The Village Birth Workers Collective

By Tabitha Ervin,
Editorial Director

This month, April 11-17 was Black Maternal Health Week and I was able to connect with JaNisha Beal and learn about her and her story but also about the new Village Birth Workers Collective and their upcoming open house. JaNisha is married with 5 children and took me on the journey of her first birthing experience in which she was very sick and felt very uninformed through the process. She ended up having a C-section and wasn’t happy with that but along the way something clicked that she should start learning more for herself. With her second pregnancy, she went into it with her own plan and ended up having a V-BAC (Vaginal Birth after cesarean). Through this experience she felt empowered and felt that she gained her voice and her power back over her birthing experience. She learned that a woman can in fact be more informed about her body and her choices. After this, she was invited by her cousin to support her during labor and was able to provide emotional support. This is when her journey to being a doula started. The experience of being bedside with her cousin providing comfort, knowledge, love and compassion all sparked her journey to becoming a certified doula. A Birth Doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother and family before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible.

JaNisha then spoke at a local Doula conference and was recruited to work for the Young Lives organizations newly created program for teen moms. She was able to use what she started learning about being a doula to support teen moms and fathers in building them up and strengthening the whole family. She has been able to help them understand they have choices which makes the process more smooth. Now some of the young ladies are getting to have their dream births through this connection. The young ladies feel seen, heard and empowered.

To contact JaNisha email her at: janishab.yl@gmail.com

JaNisha has connected with Asha Bailey and Taylor Banks who are starting the Village Birth Workers Collective whose mission is to provide a place where BIPOC (black idegenous people of color) birth workers mutually support and uplift each other and support families in our community at all stages to stand in their power.

Asha is trained in Ayurvedic, Anishinaabe, and Mexica postpartum tradition. Taylor is a trained full spectrum doula who provides a variety of various support in the birthing process and beyond. Both ladies had unsatisfactory birth experiences which led them to explore birth work. Through their own journeys they discovered the lack of resources and support for some families particularly in black and brown communities. Asha focuses on nutrition while Taylor focuses on lactation support in addition to all of their training. The two met through a mutual friend, learned they had a lot in common, grew a friendship and they are now starting the collective together. The collective is a group of birth workers who come together to support women of various backgrounds.

The new collective looks to serve everyone with a focus on the black community as they focus on increased support in black maternal health overall. They want to build relationships and support families through their journey.

They have an event coming up in May to recruit other members and to support people who want to become birth workers.

The info for that event is as follows: May 14 at 3pm

Jackson R. Lehman YMCA
The Village Birth Workers Collective contact information is: Facebook Page: TheVillageFW
facebook.com TheVillageFW/
Email: thevillagebipocdoulas@gmail.com