Maine indigenous group trains 30 doulas as birthing centers close

Summary

Maine’s Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness has trained about 30 doulas to help families in the state as birthing centers and other delivery services have closed, the organization said. Lisa Sockabasin, the group’s co-CEO in Bangor, said she heard from community members about a crisis involving maternity-care gaps across Maine and that the organization decided to move to fill part of that need.

Sockabasin said the late-September training included mostly Indigenous participants, along with some non-Indigenous participants. She said a tribal chief participated and that other community members joined the program, which used Indigenous doulas from Canada as trainers.

Doulas are nonmedical care workers who provide educational, physical and emotional support to pregnant, birthing and postpartum people and their families. Sockabasin said it is especially important for Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness to have Indigenous doulas involved, because they can incorporate cultural aspects into their work as they support patients and families.

In describing the approach, Sockabasin said, “It’s about that time being honored, being sacred. It’s a very spiritual time,” and she added, “That birth is a ceremony.” She also said, “When you wrap love and support around an individual, they thrive,” adding, “If they have a baby inside them, that baby is going to thrive, too.”

Sockabasin said her organization’s doula support is also intended to connect families with other services for challenges related to substance use disorder, poverty and mental health. Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness serves multiple Native communities, including the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point and the Penobscot Nation.

Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness said it had hoped to begin a doula program sooner, but said a current federal funding landscape has made that more difficult. Sockabasin said the organization will likely need to wait for additional funding or until doulas can be reimbursable by MaineCare, the state’s version of Medicaid, and she said conversations with the state about reimbursement are ongoing and that any change likely would not take effect until 2027.

The report also noted that eleven birthing units in Maine have closed in the last decade, including four that closed in the last year. Sockabasin said the closures leave 17 hospitals with delivery wards remaining across the state.

The training was funded in part by a $385,000 grant the organization received from the state, Sockabasin said. She said her broader goal would be to have an Indigenous birthing center in Maine, pointing to Minnesota as an example after Minnesota opened such a center with support from the state’s Legislature.