Today we’d like to introduce you to Charis Cooper.
Hi Charis, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started attending home births after the birth of my first child in 2016. What started out as a dream that I just couldn’t quite shake, turned into my career and I love what I do. The on-call life of a midwife can be really hard on a body and on a family, but we have found ways to make it work so that I can be present with my clients and also with my husband and children. I started out as a student with Simply Born midwifery here in Grand Rapids and then had the opportunity to live in Tulsa, OK for a couple of years and train with a fellow midwife and friend at Modern Village Midwifery to finish all of my clinical requirements. I got into birth work because I truly believe that everyone deserves to have safe, holistic and individualized care with someone who listens to and believes them. Too many people, especially people of color, are steamrolled by the healthcare system in the United States. So, it has become necessary to create spaces where your pregnancy and birth, experiences that are life and soul altering, can be protected and done your way. Birth is a justice issue and seeing a world where people no longer fear it but can engage it with confidence and joy, surrounded by people they trust to have theirs and their baby’s best in mind and whom they have chosen to be in their corner, is why I do what I do.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been long, about 7 years of apprenticeship before I got my own license. Along it, there have been many difficult moments where I questioned whether or not I had what it took to be the kind of provider I wanted to be. There have also been moments where birth got scary and walking through that with families, during and after, has required a lot of me and has meant I needed to find my own safe places to process. I believe in what I do and that home birth can be a safe option for low risk pregnancies, but birth is as safe as life is, and so even our most careful planning doesn’t guarantee a perfect outcome. With this in mind, my road into midwifery has included, and continues to include, so much training and education so that I can show up for families as someone who they can trust.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a licensed midwife who offers prenatal care, home birth and postpartum care to low-risk folks who are looking for a different, more personalized birth experience. My focus is on holistic management of pregnancy including herbal and dietary support of the pregnant and lactating body and I love connecting families with other local providers who can offer their expertise in things like chiropractic care, pediatric dentistry, pelvic floor physical therapy or cranial-sacral body work. I view maternity care as working best when all your needs are met: physical, mental, and emotional. This work is so interpersonal and intimate that I find clients choose me because they feel like they can be themselves, ask all the questions and know they will be heard. I am proud of the work I have done to become proficient in my field, including the work I have done to clearly communicate when things get hard. For my personality, this hasn’t always come easy to me, but my job requires me to occasionally deliver bad news or say really hard things that no one wants to hear, and to do that well I have put a lot of time in learning to be kind and direct. I am excited about what the future holds for me as I continue to give myself to pursuing justice in birth and I look forward to inviting others along that journey until we can see a healthcare system that is built on equity.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
To be quite honest, I am not naturally good at networking. The way I have approached this is to start with the connections I already have and the people in my field who I already trust and then ask them who they would recommend and go from there. This has helped me to meet many other birth workers and folks in the healthcare field who specialize in pregnancy, birth and postpartum care. When it comes to finding a mentor in your field, I think it is important to use those recommendations to connect with someone through vicarious trust, if you don’t already have a lead on someone, and then to come to the table clear on what you’re hoping for and asking of them. As with any relationship, clear communication and boundaries help to prevent unnecessary conflict. This is especially true for people looking for a midwife preceptor. That relationship can be intense and so learning how you communicate and doing that well and committing to the work while maintaining your own personal health and well-being is so important in making this lifestyle sustainable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.rivercityhomebirth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rivercitymidwife/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverCityHomeBirthMI/
