As birth support professionals, we often speak about empowering clients, but what does that mean? At the heart of birth empowerment is one crucial quality: agency — having the tools, voice, and internal permission to take the lead in your journey. It’s knowing you have the power to shape your perinatal experiences — and using it.
Supporting clients in developing their sense of agency as a Perinatal Coach doesn’t just serve them — it also transforms your professional experience. Working with clients who have a strong sense of agency can be one of the most rewarding and sustainable aspects of birth work. Let’s explore your wins.
In the ever-evolving field of birth work, we are no strangers to passionate discussions, deep introspection, and the pursuit of justice. However, recently, identity politics has taken over doulas’ discussions, threatening to divide us and break doulas’ sisterhood. A post I recently read in an active doulas group has received tens of ‘likes’ and sympathizing comments, caught my attention:
“Doula’s work has been saturated with white supremacy, colonialism, capitalism, and cultural appropriation. The sacredness of this work is being lost right before our eyes.”
Empowerment lies at the heart of birth professionals’ work and is one of the primary goals in supporting expectant and new parents. Empowering means instilling confidence, fostering autonomy, and equipping individuals with the tools to make decisions about their birthing and parenting experiences. Empowering expectant and new parents is about letting them feel seen, heard, and engaged—trusting they have the knowledge, strength, and autonomy to navigate the challenges of childbirth and early parenthood. However, sometimes empowerment misses the mark and bears pitfalls. Empowerment takes more than encouraging and informing; it’s about cultivating internal authority and ownership. That’s precisely what Transformational Birth Support Coaching helps individuals undergoing childbearing feel.
Throughout history, black women have suffered from medical exploitation, neglect, and mistreatment during childbirth. This has left a long-lasting impact on contemporary healthcare disparities, resulting in higher rates of maternal and newborn mortality and complications among black birthing individuals. Educational initiatives have been taken to address this situation within birth support. These initiatives rely on two primary strategies – acknowledgment and education. With this article, you’ll discover the power of transformational prenatal coaching in empowering black birthgivers and tackling the root cause of the situation – authoritative relationships.
Patient engagement, patient-centered care, and partnershipsamong patients, their support group, and medical caregivers are the qualities leading to safety of care and patient satisfactionin general healthcare and maternal care.By learning to lead co-active and effective conversations in L&D, you can help the maternal care system achieve these goals.
