The Berkshire Doula Project is a Williams student-run club based on campus and recruits the efforts of local members of the surrounding community to provide services.
The club involves volunteers who are interested in helping those who are going through abortion by making themselves available to those that need physical and emotional support. Their efforts help women in the Berkshire community better navigate the hectic and often times overwhelming labyrinth of the medical system. By offering these services, abortion and pregnancy loss become a much less burdensome undertaking.
The club is an alternative to the cold, impersonal side of the medical field and provides warm, understanding shoulders to lean on in a world that ignites the controversy behind the shame of abortions.
According to annual abortion statistics from state-level data, 954,000 abortions took place in 2014.
That is why the work of Berkshire Doula Project members of leadership circle May Congdon and Roshny Vijayakar has been so important for the Berkshire area. We asked them to share their experience with participating in the Doula project and how that experience has shaped their time at Williams.
If a person were looking for the services that a doula offers, what kind of things do you say to help them through the process?
May Congdon and Roshny Vijayakar: We as the Berkshire Doula Project are partnered with a clinic in Pittsfield, and everyone who is referred to the provider at that clinic gets one of our volunteer doulas, unless they opt out through a consent form they receive at their first counseling meeting with the doctor. As for how we support people, it is so specific to each person’s needs in the moment and that is one of the things a doula reads and navigates as they get to know the client. There is no script. We learn in our training how to not be problematic, and beyond that how to be genuine while supporting a person in a potentially vulnerable and emotionally exhausting situation.
Have there been any personal experiences that have resonated with you or any of the other members?
MC and RV: Absolutely, but we are still developing how we are going to share intensely personal experiences while being respectful to ourselves and the patients we support. We also have to be careful to preserve confidentiality in the clinic! Outside of that, we also organize events and educational opportunities for Williams college students as well as community members from around the area. This week, we hosted a virtual gathering with a group called Full-Spectrum Doula Circles, who interviewed Lauren Mitchell and Mary Mahoney, authors of a new book about full-spectrum doula work in New York City and co-founders of the first abortion doula project. We had a few people come out to attend that event and learn about the book, which was very exciting for us. We hope to continue hosting events and getting everyone involved with and aware of our work. As we move into spring semester, we’ll build on what we learned during our pilot program with just a few doulas in the clinic, and work on getting more doulas trained and registered with the clinic in Pittsfield throughout the spring semester. So, in answer to your question, I think a lot of our most personal experiences are yet to happen – but we’re on our way!
What does having this experience mean to you?
MC and RV: Personally, I’m drawn to this work because of my desire to love and care for people in need, as well as a commitment to feminist political activism. Abortion and other pregnancy outcomes are so complicated and emotionally challenging, and I believe all people who are considering such choices deserve the utmost support. People with limited financial resources or who live in an underprivileged region (especially a rural area like the Berkshires) need extra support and may not even know to ask for a doula, so we’ve partnered directly with medical staff at a clinic and will offer our services completely free of charge. This work will be meaningful to our members, our clients, and the community in different ways. Overall, we want to join a national conversation about why reproductive support across the full spectrum of pregnancy outcomes (including abortion, stillbirth, miscarriage, adoption, etc.) is so necessary, and what we can all do to help. Our work becomes even more meaningful since the election of soon-to-be-president Donald Trump, as we move forward in a country in which many people already have difficulty accessing abortion, and those barriers may increase in the coming years. Another long-term goal of ours, in addition to passing off leadership of the Doula Project to younger students before some of us graduate, is to forge connections with medical providers (nurses and doctors) we work with in the clinic. We’re so grateful to work alongside supportive staff and can’t wait to continue that as our organization grows.
What kind, if any, controversy surrounds working as a doula for members of the club and others that are involved in similar work?
MC and RV: At large, not being compensated for emotional labour can be controversial. We have to work within the current healthcare system as it is, and remain committed to offering services to those who most need it as a volunteer project. Additionally, sharing our stories, writing about our daily activities, or even just being present for someone else’s personal, intimate, and potentially traumatic experience can feel really foreign and wrong at first, especially when patients bring a friend or family member(s) which can bring additional baggage and a different dynamic to navigate. It’s eventually about confidence in how much you as an impartial support person benefit the person you are there for, and that’s something that you gain with experience. So, we’re a work in progress.
Is there anything else you would like to let Her Campus know?
MC and RV: We’re always welcoming new members, so if you’re passionate about reproductive justice in Berkshire County or you have no idea what that is but want to get involved, email us at berkshiredoulaproject@gmail.com or find us on facebook!
The above answers were written by May Congdon and Roshny Vijayakar and background taken from Rachel Scharf’s feature in the Williams College newspaper: Berkshire Doula Project Educates Community On Reproductive Rights