ep 103 with Chaney Williams

In this episode, we go in-depth about systemic cultural and Medical Industrial Complex biases against midwives, doulas and holistic birthwork in general, health disparities for Black birthing parents, parallels between Western medical perspectives on midwifery and massage therapy fields, and advice for interested families on how to search for and choose a midwife or doula.

We also discuss the core issue of burnout amongst midwives and doulas–before, during and after their training–as well as some insidious systemic barriers to adequate training in this field, medical-cultural transphobia and bias, and specific ways that change can be implemented to create support and care for these important and necessary pillars of our healthcare system.

Bio: Chaney Williams (she/they) is a queer, biracial, intersectional feminist, and full spectrum doula who has an MFA in Creative Writing: Poetry. She lives in Kentucky and has been a southerner since birth. Chaney strongly believes in the power that writing holds in healing processes and that engaging with art of all forms is cathartic. For Chaney, their writing is confessional in nature because she writes what they know and what haunts them because it is the way she makes sense of the world she exists in. It is how she finds belonging in the universe and connects to their ancestors, future descendants, and the collective. They believe that all birthing people deserve autonomy and access to reproductive care/support, that caring for community is an act of liberation, and that it “is our duty to fight for our freedom”-Assata Shakur.

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Links from this episode:

Chaney aka The Intersectional Doula on IG

Chaney’s Salty magazine piece

Louisville doula project

(BADT) Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings–a Black-owned, queer-run training organization 

Sabia Wade–Author of “Birthing Liberation: How Reproductive Justice Can Set Us Free”

Doula Match–search engine to help connect families with the right doula

Black Birth Justice

Episode Credits:

All longer music clips in this episode by Given Davis from their album, “The Way Be Lit”

Given’s Writing & Creative work: IG @givendaviswrites

Audio technician: Sasha Ell

Backend patreon & digital assistant support: veev 

rise up! good witch:

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