BLOG: Doulas Need Doula-Level Support: Why We Must Care for the Caregivers
By Liz Friedman, Co-Founder and CEO of GPS Group Peer Support
Doulas —trained professionals who provide physical, emotional, and informational support before, during and shortly after childbirth— hold some of the most intimate, emotionally charged moments of a person’s life. They walk into labor and delivery rooms where joy, fear, trauma, power, and vulnerability collide, and steel themselves to support where they can, through difficult medical systems, cultural barriers, and even families in crisis.
And yet, doulas often carry all of that weight alone.
In my conversations with doula networks across Massachusetts, one theme has repeatedly come up: The emotional toll of this work is profound, and there are almost no formal structures to help doulas process what they see and experience.
Doulas witness the best and worst of the system:
They navigate bias, racism, language barriers, and power struggles.
They are often the only person in the room who truly knows the birthing parent.
They advocate, translate, de-escalate, and absorb the emotional shockwaves of every birth.
Sometimes they are the only familiar face in the room. They may be the one cutting the umbilical cord, the one holding the story of what actually happened, and the one families turn back to when they are finally ready to process their birth.
Over time, even the strongest doulas start to feel the wear. They carry memories they cannot quite set down. They hold trauma that is not theirs, layered on top of their own histories and lived experiences. They may stop taking births at certain hospitals. They might even step back from their work temporarily.
This is secondary trauma. And it has consequences.
Who Cares For the Carers?
We talk a lot about burnout among nurses, residents, and physicians, and for good reason. But doulas are an often invisible part of that same maternal and infant health equation. If we want healthy birth outcomes, especially for communities of color and for families facing language and cultural barriers, we need doulas who are supported, resourced, and emotionally sustained.
This is where structured, trauma-informed group support becomes essential.
Support groups can give doulas a place to process what they have held. They offer a container big enough for the grief, anger, fear, and joy that accumulate in this work. They help reduce the isolation of being the “only one,” doing this work largely on their own, birth after birth.
Support groups can also help doulas stay grounded in the purpose that brought them here in the first place: being a steady, compassionate presence someone can lean on in their most vulnerable moment.
So many doulas offer presence, advocacy, grounding, and nonjudgmental support, and they deserve the same for themselves in order to sustain their important and necessary work.
The GPS model and the MASStrong program were built for exactly this kind of need: people doing emotionally intense, high-responsibility work with very little structured support.
Through GPS and MASStrong, doulas and other perinatal workers can:
- Join trauma-informed support groups designed specifically for people working on the front lines of care.
- Be trained to run GPS groups themselves, so that support and resilience-building become part of the doula community’s own infrastructure.
- Access curricula that speak directly to perinatal realities, birth trauma, loss, inequity, and the power dynamics of hospital-based care.
Supporting doulas is not a side issue. It is a birth equity strategy, a workforce sustainability strategy, and a moral imperative.
If we want better outcomes for birthing people and families, we have to build systems that care for the caregivers too. Doulas need and deserve the same level of thoughtful, structured support that they so generously provide to everyone else. GPS and MASStrong are here to help make that real.
Bring MASStrong to Your Workplace
GPS’s MASStrong program offers free GPS trainings, support groups, curriculums, and toolkits for Massachusetts medical, behavioral health, and community care workers and organizations. Eligible organizations can also apply for GPS partnership support and grants up to $10,000.
