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Mama Glow Webinar - Celebrating Black Maternal Health Week: Addressing Birth Worker Burnout

About this event

This year's theme for Black Maternal Health Week is “Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy!”

In celebration of Black Maternal Health week we are addressing the health and wellbeing of our care workers that serve along the reproductive health continuum. The pandemic led the nation’s healthcare workers to a breaking point where birth workers of all backgrounds are experiencing burnout, psychological distress, and anxiety. As we envision and design a future that centers safety, dignity and joy for Black birthing people, we must also work to support our health care workers who are on the frontlines, ensuring they have tools to thrive and provide optimal care.

Birth workers are suffering from emotional exhaustion, overwork, and burnout. They are at an increased risk for mental health challenges and choosing to leave the health workforce early. They often work in distressing environments that strain their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. According to the World Health Organization, burnout is a syndrome resulting from workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It’s characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy. There are many factors that exacerbate the challenges birth workers face. The Mama Glow Foundation released the Birth Worker Burnout Brief where we explored some of the structural gaps that contribute to burnout for birth workers and lean into solutions grounded in fostering mental/emotional wellbeing.

This webinar will address:

  • The structural barriers that exacerbate stress and lead to burnout for birth workers
  • How racialized and feminized care work is undervalued, and the impact of uncompensated care
  • The scope of doula work and the client centric approach to care
  • The factors that drive birth workers to leave the workforce, impacting economic mobility
  • The impact of excessive workloads, administrative burden, and lack of organizational support
  • How workforce shortages impact the mental health of birth workers
  • A new care paradigm that centers wellbeing and affirms our birth workers

Join our esteemed panel for this very potent discussion.


Presented by:

Hosted by

  • Guest speaker
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    Salma Mohamed, MPA Research + Partnerships Lead @ Mama Glow Foundation

    Salma Mohamed, MPA is Mama Glow-trained Birth and Postpartum Doula. She works with the Mama Glow Foundation as Research & Partnerships Lead, where she advances the Foundation's research capabilities, policy advocacy, and cultivates relationships with other maternal health organizations. She serves as an Advisory Board Member for the NY Coalition for Doula Access and the Operations Lead for the Massachusetts Doula Coalition to support increasing access to doula care, provide recommendations on thriving wage standards for doulas through Medicaid reimbursement, and create guidelines to promote respectful and safe hospital designations while preserving the autonomy and self-determination of doulas and birthing people. She earned a BA in Public Health & Policy and an MPA with a concentration in Maternal & Child Health from Brown University and Brown's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

  • Guest speaker
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    Sherisa Moore Full Spectrum Doula @ A Little Bit of Milk LLC

    High Risk Maternity/ NICU RN of 13 years, owner of A Little Bit of Milk LLC, Full Spectrum Doula, Birthnet NY Board member, Reiki Level II practitioner and the first BIPOC to serve The Capital District of New York as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She is the Nurse Case Manager Lead for High Risk Maternity at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

  • Guest speaker
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    Tsion Ketema, MD OB/GYN @ Reiter, Hill & Johnson

    Dr. Ketema obtained her undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 2002. After college, she taught high school biology in Ethiopia and then returned to New York City to research the effects of trauma and PTSD in law enforcement personnel after 9/11. She received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2011 and completed her training in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2015 at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Dr. Ketema’s professional interests include minimally invasive surgery, holistic medicine and transgender health care. She has admitting privileges at Sibley Memorial Hospital.

  • Team member
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    Mama Glow Mama Glow

    Mama Glow is a global maternal health platform serving birthing people along the childbearing continuum. Through doula training programs Mama Glow is cultivating the next generation of birth workers.

Mama Glow

Where doulas and families learn, grow, and connect.

Mama Glow is a global maternal health platform serving birthing people along the childbearing continuum. Through doula training programs Mama Glow is cultivating the next generation of birth workers.