European
Doula
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European
doulas map
12
-13 May 2007 Paris : 5th French Doulas Convention and European Doulas Projects
Where do
we go from here?
Following all the previous work and exchanges between European
Doulas and Doulas organisations l'Association Doulas de France proposes during
the 5th French Doulas Convention 12-13 May 2007 (http://www.doulas.info/13may.php)
to work further towards a European Doulas Organisation with a European Doulas
Core Training Course as well as a Publication collecting information on all
existing European Doulas Organisations. The idea is to look at the local situation
for Doulas in their country (definition, code of practice, legal issues, training
courses etc) ; to come up with a synthesis which combine all things we may have
in common and to uses this as a basis to the creation of a European Doulas Organisation.
Program for the Convention
During the 2 days, through workshops and open discussions
on European Doulas Topics, we will have the opportunity to exchange and work
concretly towards a European Doulas Organisation : (for full program clik here)
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*Saturday 12th May: 9 h 45 -10 h 45 : Doulas in Europe : the European Doulas Guide compiling European organizations of doulas, their activities and statistics. Doulas Training Courses : towards a core training course in France and in Europe ; the specificity or color of the different courses ; the ''marrainage'' of Doulas de France) 11 h - 13 h : Workshops : Group
1 *Sunday 13th May : 11 h 15 – 13 h : Networking at regional and international levels : workgroups divided into regions/countries : getting together at a regional level/presentations of local projects/sharing contacts, etc… 15 h 15 – 17 h : Workshops :Group
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We hope many of you will be able to join us during those 2 days, if you wish to be kept informed on any developement and action following the Doulas Convention check out your mails on doulas-europe (see below on how to subscribe)
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Previously
During the Congres in Graz in November 2005 the actual present Doulas gathered
during a lunchbreak and got to know each other. It was interesting to see that
in different european countries a Doula movement is constantly growing, but
that we don’t know about each others activities. Therefore we decided
to organize the first official Doula Meeting in Europe prior to the next midwifery
today conference, that took place in Bad Wildbad in october 2006 and Gratz in
november 2006
Projects were at this time :
· To elect one national representative of each country to form a european
network
· To know about the different standards of Doula-Formation
· To have access to other Formation materials in case we need this
· Share experiences among the Doula
· Definition of national goals for 2007
· Definition of mutual support between european countries in 2007 (ex.
Switzerland and Austria cooperate in terms of Doula-Formation, Czechia and Poland
work together on the issue XY, etc.)
· To learn about DONA-Standards and organisation
Doulas
meeting in Graz, Austria, november 2nd, 2006
http://www.ekiz-graz.a
Whole program of the congress in Graz. It' s all in German but they
translated the most important things into english. I will put this document
on this yahoo-website under "files". If you plan to go to Graz and
the organizers realize that many of you will need translation into English they
will do their best to have translaters there. But there are also speeches and
workshops in English with traduction into German.
Our Doula Meeting will be on thursday 2 of november in the afternoon. Doulas
from Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Slowenia signed up allready.
We are very much looking forward to meeting you there and to share our experiences.
Bring along interesting papers, statistics, pictures, DVDs, what ever you have
to get an impression of the work Doulas do in your country. We will also talk
about Doula formation.
You can even participate in a two day workshop "birth wisdom" with
Ina May Gaskin, this workshop is part of the austrian Doula Training and it
will be held in English with translation into German! A wonderful oportunity
for Doulas!!
Doulas
de France projects
* The website: www.doulas.info was created in 2004: in 4 languages, an average
7000 hits per month, doulas directory, infos, book list, links to other websites.
* Yahoo discussion groups : “devenir Doula” for woman interested
in this activity, “Doulas-France” for working doulas and recently,
“Doulas-europe” a tool that allows doulas from all over Europe to
exchange and support each others. From these groups projects such as ‘’skill
exchange” scheme have arised.
« Marrainage » : the support of an experienced doula to «
godmother » the doula to help her, to debrief her experiences, guide her
in her debuts as a working doula in the same way “Doulas de France”
promote non medical childbirth support.
We are currently working on defining a chore training program for approval by
french authorities to ‘’legalise’’ this activity in
France and with Doulas.UK towards maybe a commun one.
TheDoulas-europe network aims at creating an european organisation through the
discussion group, meetings and national and international conventions
* The French Doulas Conventions : they have been held once a year in May, over 2 days since 2003, they gather around childbirth : parents, grand-parents, doulas, midwives, health professionnals etc and offer a space to share experiences and stories with worshops, talks ...
* The association takes part to several national events around chilbirth in France
* Maternité & Solidarité : a branch off the association is dedicated to special projects such as : offering support to women facing difficulties (single mothers, teenage mothers, mothers in jail, mothers living in poverty, unwanted pregnancies, post-partum depression )
* Publication project : a guide compiling all european doulas organisations and statistics for May 2007.