Olen DONA Internationalin SPAR eli aluevastaava Suomessa ja ainut pohjoismaissa. Tässä lyhyt kirjoitus Suomen doulatoiminnasta, joka oli viimeisimmässä tiedotteessa.
Updates on the Growth & Impact of Doulas Around the Globe
Finland
By Marjaana Siivola, CD(DONA)
Espoo, Finland
Doula meet and greet gatherings are popping up in different parts of Finland at the moment. Magazines have stories about births that had a doula attending. People are asking for doula training. We hear the word doula in different settings, and we might meet people who already know the word doula!
The history of doulas in Finland started some 20 years ago. But for the majority of the time, a doula was a support person for a single parent who lived in a shelter. This is an image that a lot of people still have about doulas here. It has only been in the last few years that we have had private doulas available for anyone to have, but the rate at which we are seeing new private doulas is increasing. More people are waking up to the possibility of what a doula can offer for them. We do have midwifery led birthing practices in the hospitals, and we usually don´t see a doctor at a birth. But the midwife´s resources are being cut, they don´t have the time to really be with the laboring mother, and birth is also being medicalized. All this is increasing the need for doulas.
At the beginning of this year we founded the Finnish Doula Association. We wanted to make it easier for the parents to get information about doulas and find their contact information. Our other goal is to cooperate with the few existing doula groups, educate more doulas and further educate ourselves. Ann Grauer came over to have DONA International labor doula and postpartum doula workshops in January, as well as a seminar for us. It was a success, and we hope to continue from this good start. We did have some language barriers, but this is just one thing to work on in the future.
Tästä se lähtee ja toivottavasti saamme yhdistyksessä vietyä doulien asiaa eteenpäin.