In the final episode we go over the last details about doula care we haven't covered yet so that our host, Iman, can finally decide if she should get a doula or not. To wrap up, all of the guests come back to discuss the remaining logistics, like when you should hire a doula, the importance of finding the right doula for you, and how much doula services typically cost in the United States. At the end, Iman finally reveals her decision on whether or not she’ll get a doula…and she also brings up a HUGE elephant in the room that she hasn’t mentioned yet, but that remains a really important part of this conversation.

• Wanna know more about the people and organizations our guests shouted out in this episode? Check out: Birthmark and Your Uncompromised Path NOLA
• Find out more about the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies (IWES)
• Wanna know more about doulas? Check out our doula awareness campaign, You Deserve A Doula.

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“Black maternal health is a public health crisis.” - Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell 

It is impossible to critically discuss maternal and child health in the US without talking about race and the challenges Black birthing families face; but luckily, doulas play a crucial role in addressing health disparities and closing equity gaps. In this episode, Tasia, Arlet, Jen, and Dr. Gillispie-Bell share their perspectives on how systemic racism and bias in healthcare affect Black mothers, and how doulas can serve as advocates to ensure they are seen, heard, and properly cared for. From firsthand experiences to observed patterns and trends, they highlight why it’s so important for Black birthing families to have doulas to support them in navigating a healthcare system that often overlooks their concerns, ignores their pain, and doesn’t treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve.

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Ever wondered what it takes to become a doula? This episode centers features Tasia and Jen as they share their journeys into this field and the special training they received that has shaped their practices and their philosophies about doula work. They emphasize the need to establish trust not only with the birthing person, but with their family and/or partner, as well, and this episode explores how doulas complement family units and establish relationships with whole families to meet everyone's needs.

• Wanna know more about the people and organizations our guests shouted out in this episode? Check out: Sista Midwife Productions, Nicole Deggins | Birthmark Doulas | Covenant House
• Find out more about the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies (IWES)
• Wanna know more about doulas? Check out our doula awareness campaign, You Deserve A Doula.

Have questions? Contact us on social at: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn

In this episode we hear from Allison, Arlet, Tasia, and Jen as they recount real birth stories from the perspectives of birthing people and doulas themselves. The episode shares information such as how doulas educate birthing families, what it means to create a birth plan, the kinds of support doulas provide during labor — hands on, emotionally, and otherwise — and how they help you advocate for yourself.

• Wanna know more about the people and organizations our guests shouted out in this episode? Check out: Birthmark and Labor and Love
• Find out more about the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies (IWES)
• Wanna know more about doulas? Check out our doula awareness campaign, You Deserve A Doula.

Have questions? Contact us on social at: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn

In this inaugural episode, host Iman Shervington invites you on a journey into deciding whether or not she should get a doula. Mothers Arlet and Allison, doulas Jen and Tasia, and OB/GYN Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell break down the basics by explaining what a doula is and what a doula does to support healthy birthing experiences. They also clarify the difference between a doula and a midwife, and they share details about the kinds of services that doulas typically provide.

• Find out more about the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies (IWES)
• Wanna know more about doulas? Check out our doula awareness campaign, You Deserve A Doula.

Have questions? Contact us on social at: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn

Should I Get A Doula? is the newest podcast from the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies (IWES), this time hosted by IWES’ own Sr. Director of Media & Communications, Iman Shervington...and yes, she is the daughter of our previous Healing Is the Revolution (HITR) host, Dr. Denese Shervington! In true HITR fashion Iman speaks one-on-one with special guests to get their firsthand experiences, insights, and reflections on their journeys with doula care - going from the concrete to the psychological. 

Over five episodes, Iman speaks with doulas, birthing people, and an OB-GYN to answer every question we could think of relating to doulas and how they can support healthy pregnancies. Guests answer questions like: What are doulas and what services do they provide? How do you find a doula? When should you hire a doula? How much do they cost? - and so much more! Follow HITR to catch the first episode when it drops on November 12.

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This episode focuses on one man’s journey to care for himself and his community during a time of loss and hardship. Flozell’s childhood epitomized the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child,” as he grew up in a tight-knit and supportive family and community. But within every community, there is a tragedy, and the loss of Flozell’s son significantly impacted his path in life. In that experience, Flozell has risen up as a compassionate leader, while also turning to his community for support. In this episode, he shares how he found meaning within his grief and a renewed calling for acceptance, forgiveness, and compassion. 

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This episode explores the concept of freedom in two very different expressions. First, we hear back from Arnold, who exemplifies the idea that 60 is the new age of enlightenment. With every year, Arnold has found it easier to let go of his anxieties, his control, and the ghosts of his past that haunt him. Thanks to this new approach to life, Arnold has shed many of his self-imposed constrictions and found a new zest for life. While Arnold is thriving in his version of stability, Jasmine, on the other hand, is “always in transition.” While that may sound like a bad thing, to Jasmine it truly is not, as it is the constant on her journey to healing and to her truest self. Find out what freedom and evolution mean to these two unique souls as you simultaneously explore what it means to you.

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This episode focuses on two women that are dedicated to breaking the cycle of trauma in their families and who are using their stories as a means to help heal others. First, we hear from Lauren, a board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, and pediatrician, who feels that there was no amount of training that could have prepared her for the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the difficulties, she continues to bring comfort to the patients she virtually meets with, all while continuing on the path of reconciling her personal childhood trauma. We also hear from Gina, a pillar of strength for her family and an outspoken advocate in her community. Having lived through the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Gina has found herself in an unsettling but albeit familiar place. In this episode, Gina discusses how she is handling the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the devastating losses and new challenges (good and bad) that it brings. 

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This episode focuses on two people whose healing journeys have been highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the unique processes each one uses to cope. In spite of the traumatic experiences that marked his childhood, Brennan’s resilient spirit kept him on his path to become a devoted father and beloved math teacher. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic has majorly impacted both him and other members of his family in a very lasting way. In this episode, Brennan reflects on how the pandemic has affected him physically, emotionally, and mentally, as a father, a brother, and a teacher. Last year, Amy couldn’t have imagined that her loss and struggles would uniquely equip her with the tools to take on 2020. But surprisingly, it did. Amy is a body healer/bodyworker and a writer, and in this episode, she discusses how she dealt with the anxiety of a chaotic world in COVID lockdown, as well as the isolation from her father who is living in hospice. In an honest and raw way, Amy explores what “coping” looks like these days.

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If pain is indeed inspiration for art, then poet, health advocate, and educator Nikki Napoleon’s first few decades were not short of material. From the layers of trauma in her home - heartbreakingly brushed off as “just learned behavior” by relatives who could have intervened - to losing some of her beloved siblings, Nikki could have drowned in a reservoir of pain. But “Earth Angels” like her maternal grandmother turned her on to reading books and writing poetry, in which she found healing and self-expression. Through that creativity and curiosity, and other therapies that are important to her, Nikki has created a thriving life for herself and her children, despite the scars of her life’s early storms.

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Since the age of four, artist and activist Jasmine Davis was very clear about who she was, yet she felt burdened by the weight of other people’s prejudice, expectations and projections onto her, and she had to constantly navigate this lack of acceptance and understanding everywhere in her world—from church, to school, to even within her own family. Finally successful in her self definition and in harmony with the people in her life and work, now Jasmine honestly and openly recounts her path to get there: the unexpected people from whom she found acceptance and guidance, the vices she clung to for survival, and even the times she knows she simply got in her own way. With a wise lens she reflects on her journey to developing healing, healthy relationships with others and with herself.

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Today Brennan Jacques is a thriving middle-school teacher, and a football and basketball coach, yet in his own words his early life “was not pretty.” The memories that play on repeat in his head aren't all bright and positive like the once in a lifetime community trip he took to Disney World, rather he is still plagued by a horrific situation that unfolded right in front of his eyes at age twelve. That wasn’t Brennan’s first intimate brush with violence - and it would not be his last - and when he became a young father he became determined to create a different life for his daughter and went down a whole new path. But inside and outside the classroom, Brennan has been quick to learn the lessons life has dealt him. He now uses healing and wisdom to guide him as a father and he has excelled beyond even his own belief.

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Despite all, bodyworker, healer and writer Amy Stewart gently reminds herself that “I’m better now than I was back then.” And that is saying a lot, because by the age of nine she had already experienced enough trauma to feel that the world and everything around her was sad. Amy reveals how that young girl - hurt, angry, and feeling unprotected - succumbed to harmful outlets to escape and to cope. Today, after decades of therapy ,she is proud of her growth and has found healthier outlets to speak her truth and fight for her healing. 

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 Dr. James is a psychologist, but today he is not going to be a therapist, he’s just going to be Arnold. On the other side of the couch, Arnold talks candidly with Dr. Shervington about his first few decades, which were lived under the inhibiting weight of unwavering rules and expectations; breaking free from that weight is his life’s journey. Through deep reflection, accented by moments of levity, Arnold describes his path to create freedom, self-worth, and balance in his relationships without shunning the parts of this deeply embedded rigidity that feel protective and connect him to the most meaningful influence in his life.

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Daddy’s girl Lauren Teverbaugh has fulfilled her father’s mantra, “excellence, nothing less,” and is now a board-certified child psychiatrist, adult psychiatrist, and pediatrician. Despite tumultuous changes in her family unit starting when she was a mere five years old, her dad showed up for her and her sister, and she believed that he always would...until the day he didn’t. In this episode, walk alongside Lauren’s healing journey to uncover the truths and complex realities that stemmed from this devastating time both as a curious child uncovering family secrets and as a compassionate professional who only too well understands the effects of untreated trauma.

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Flozell Daniels’s story is rather unique, yet some may say it's unfortunately not uncommon. These days Flozell thrives as the President and CEO of the Foundation for Louisiana, likely possible through the foundation he received growing up in an African American community in New Orleans that was idyllic and secure despite its issues. In this episode Flozell speaks of strong maternal figures and a father who always showed up and guided him, which helped him feel sure of the role he in turn would play in the future. But life dealt him one of the cruelest of blows. Only a few years past a trauma that still reduces him to his knees in tears, he employs a range of self-care and healing strategies to answer his broken heart’s question “how am I supposed to live?” Flozell shares how his personal and community fight for joy and justice have intertwined and keeps him on his healing journey.

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Gina Brown could have settled with being one of many tragic stories of a human’s inability to claw beyond circumstances outside of her control. Beginning at just four and a half years old, Gina has endured a history of abuse, a devastating health diagnosis, failed familial relationships, self denial, and substance use. Yet instead of succumbing to the trauma, after a lot of work Gina has pushed through and become a national advocate and activist. With humor and conviction, Gina tells her provocative personal story of how she catalyzed her own healing and how she works daily to disrupt the harmful cycles in her family.

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