Complimentary Medicine For Postpartum
Doula Interview with Kirrah Stewart
In this episode, we are joined by Kirrah Stewart, a Complementary Medicine Practitioner, Masseuse, Postpartum Doula and Lactation Counsellor with over 15 years of experience as a women's health consultant. Her goal is to help families feel excited about birth and nourished in early parenthood.
Kirrah talks about the best and the most challenging things about working as a postpartum doula, the fears and doubts of becoming a doula and the different ways doulas can set up a successful postpartum business in rural areas. Tune in to learn more on this and other exciting topics!
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About Kirrah
Kirrah Stewart has been a doula for 10+ years. She has a deep passion for helping families feel excited about birth and nourished in early parenthood. She lives and works in the Northern Rivers region of Northern NSW, Australia.
Reach out to Kirrah here: http://www.doulawisdom.com/
We explore the following questions:
What does your typical day or week as a doula look like?
What is the best thing about your job as a doula?
What's the hardest part about being a doula, especially with being on call for births and other services?
Did you have any fears and doubts when you first started out as a doula?
What have you learned about postpartum work that you would like to share with others considering this field?
Do you have any tips or suggestions for setting up a doula business in a rural or remote area?
How can online tools and support groups benefit both rural and urban clients in postpartum care?
Can you tell us more about where we can find you and the services you offer?
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Transcript
Julia Jones:
Today on the show I'm interviewing Kira, who is a student of mine, but also an experienced doula with over 10 years experience working with new families in the northern rivers of New South Wales. She does a whole range of stuff, including place Centerra, encapsulation and massage birth doula, postpartum doula work. She's very multi-talented and passionate and very experienced. So I wanted to invite her on the show as another example of someone who's really stepped into her life's work and what her sort of week as a doula looks like. And also to talk to her a little bit about the mindset and the challenges and how she's managed to do all of this, which for some people feels like a fantasy or a dream or they think it's never going to be possible for them. But I'm sure you can learn a few tips from Kira. So Kira, welcome onto the show. Would you like to introduce yourself?
Kirrah Stewart:
Yeah, so my background is actually in complimentary medicine. I went to uni and studied a bachelor of clinical science, majoring in complimentary medicine. So I have a huge interest in natural therapies, the massage, herbal medicine and homoeopathy and nutrition. And through that realised that actually while I was studying that course, I had the opportunity to attend a home birth and realised that was just the most amazing thing in the world, and I was able to still use all the years of training that I'd just had, but to niche down into pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. And that felt really amazing to do that. So I went and did further training to become a doula, and I've been a doula now for 10 years. My first doula baby will be 11 this year. So there's lots of amazing courses out there that I've incorporated into my practise, and over the last couple of years have developed more of an interest in postpartum and just how usually women are left to their own devices, especially after that first six weeks. And so just how awesome complimentary medicine can be and supporting 'em in that process and nurturing them with massage and belly binding and all sorts of things. So I am excited to, I joined the Mastermind to sort of, I guess beef up my skills in postpartum.
Julia Jones:
Now tell me, the question I usually get asked the most is what does your typical day or week as a doula look like?
Kirrah Stewart:
I'm someone who likes to have a lot of variety, so I try to make each day look a little bit different. So I do live rurally, so there is usually a lot of driving in my work, so I try to space out my days when I do have a lot of driving, so I can tell you my week, that might be better and you can get a bit of an idea. So Mondays are all about, it's a home day, kind of getting things in order for the week. The Mastermind is on that day as well. So that's really good for tuning into what happened in the previous week and talking about anything that's coming up. I love Mondays for that. I also run my online pregnancy and postpartum group on Mondays, and that's the day that I get all my admin stuff in order. So giving my VA jobs to do for the week.
Kirrah Stewart:
And then Tuesdays are a local day for me, so the towns that are quite close by or working in my own studio as well. So normally doing pregnancy massage or teaching classes, but locally, so the Nien Lismore area. And then Wednesdays and Fridays are where I travel a little bit further, so that's more over to Byron Bay, Mullumbimby, that area. And that is either teaching antenatal classes and massaging or doing postpartum visits. And I kind of like to have two on the one day. So a morning visit and an afternoon visit with two different families. And Thursdays I'm at home massaging and I also look after two little girls and also teach them horse riding. So it's a nice kind of home family day in the afternoon.
Julia Jones:
That's so cool. I had no idea that you taught horse riding too, but let's stick to doula work. What is the best thing about your job?
Kirrah Stewart:
I think it's usually such a happy time in people's lives. So the oxytocin highs that you get from being surrounded by families that are just in it and in their love bubble and being welcomed into that and seeing how their lives have transformed and being able to just nurture that, really giving so much to the mother because she gives so much. So I think that's my favourite part.
Julia Jones:
And what's the hardest thing
Kirrah Stewart:
Having done this for 10 years? Sometimes the being on call for birth or place encapsulation or things like that. Just the not knowing and not being able to plan ahead and anywhere from 37 to 42 weeks. If I'm on call for a woman, it's anytime in that time. So that juggle can be a little bit hard, which is something I'm looking at changing so that I have less on-call time and more scheduled appointments, which is where the postpartum work is really fantastic for that.
Julia Jones:
Now, I know Kiera, that you're a really positive person, but when you were first starting out, did you have some fears and doubts?
Kirrah Stewart:
I don't know, maybe it's my Sagittarian nature, but I kind of jump into things and don't really necessarily think about all the possible things that could go wrong. When I first started, I was the only one doing this. So
Kirrah Stewart:
I wasn't able to compare myself to anyone else, which I think that can be a big issue when you are first starting. If there are lots of people doing it, it's like, oh, I'm doing it differently, or they're doing better, or I didn't have any of that. So in one way, I was lucky that I was just sort of forging that path in my region. And there's benefits now that there are lots of people in my area doing it, that now when I'm trialling different things like premium packages, I know that I don't have to serve everybody, which I think when I first started, I felt like I had this real responsibility to be able to serve everyone and to be affordable and to be available. But now that there are more doulas, I have been given the confidence to really niche down to exactly who I want to be serving.
Kirrah Stewart:
I really like to envision who it is I'm wanting to work with and what that looks like in my day to day and to sort of project forward in terms of is this sustainable? And through the work I've done the last nine months with the Mastermind, it's helped me to sort of zoom out, I guess, and have a bit more of a bird's eye view on what I'm doing and how that's going to move forward. And definitely creating packages that have more of the elements of what I do and who I serve, clearly defined has helped with that, that I'm not trying to just run around and do a million things, but instead to work more deeply with less clients and therefore get better results. I think it's a leap of faith to do that because we're used to that more work, the hustle of working, and that's what we're told. But I think with this kind of work that the more meaningful and deeper connections and the longer term ideas and projects and follow through that we can have with clients, that it does have more lasting results, and that gives me more job satisfaction as well as my clients having more just loving the experience.
Julia Jones:
And is there anything that you've learned about postpartum work that you would like to share with other people considering doing this kind of work?
Kirrah Stewart:
Really putting thought into, I don't know, there's two elements isn't there, where there's just jump in and see because there is so much that you can learn on the job with this kind of work. But the other part is to sort of plan out, I guess, what brings you joy as a birth worker, as a postpartum doula, as someone working with women, what lights you up and you could see yourself doing day in and day out and to sort of plan a little bit more rounds making that happen, and then the people that are seeking that will definitely come to you? I would say to definitely invest in business training of some sort, because as much as we are in the feminine flow and we're caring and loving, and that's our work, that there is a set that you need to be sort of strategic about it if you are going to run a sustainable business. So joining a mastermind is very valuable for that accountability and also just being able to get perspective from a different angle so that you can see what's working and what's not working, and to adjust that. It's actually a massive element of having a successful business is being able to run a business so that you can continue to serve more people and not burn out. I probably would've joined a mastermind earlier. I think that's a really, it's maybe underrated how important that is, that you don't have to do it all on your own.
Kirrah Stewart:
It's much more better if you've got a group of women or a mastermind that you can connect with so that you can ask any little niggling questions that come up, but you've also continually just moving forward and making progress towards your goals that sometimes we can get stuck and throw in the towel and say, it's not working, but we just need to push through that. I also love listening to audio books. I think there's some really inspiring ones out there to listen to just to see other people's journeys of where they came from and where they're going to, and to get tips along the way for keeping it real. That's my saviour. I think I would go nuts if I was just driving to silence. So I like to try to feel efficient and do two things at once, and that's often listening to some business related podcast or in the maternity world as well,
Julia Jones:
Because you spend quite a bit of time in the car right now. Another question I get asked a lot is, can this work as a doula? Can we set up a business in a more rural or remote area? And as someone who has worked your whole career in a rural environment, do you have any suggestions or tips for people who would also like to set up their business in a rural area and are wondering if that's going to work out for them?
Kirrah Stewart:
I guess I only know rural areas, so I'm not sure what I'm doing differently to what it would be in the city. I imagine that there's possibly less competition rurally because the city does get a little bit flooded for services. So trying to stand out could be trickier, but rurally, getting people to commit to coming to classes or something where they have to drive more distance, then maybe that's a challenge that could come up, but maybe not so much in the city, although there's the hassle of city travel as well. So an idea that I got from the Mastermind was to run an online pregnancy and postpartum support group, which I would never have dreamed on my own that that could be effective, but it really is, and it's so fantastic, especially if any of my women are travelling that week when it's on, they can still join and I don't have to go anywhere.
Kirrah Stewart:
They don't have to go anywhere. If they've got young baby, they can jump on and get that support. And that's been, yeah, it was a really fantastic thing to come out of the mastermind that that's possible and it's effective and I love it. And so the women, so that that's something that works whether you're in the city or living rurally, but online is really a fantastic tool for connection. And when you can see each other as well with video, there is that deeper connection that can happen. And I can see my clients more regularly that way that every week I'm giving them the opportunity to check in, whereas if I had to drive every week to all my clients, there's just not enough hours in the day. So learning to leverage your time so that you can still help more people. And there's a lot of benefits to having groups as well, that people can ask questions that are come up and they can learn from each other and connect with each other and it's a new village.
Julia Jones:
That's so great. Kira, can you tell us more about where we can find you?
Kirrah Stewart:
Sure. I live in the, it's called the Northern Rivers. I think we flood so regularly that that's probably has something to do with the name. So it's Northern New South Wales and I service the Northern River, so that's Byron Bay, which a lot of people are familiar with. And Lismore is nearby and Nien as well. And so probably the best way to connect. You can get in contact directly with me on my website, which is doula wisdom.com or find me on Instagram at Doula Wisdom. And yeah, they're both easy ways to get in touch. If there's anyone that needs any of my services, I do wear many hats within the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum world, so there's always some way that I can help.
Julia Jones:
Thanks so much, Kira, for your time, and thank you everyone listening. At home.
