Career Goals

A while ago, I realized what finally want to do for a career (aside
from motherhood) & how I can use my social work degree at the same
time. I want to become a doula & lactation consultant. It fits my
passions perfectly, my desire to help vulnerable people & uses all of
the skills I learned from my social work classes. It's simply perfect.

I've been supporting friends/family through births for almost a year
now, but I wanted to make it official and get the certification &
training to get better. My mom believes in me & what I am doing, so
she helped me pay for my doula certification class which I'm about
halfway through now. She said it was an investment in the future,
which I completely agree with. Reading & learning in this class has
further proven my desire to support pregnant & laboring mamas. It
feels so incredibly right. And I finally witnessed a completely
natural physiological labor and birth when I was doula-ing for a
friend a week as a half ago. It was incredible to witness no
interventions and her body go through each stage of labor like a
textbook. I'll blog about that soon for sure. I also felt honored to
be welcomed into her birth space & learned a lot for the future from
it as well.

I also realized that I need to find a way to become a lactation
consultant. I have helped so many friends and friends of friends
through messages, texts & even while visiting after birth. Apparently
I'm the safe go to gal for everyone to ask a bazillion questions. I
don't feel bothered helping them learn their baby & how to meet their
needs. I actually feel empowered by giving them the best information I
can and supporting them through a challenging time. I finally found a
local LLL meeting place to start attending meetings, but with the
sudden move we're likely doing, I will need to start over and look for
another chapter to attend. I'm hoping to gain some experience with
them and eventually through WIC (though York county does not have a
peer counselor program--maybe it's something to push to start one!). I
wish I could afford to get the classes on my own, but I think the
experience from these programs will help me gain confidence talking
and interacting with people again.

It's exciting to find a way to use my degree & hopefully help
supplement my family's income (eventually) in a field that I feel so
passionate and knowledgeable in!!!