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Hurdles to Volunteering - The Committee
I recently approached my local community support centre to volunteer as a doula. The manager is aware of my other volunteer work as a counsellor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association and we had a meeting together to talk specifically about my doula work. He can see a need for a volunteer doula and is keen to refer me to his clientele. However, when he presented it to their management committee they were hesitant. They are concerned about referring their clients to a private business (.... even though I wouldn't be charging  ).
I know that there are a number of volunteer doula programs overseas and have read through a couple of sites. I would expect that it would be easier to set up the programs when most people understand about doulas. Unfortunately, I don't think most of the committee have even heard of doulas before the manager mentioned me. I have offered to meet with the committee, but they're yet to get back to me.
In the meantime, does anyone has any suggestions on how to address the committee's concerns? Perhaps there are some articles or research about volunteer doula out there that I could provide to the committee? Do you have any other ideas on how to address this?
Perhaps I should mention now that after many years on various committees I'm a bit cynical about the whole process. Egos and "big fish, little pond" syndrome always come to mind.   |
