Doulas of Distinction - Christa Duquette

Periodic Profiles of our Passionate Peeps!

Christa Duquette CD(DONA), SBD

Who is this doula? 

Christa is a doula everyone should know. Not only is she a gifted doula, she is also a leader of the community, fierce advocate for doulas, voice for under-served populations, life-long learner, and just an awesome person. 

When you are in her presence you immediately feel at ease. She is truly dedicated to whoever she is with at any moment, and actually cares about their life and story; a rarity these days! 

Her ease with others is one of the reasons she has excelled at growing a strong community in Central Alberta. The Red Deer Doula Association is a leader in the province and with the help of the rest of the community the RDDA has opened opportunities for birthing families, and birth workers never before considered. Christa welcomes everyone as part of the community and invests in making them successful, as they define it.

Since completing DONA International Birth Doula training in 2012 Christa has been busy!  She started as Secretary of the RDDA in 2014, then served as Vice President and now is in her second year as President.  She has attended over 100 births in Red Deer, Olds and surrounding Hospitals, while also serving as a volunteer with the AHS Volunteeer Doula program for 5 years. Christa has also been an active volunteer and Doula Support with the Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre in Red Deer and Olds for 3 years while recently working with the new Maternity Home in Red Deer to build a program of Doula support with the RDDA and has helped with fundraising for Red Deer Regional Health Foundation and Ronald McDonald House of Central Alberta (in all her spare time).

We are very proud to share that Christa has been nominated for the 2018 Women of Excellence Award for Central Alberta, Community Building Category.   As well she is the recipient of the Alberta Health Services "Spirit of Excellence" award 2017 in the volunteeer category for their Doula program. 

A personal perspetive...

My name is Christa Duquette. I am mother to three beautiful children, wife to a farmer, and friends to many. I am also a Birth and Bereavement Doula and current President of the Red Deer Doula Association. 

Looking back over the past 5 years I am amazed at what an incredible journey it has been for me as a Doula. Each experience has brought more to my life then I could imagine and has helped shape the path of this passion for me. I now offer Birth and Bereavement Doula Services, Childbirth Education, and sit on the board for the Red Deer Doula Association and it has been wonderful in so many ways.

I am very lucky to do what I do, not only am I a certified Doula, but I also stay home with my children and help raise them on our 5th Generation family farm in Rural Alberta. I was born and raised in Olds and now with my husband, we continue to farm the land that will soon be 100 years in the family! All three of my children were born at the Olds Hospital, where I primarily now support couples through their own birth experiences. I have a soft spot in my heart for Olds, Alberta, but have really enjoyed expanding my services to Three Hills and the Red Deer area as well.

When I am not attending a birth or running my children to sports, I like to sew, enjoy camping and attempting to garden ;) Living on a farm we have cows, cats and dogs and our life is always busy with equipment, livestock and plant life. I also have a background in Bellydance and enjoy sharing the joy of dance through Mother Blessings, as a celebration of women. 

As I grow in my Doula journey I always look forward to learning new skills, meeting new people and of course the honour of being invited into the intimate time of birth. It is incredible the couples I have met along the way and I'm so grateful I have found my calling and am able to share my passion with those I meet everyday. 

Christa Duquette CD(DONA), SBD

Li'l Apple Doula Services - Olds and Red Deer

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Are you a "Desperate Doula"?

Are you in an Abundance or Scarcity Mindset?

This might be the number one pain point and complaint I hear from doulas:

"I need more clients!"

Do you hear that? That's desperation. It's like being asked out on a date...who would you rather say yes to: the guy who's begging for you to say yes, or the guy who knows they are perfectly happy whether you say yes or not?

It's great to make your clients feel wanted, but there's a fine line between desperation and deserving.

You know what else 'I need more clients' tells me? You operate with a scarcity energy. You are starved and will accept anything that resembles food. Let me tell you, going into prospective meetings with this scarcity energy and desperation to close will lead you to your-less-than-perfect-client, and ultimately cause you to lose them.

One of the biggest shifts I made early in my career and continue to make (because it's hard not to feel the pressure of adulthood), is to go into every conversation/interaction with the desire to...

H E L P A N D S E R V E

Tie your deserved outcome to something deeper, because there's a reason you're doing what you do, and it's NOT just for the money.

At one point, you believed that the services you offer would make a difference to your clients' lives. Stick to that energy of service and offering; leave the desperation at the door.

Prospective clients can sniff out desperation. Like you, they know when they're being sold on something. Like you, they just want help and understanding.

Try this instead: Just be helpful, be genuinely interested in your client's pain points and model what business confidence should look and feel like.

Money and clients will follow. I promise. 

💕Loree

#wisdomwednesday

Loree Siermachesky, Alberta's very own Doula OG. With 20 years of experience as a DONA certified birth doula, and a personal history of assisting at more than 1500 births, she has blended the heart work of being a doula with the reality of running a thriving full-time business.  Loree not only has received the recognition of her community as the 2013 Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year recipient, a 2016 Medicine Hat Women in Business Inspire Award nominee, the 2016 Prodoula Diamond Award recipient, she is widely respected within the international Doula Community.

As one of the founders of Elite Doula Group Inc. Loree has proven time and time again she is fiercely committed to the new families of Southern Alberta, and commits her time to sharing knowledge and mentoring new doulas through her advanced doula courses.

Loree lives in Medicine Hat, AB with her husband of 23 years, her sons and her much loved Sheltie and two cats. She is an avid gardener and when she’s not in the labor room, she’s usually outside…or sleeping. 

Boundaries - Your Line in the Sand

BOUNDARIES!  One of the hardest parts of Doula Life, Loree has some thoughts...

Hello Doulas! I think the time is right for a little discussion about boundaries. Hang on to your gecko clothes ladies, as this is about to stretch you in growth!

Often doulas think they have checks and balances in place when dealing with boundaries between their personal and professional lives. What I have found though, is those boundaries are often nonexistent. Sometimes the very nature of our work makes it impossible to enjoy the nine-to-five, but it shouldn’t stop you from remembering first and foremost this is a business. And if you don’t have solid boundaries, you will go up in flames eventually.

FAMILY

I really want you all to think about this. How many of you are a slave to your phone? How many times in one day do you ignore your spouse, your children, or your own needs to answer a text message or an email? Would the world end if you waited 30 minutes to respond? An hour? An evening? A day? Do you know how to triage your clients and their questions and concerns? Are you? 

In order to claim some sanity in my life, I integrated a system with my current clientele that offers that immediate response versus one that can wait for a bit. If someone calls me, I will always answer. A call means, this is important, labour has started, or something is happening that could be life-threatening. All other forms of communication simply mean to me that a client can wait for a bit of time for a response. If someone texts me, they know that it could take up to an hour or longer for me to respond. If someone emails me, that may mean I could respond within 12 hours. If someone connects with me on social media, well now, that may take a day or longer. If my phone is not ringing, I will enjoy the time I have with my family without constantly checking my cell. 

Now some of you may argue that this goes against the on-call availability you may promote as a doula. Does it really? Do you not shower? Do you not sleep? Having a discussion with your clients on how and when to communicate can go a long way to protecting yourself and establishing the boundary that you share with your family. 

For years my spouse would get fed up with my face constantly glued to my phone. What was I subconsciously telling my husband by carrying my phone around like a lost body part? I was telling him that he was secondary in my life. He was not a priority. I was telling the man I loved, he was not important! Do you like to be treated as an after-thought? Really process that.

My children, having lived an on-call life right alongside me, carry trigger responses to my phone. Immediately they will stiffen, or withdraw when my phone rings or beeps because for years I treated them as secondary to my clients. Don't do this to your kids! Your passion for this profession will never outweigh their need for a present, engaging mother. While my boys are proud of what I have done, and what I continue to do as a doula, they have a long-standing resentment as well.

OTHER DOULAS and YOUR COMMUNITY

How much time are you investing in your peers? Do you volunteer your time for doula organizations or associations? How many of you get contacted by people who potentially want to be doulas? How much time is taken away from your day in doing so? On average I field about 10 inquiries from people wanting to be doulas in any given month. I am not a trainer, but I get asked anyway. There is a heck of a lot of people that want to take me for coffee to pick my brain! I will not do that anymore. No, I am not being mean, I am establishing a boundary. My time. My call on what I do with it. I will no longer sacrifice the emotional currency in investing in people who 90% of the time don't proceed with training and education. I send them to Doula Essentials for information. If they are serious about learning, they will connect with Heather eventually. 

If it is a peer who wants to communicate, I refer them to how I manage my clients. Call if it's life-threatening or your emotional state is bankrupt. Text, email or send me a private message on Facebook, to which I will respond to, but not immediately. I may offer my time by doing live video or attending a meeting with you all, but I will no longer meet people on their own whim. There is simply not enough time in a day to make everyone else a priority. 

If you are a part of an organization or an association, do your work when all your counterparts are together. Plan for meetings and do what work is needed IN those meetings. Organize how and when you will respond to incoming questions or concerns. These are VOLUNTEER positions. Manage your time wisely. When I was the managing editor for International Doula, I sent emails to source articles on Sundays and communicated with the board or authors on Wednesdays. When an issue was in final edits, I communicated with the production team on a set date that had been pre-planned to finalize the issue. I ran a well-oiled machine. Learn the art of automated responses. Again, the world will not end, if you can't respond immediately to someone's question about fees, website listing, or the referral line. Everyone else, please understand that these doulas are doing their best to represent you, but they have lives too.

SELF CARE

No matter how hard we try, we cannot pour from an empty cup. If your need to run yourself into the ground to be at the beck and call of your clients is your idea of how to run a successful business, think again. Take it from someone who knows, and still continues to struggle with this boundary. You need to recharge. You cannot burn the candle at both ends for too long without your body, your mind, or your heart causing a revolt. What are you doing for yourself? Is it enough? When is the last time you did something totally for you? Know your limits. Listen to your body. And for goodness sake, understand you are no good to anyone if you cannot take care of yourself first. We mentor mothers for a living. What message are you sending when you show them you don't take care of yourself either?

Think about ways to covet the time you share with your family, the time you spend with your spouse, the need to have self-care and sharing your passion with your peers. You will actually be a better doula to your clients. Trust me. In my heyday, I was carrying upwards of 40 clients a month  (people due, people postpartum, childbirth education clients and placenta service clientele). Now imagine if those 40 clients contacted me every hour of every day and expected me to immediately respond to their needs? What quality of life would I have had? Even 2 high-need clients can wreak havoc on your life. Draw a line and be firm with it. Strong boundaries will benefit you in the long run.

I want to see the lot of you still around in the next decade.

- Loree

Loree Siermachesky, Alberta's very own Doula OG. With 20 years of experience as a DONA certified birth doula, and a personal history of assisting at more than 1500 births, she has blended the heart work of being a doula with the reality of running a thriving full-time business.  Loree not only has received the recognition of her community as the 2013 Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year recipient, a 2016 Medicine Hat Women in Business Inspire Award nominee, the 2016 Prodoula Diamond Award recipient, she is widely respected within the international Doula Community.

As one of the founders of Elite Doula Group Inc. Loree has proven time and time again she is fiercely committed to the new families of Southern Alberta, and commits her time to sharing knowledge and mentoring new doulas through her advanced doula courses.

Loree lives in Medicine Hat, AB with her husband of 23 years, her sons and her much loved Sheltie and two cats. She is an avid gardener and when she’s not in the labor room, she’s usually outside…or sleeping.