The Vision

The Philosophy

Through any aspect of transition into life or loss, we aim to prepare you in being steady and stable in your presence so that the person you are accompanying finds access to their internal resources for adaptation.

The Center for Doula Pathways was founded in vision of a new, coherent approach to birth companionship.

Our approaches stem from two core values that equip birth companions with necessary scope, skills and vision to be actively engaged in creating a shift within birth cultures and within their own confidence in intimate encounters in their practice:

1) The curriculum we propose is INTERSECTIONAL, we develop principles and practices which respect that each person comes with complex identities and privileges that uniquely impact their
experiences of life, which are often magnified during pregnancy and especially in the environments and transitions of birth.

2) The curriculum is INTERDISCIPLINARY, in that it is divided naturally into two entirely different fields of action, which mutually enrich each other.

We sketch the vast field that is birth and we see how it represents the enormous dimension and amplitude of the human experience. Storytelling, as a living form of learning, enables us to activate an alive transmission of knowledge. A complex process cannot possibly be understood through facts and data which are not in context with the unique lived experience of birth in the body.

THIS KNOWLEDGE TRANSMITTED THROUGH STORY IS BASED ON REAL LIFE, then embodied and enacted into practice. When we are able to envision ourselves in a broad spectrum of birth scenarios, the telling of stories becomes information that is alive. It’s passed from human to human, from presence to presence, from experience to experience.

In her teaching, Camalo encourages to relate to our environments, first developing relationship to our own selves as human beings, then seeing how those qualities serve us in caring for those within the institutions and intimate environments where birth takes place.

Referencing birth culture around the world, we look at the advantages and disadvantages of common practices and beliefs. This gives us a view of current and long-term challenges faced in the experience of giving birth, and helps us explore and question the culture of how we approach birth, with sincerity rather than dogma.

In the other branch of the curriculum, Marcello guides the work on oneself to develop COMPETENCES IN PERCEPTION to access a variety of techniques for self-care, touch and bonding.

His teaching introduces fascia. Fascia is the vehicle, a complex sensory organ and communication system, through which we experience and act out life. In pregnancy and labor this awareness is vital. We learned that fascia is of importance in whether one can live close to one’s own experience and extract deep meaning for their lives. We understand what the parameters are for working deeply with structural and psychosomatic balance within the pregnant person.

As birth companions it is vital to step into a PROFOUND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ACCOMPANIED PERSON. Each may have lived through rich life events, often feeling the deep need to reconcile with the parts of herself which are fragmented, distancing her from her experience of pregnancy and birth. Being one with oneself and feeling deeply embodied gives both parties access to an internal serenity where inherent competences are liberated.

In our approach we believe understanding the nature of one’s own humanity and autonomy is central to respecting that of others. In this view, self-awareness and self care is not only a stablizing (nourishing) factor in what we offer, but it is an existential root (or pre-condition) for developing the competences we aim to transmit.

We inscribe in the culture where being a birth companion does not only entail birth-related knowledge, techniques and psycho-emotional support on a human level, but where the companionship is founded in a state of being. In this way we step into a visionary path of practice and life.

What is of fundamental importance is what unfolds individually in the human quality, through personal development first, then distills into presence, adaptability and human warmth.

An ability to step into relationship with one’s self, the other, the world and our circumstances creates connection, reciprocity, closeness but not fusion. This kind of relationship becomes empowering support.

In the curriculum for the Center for Doula Pathways, we offer new doulas perspectives and hands-on practices that have proven to be useful and transformative in addressing many of the common fears and complications that families face on their journeys to giving birth.

Participants in the immersion are invited to challenge themselves to understand the qualities which are specific to who we are in our lives. This awareness inherently instills a unique sense of purpose for the work and enables us to build more authentic relationships to colleagues and the people we serve.

With a robust knowledge of childbirth physiology, awareness of obstetric culture, and access to their own purpose in the work, a new confidence arises in our birth companions.

The immersion curriculum invites participants to experience some of the subtle and profound challenges we face in being a practicing doula. Birth companions emerge from these rites of passage having uncovered their own strengths and shadows. In the safety of community, each person flourishes in a new knowing about themselves and the field of practice they are tasked to both serve and transform.

Each person embarking on this pathway is guided closely in these practices and principles. Through this personalized and intimate learning, the new doula’s lived values and experiences are unified with those they serve.

With the creation of the Center For Doula Pathways we aim to fill the void which appears between the few and standardized models of doula education existing today.

Our learning experiences place value on the humanity of each participant, both questioning and nurturing our collective understanding of autonomy, empathy, and advocacy.

DEVELOPING PRESENCE through “Full Presence Meditation”:

The one fundamental tool a doula has is a particular quality of presence. This presence generates the depth with which she steps into relationship with herself, the accompanied person, and the environment. The specific meditation offered by Marcello trains a person through silence, supported by a specific guide, to arrive much more present to one’s thoughts, feelings and to one’s own perception, an asset which we value as a useful and practical asset for the work of a
birth companion.

DEVELOPING TOUCH; …the doulas hand, in touch with “the life within”:

A doula can support the birthing person’s trust in her body by offering a quality of presence through touch. Finding access to the global dynamic communication system which is unified through fascia can positively affect the tensions surrounding the structures of the uterus to actively assist the journey of birth.

The value of this way of working together lies in the development of a hand and touch that allow the mother and the baby to arrive and inhabit their body and being and meet in the reassuring confidence of closeness.

The birth companion is equipped with a protocol of movement and touch which can be safely applied during pregnancy. It prepares the accompanied person for maximum mobility and embodiment during labour and birth. The companion’s hand is trained to understand how to sensually enter the realm of the fascia and step into “dialogue” with the body in a dimension inaccessible to the naked eye. Structural imbalances and tensions, pregnancy ailments and
potential complications become accessible for the doula’s gentle and loving hands.

SELF-CARE, APPLYING METHODS TO ONESELF AND CREATING A FOUNDATION FOR A PERSONAL, AUTHENTIC AND INTIMATE TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS:

The concepts of Fasciatherapy MDB aim to demystify the mind-body unity, and give useful and practical guidance in understanding the effects our practices have on the birthing body and being. Marcello offers activities inviting the birth companion to develop an enriched quality of presence which is profoundly rooted in the companion’s own experience.

Camalo and Marcello unite their work in developing the ‘internal compass’. A state of being from which a solid internal personal practice can grow, an attitude which nourishes personal development and quality of presence to the self, the other, and the world. In the practice of birth companionship, these are valuable assets in serving with solidity, confidence and ease.

The Program

Registration Details

€2000

FAQ

A Along with a robust community of other peers with on-going relationships, we offer a more formalized structure of mentorship with 6-monthly in-person gatherings to debrief experiences, access direct guidance in the practices learned, and references to birthwork-aware mental health and therapeutic counsel in our close network. Each participant will have access to a community group and a schedule to confidentially consult guides within the mentorship period.

Q WHAT WILL THE MENTORSHIP EXPERIENCE BE LIKE?

A Participants have access to doula mentors to guide you in the process of understanding how you can apply the learning in practice and how to address challenges or triumphs you may face as you enter this path. This is both an opportunity to engage further in the learning and a debriefing framework to help support participants through your experiences. Beyond that, this is a time to connect with global activists, healers, and interdisciplinary experts that will help our community fortify our learning and life experiences.

Q ARE THERE PAYMENT PLANS AVAILABLE OR SPECIAL RATES FOR EARLY REGISTRANTS?

A Yes. Although we encourage each participant to feel called to this path and aim to invite only genuine interest in this field, to incentivize community building, before January 20th there is an 500€ early bird reduction on the tuition fee and an additional 100€ anytime someone enrolls together with you. This encourages organic community building which is a core benefit to this pathway. Furthermore, there are installment plans available upon request.

Testimonials

  “Camalo Gaskin is unique.”  

DR. MICHEL ODENT, PIONEERING OBSTETRICIAN, SURGEON AND CHILDBIRTH SPECIALIST

  “Marcello’s guidance was a life changing experience. I had experienced different bodywork techniques but his teaching at the Doula Immersion was like an ‘AHA moment’. Everything made sense for the first time. I will take this with me not only in my doula practice but in my life.”  

YAKO VERDIER, DOULA (CENTER FOR DOULA PATHWAYS)

  “I think this information that Camalo is presenting
is NEED TO KNOW info.”  

JAN TRITTEN, FOUNDER, MIDWIFERY TODAY

“In my practice as an out-of-hospital midwife, it has been my pleasure to collaborate with Camalo on a number of occasions. Each time I am struck by the ways in which she is able to hold space for and accompany her clients through the childbearing cycle, with so much empathy, professional skill and intuition.

I have felt confident working together with her to make sure that a family receives the best possible care, knowing that she will support them well through this transitional period regardless of where they choose to have their birth. I have experienced her as a grounded and steady advocate for families in situations where they may feel overwhelmed or unable to advocate for themselves. I recommend her highly as a Doula for families seeking sensitive, knowledgeable, continuous care, as well as to other midwives as a dynamic and supportive colleague.

On a personal level I enjoy working with Camalo so much, sharing skills and experiences as we approach our practice from two complementary perspectives.”

IMOGEN MINTON, MIDWIFE

““Marcello is a guide and mentor for the long term. I found it difficult to grasp the extensiveness of his work because I feel it is something that takes a lifetime to begin to understand. During the Doula Immersion, he did a great job at giving us advice on how to incorporate this knowledge into how we approach touch and connection with birthing people (everyone, really).”

MICHELLE WIGHT, DOULA (CENTER FOR DOULA PATHWAYS)

“Marcello and Camalo are a powerful team and I can merely recommend them. The Fascia session was deeply liberating. We were amazed by Marcello… his care, his guidance, and his touch. The treatment did not only help my body to let go of all the tension I had accumulated during the past pregnancy months, but it calmed my mind too. In addition, they taught my partner and I vitalizing practices to prepare for labour.”

SILVIA AND MARCUS CONDE

“The perspective and the world view linked to the Doula Immersion was vital. The teaching was profound and essential and fundamental, it was perfect.”

JOHARA BELLALI, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST, DOULA (CENTER FOR DOULA PATHWAYS)

“Camalo Gaskin has mastered the craft of delivering captivating lectures on obstetric culture and bias. After her guest lecture, students referenced her material and talked passionately about the awakening experienced from this new body of knowledge. Camalo encourages all to be analytical, interdisciplinary, and empathic in their thinking.””

DR. EVANGELISTA, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, CUNY

“My partner was moved by Marcello’s care and how he guided him to touch for my pregnancy. After his fascia treatment, we both felt so much more vitality and connection to everyone around us. Even our one year old started to point to my belly and say “baby” for the first time in my whole pregnancy.”

TSUKASA & MALTE YAMAMOTO

“Camalo engages with birth at a global level in ways absolutely unique in the Berlin birth world. She allows the nuance in each birth story to be self-so. She approaches birth without fear or judgement. And she is dedicated to this work at a soul level.”

ANNIE KOCHER, DOULA

Before the Doula Immersion I didn’t know anything about fascia, and it opened up a whole new dimension of the body to me, not only theoretically but also feeling it in my own body. Marcello gave me some amazing tools to work with pregnant persons in a different way.”

TATIANE SANTANA PEREIRA, PSYCHOTHERAPIST, DOULA (CENTER FOR DOULA PATHWAYS)

“We went touching, breathing … We feel so much more confident and calm about birth because of this new experience with Marcello and Camalo. Yes, we feel empowered and connected as we so deeply desired it.”

TISSA & NAM, PARENTS OF FIVE CHILDREN

  “From Camalo I’ve learned and keep learning not only practical resources for my work as a doula, but also how to love profundity and be without fear of it.”  

TATI PEREIRA, PSYCHOTHERAPIST, DOULA (CENTER FOR DOULA PATHWAYS)

  “The demystification of complicated anatomy and scientific concepts, a way to use them in a practical way for pregnancy and birth, and the actual experience of Marcello’s work were very important cornerstones of the Doula Immersion. The most profound part was integrating all of it and practising myself on another participant with his guidance, it brought it all into my understanding.”  

ALICE PATTERSON, PRENATAL YOGA TEACHER, DOULA (CENTER FOR DOULA PATHWAYS)