Reclaiming Space and Advocacy: Raven’s Journey Into Queer Birthwork

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Making Doula Training More Accessible

At bebo mia, we know that access changes everything. Our full spectrum doula training is designed to prepare students for real-life care across fertility, birth, postpartum, and loss. Through our doula scholarship initiatives, we continue to support future doulas in stepping into this work with confidence.

A Life Built Through Movement and Self-Discovery

Hi lovelies! I’m Raven, I’m 21 and live in Denver CO. I’ve lived here for a little over a year now, I moved here with my absolutely lovely partner where we adopted our cat Thomas. I work in a metaphysical shop and I absolutely love it there, I used to shop there regularly before landing a job. I grew up as a military child, I moved around a lot. Thankfully my entire high school experience was spent at one school. I spent majority of my school experience hyper-fixated on doing everything perfectly to get into a good school, just to not go to college at all due to lack of scholarship and lack of FAFSA funds.

Exploring Identity Through Different Paths of Care

Being a doula was something I’ve researched off and on for years now. I went from death doula blogs to birth doulas to abortion doulas and I researched non-stop trying to decide where I fit in.

Advocacy Rooted in Lived Experience

As a trans person I know firsthand just how hard it can be to be listened to in a medical setting. Did you know trans and POC are more likely to get an abortion compared to cis and white individuals specifically because of how they’re treated in the healthcare settings? I’ve always been a reproductive rights advocate. If you want a child you should be able to have that child in a safe way, every step of the way. You shouldn’t have to worry how you’ll be treated in the medical setting. That’s part of why I applied to the Queer for Queers scholarship, to make sure I can see that those trans folks who do want to carry a pregnancy can do so on their terms, and feel safe and heard.

Finding a Training Space That Truly Feels Safe

Bebo Mia was a name I saw come up quite a bit while researching full spectrum doula coursework. It was time after time one I saw praises sang to, from people who had already been certified but didn’t feel knowledgeable enough to people who hadn’t even practiced as doulas once (like myself). I also saw a lot about how inclusive they were and how accommodating they could be. As a queer person and a disabled person this was an incredibly big deal to me. I didn’t want to join a space where I felt like an outsider, or where they wouldn’t work with me in areas where my disability might make things harder.

Birthwork as Resistance and Social Change

I truly believe being a birthworker is incredibly important in this current climate. Like so many things, birth work is inherently political. In a time where reproductive care and rights are being taken away and scrutinized a birth worker is a big deal. Helping someone make the decisions they want and have that bodily autonomy is MASSIVE to me. I researched a lot about the history on why birth has become such a hospitalized experience. It’s rooted in torture and exclusion. A claim that midwives were a hoax and were more likely to harm you, even though doctors knew very little and were constantly “testing” aka torturing slave women with their new “methods.” Being a birthworker is my calling, it’s another way to stick it to the system and help those with birthing bodies.

Building a Future Centered on Fertility and Loss Support

My goal is to be The Moonstone Doula, it’s a stone that has a large meaning to me. Outside of its own personal significance it’s a stone obviously associated with the moon, which historically played a major part in menstruating bodies cycles and pregnancy itself! By the time this course is done I’ll be certified as a full spectrum doula and an abortion doula. My hope is to offer my services most focused on helping those with fertility issues and help them through losses, as well as helping those who do not wish to be pregnant or unable to be pregnant for whatever their reasons may be. If it’s the wish of my fertility clients I’d happily go on to be a pregnancy and birth doula for them as well, or help them find someone else! But ideally, my focus will be set on fertility and loss (in its variety of ways).

Turning Passion Into Practice

If this story resonates with you, it might be time to explore your own path. Our Birth Doula and full spectrum training programs are built to support your journey from learning to practice. Apply for a doula scholarship or enroll today.