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DCH 2022 Wrap Up & Welcoming 2023!
What a year!
Check out where we’ve been and where we're headed.
Doulas of Capitol Hill celebrates our 7th trip around the sun on February 1st. 🎂 So, we thought it appropriate to not only take a look back at where we were in 2022 but also where we’ve been these past 7 years!
Each year DCH has chosen a “word of the year” as our guide. Let’s see where we’ve been in order to have a clear vision of where we are going.
2016 DCH was “born”- Grow
2017 DCH turned 1- Clarity
2018 DCH turned 2- Stability
2019 DCH turned 3- Better (Communication, Cooperation, “Climbing”)
2020 DCH turned 4- Invest
2021 DCH turned 5- Accountability, Boundaries, Connection (ABC’s)
2022 DCH turned 6- Rest
In all of these years the lessons and growth has been intentional, targeted, and sometimes dramatic and surprising!
One fascinating outcome of choosing a “word of the year” is that we have learned about its opposite or inverse. In 2019, as we focused on stability, there were some substantial changes in company ownership that really shook things up! In 2020 as we focused on Investing, we saw a 30% decrease in clients served, as we grappled with the impact for our clients during the pandemic lockdown. Then, we invested a great deal of time in our community to be inclusive and anti-racist via our virtual Town Hall conversations. Also, inspired by the lessons of 2020, Emily divested half of the ownership of DCH to Jacquelin, who joined as co-owner at the start of 2021.
In 2022 our aim was to cultivate a culture that honored our need for REST as a necessary component to our physical and mental health, as well as sustainability, all while balancing the activity of one of our busiest years ever!
Here’s a look at our numbers in 2022:
We supported 331 families in 2022!
10,003 hours of postpartum support
202 Births supported
81 5-Star Mentor packages
80 Lactation visits
62 Concierge services
41 Private education classes
26 Placenta encapsulations
Our Top 9
1- Cluster fed babies searching for praise when they haven't “snacked in 25 minutes”
2- Our Doulas are on call 24/7 from the moment you sign a contract with us. This separates us from several other doulas who only become available around “full term” We know how important it is to build relationships with our clients and we know how unpredictable birth can be.
3- When you're a doula and also a mom. “I’m not lazy, I just don’t feeling doing anything!”
5- A beautiful image of our friend @Kaydenxofficial on Transgender day of Visibility. Kayden is a Black Trans advocate and specializes in working with trans masculine men especially those navigating pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
6- An article from Behindthechair.com about how a mother of a former NICU baby opened a hair salon inside the hospital to spoil current parents of NICU babies. What an amazing way to give back!
7- Unfortunately it doesn't seem like COVID is going anywhere anytime soon but we are taking all the precautions necessary to keep our doulas and our clients safe! Clients can ask our doulas to take a rapid test before starting their postpartum shifts to help you all feel more at ease.
8- The article that “broke” the internet. Allure's cover story with Jennifer Aniston went deep into her life including talking about her struggles with IVF and infertility while being cast in the spotlight and judged for putting her career before a family.
9- Our amazing co-owners Emily and Jacqulin at The Big PUSH to end preventable stillbirths in Washington DC.
Did you catch our interview with
Perinatal Place?
Taking care of our mental and physical health pre and postpartum is such an important topic that sometimes gets pushed to the side when planning and growing a family. Katie and Megan are a team of therapists (physical health & mental health) in the Northern Virginia area who have joined forces to provide support to women and birthing people in our community.
Kind words from our clients in 2022
As we look at 2022 in the rearview mirror, in many ways still needing to carry the lesson of Rest with us into the new year, Doulas of Capitol Hill invites our clients, our doulas and team members, and our community to focus on Alignment for 2023.
When we think of Alignment a few things come to mind…
Alignment and Awareness
Our Town Hall conversations offer our birth workers and professionals the opportunity to gain Awareness of their own biases, boundaries, and motivations. In 2023 we will also offer opportunities for our clients and our team members to grow in self-awareness through writing, reading, and community events. We’ll also be integrating an organizational assessment to refine our systems for the betterment of our clients, our colleagues, and our community.
Alignment and Appreciation
We love to show Appreciation and gratitude to our clients and our team members! We often hear our clients say, “I couldn’t have done it without you!” To this we reply, “we couldn’t do it without YOU!” Rather than an attitude of competition between the experiences of other parents, other doulas, or other businesses, we choose to celebrate the successes of others. In 2023 we will have some wonderful client gifts being delivered to the hands of our clients who choose 5 Star Mentors and those who share their story by leaving a review on Google, Facebook, or Yelp.
Also, a big congratulations and appreciation to our newest 5 Star Mentors, Celina Sargusingh and Jada Gainer!
And a reminder to our clients past, present, and future: when you share your story from your time with DCH on Google, Facebook, or Yelp reviews, we enter both you and your DCH team member into a raffle to win $500 on 12/31! Sharing your story is a win/win! #LetsTellYourStory
Alignment and Abundance
Lastly, we want to continue to build Alignment with clients, team members, and community Affiliates who share our values of inclusivity, equity, and anti-racism. We want to share our time with individuals who are committed to growing in their education and understanding of those in our community! So, if you are a client who wants to have a baby (or you already have one!), a doula, a lactation professional, or you own a business with these values, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Let’s work together! When we focus on an Abundance of community connections, we know that, together, we will have the necessary tools to accomplish whatever 2023 sends our way!
Let’s bring our A-game to 2023!
Happy new year from Emily, Jacquelin, and all of us at Doulas of Capitol Hill💛