Birth and Postpartum doulas provide education and non-medical support to families as they prepare for birth, during birth and in the early postpartum period.
As doulas and Educarers, RIE Associates Ida Reid and Jennifer Curtis talk about how RIE’s Basic Principles inform their roles:
- Meeting families right where they are, bringing no personal agenda and requiring the ability to “leave oneself at the door” (Authenticity)
- Embracing the uniqueness of individual parents and respecting their own learning journey, seeing and accepting the individual as they are (Sensitive Observation)
- Regarding the child *and* the parent as whole and competent (Basic Trust)
- Valuing the importance and transformative nature of the new role as adults become parents (Freedom to Explore)
- Holding space for decisions (tarry time), trusting the client to choose the best path for them (Sensitive Observation and Basic Trust)
- Honoring multiple viewpoints, respecting the individual’s personhood and sense of “self;” acknowledging that each relationship between caregivers and infant will be their own distinct relationship (Authenticity)
- Affirming the new parents’ experience without judgement and respecting differing viewpoints (Sensitive Observation, Authenticity)
- Allowing and trusting parents to find their own way (Basic Trust)
- Being flexible to meet the needs at hand (rather than following an agenda), with a capacity to embrace the unknown (Freedom to Explore and Interact, Involvement in Caregiving Activities, Sensitive Observation)
- Facilitating the parent feeling genuinely “seen” and affirmed in their personhood (Authenticity and Consistency)
By RIE Associates Jennifer Curtis and Ida Reid
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Jean Piaget’s Way of Seeing and RIE®