Kimberly Costello is CEO of the Doula Foundation. The Springfield-based nonprofit has served southwest Missouri for over 25 years. Costello said it’s doing more than ever to address not just the clinical, but the social challenges facing new mothers, families and babies.
“We have many families that are suffering through single parent homes or domestic violence situations, homelessness, maybe they do not have family support. Maybe they aged out of the foster care system themselves, and they don’t have a lot of family support systems in place. They don’t understand community resources, and they’re many times in survival mode themselves and trying to find out how to get through life and learn basic life skills. On top of now, they’re expecting a baby. And so how do I move forward in that space and feel safe and feel supported?” she said.
“A lot of people are familiar with traditional doula services, where a support person or a doula that is non-medical will help a family that is expecting and provide some prenatal support and attend the labor and delivery with that family. What makes us unique is that we are a community-based nonprofit organization. Our team is certified as a birth and postpartum doula and a perinatal community health worker. And we provide not only the prenatal, postpartum education and the labor support, but also trauma informed care. We provide childbirth education, parenting education, all of these things. But also, when we do a home visitation setting and we walk in the door, that curriculum, yes, and best practices are there. But when we see a mom that’s falling apart, something has happened. We can adapt very quickly, and we customize our care exactly to what their needs are,” said Costello…