salt Lake City, UT. Beth specializes in Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth, and also offers traditional birth and postpartum doula services. She loves working with all families, including LGBTQ+ parents, adoptive parents, and single parents. Beth can be found at her website, Facebook or Instargram.