MARA Listens.
Families need community support before, during, and after birth.
Let’s start by listening.
MARA, the Maternal Advocates Resource Alliance, is a Bloomington-based community coalition that aims to prevent maternal mortality and severe morbidity in South Central Indiana.
Our Core Initiatives:
-
Maternal Advocates Resource Alliance is founded on listening. Listening to the experiences of birthing people in our community informs our response in developing plans of support.
-
We believe in returning birth wisdom to the community. There are many ways in which community members can support families before or during a birth. By centering the birthing person, we ensure that they have the autonomy to make decisions that are best for themselves and their baby, regardless of birth setting.
-
The Community Postpartum Support Training strengthens community-based social support for birthing people and their families.
We designed this course with the goal of helping community groups understand the needs of pregnant, birthing, and postpartum people and how best to support them. Our hope is that by receiving timely and appropriate care, we can decrease social isolation, increase access to services, and contribute to overall maternal health and wellness.
-
We share and promote advocacy opportunities for families in Indiana and support our steering committee members who are actively involved in Hoosier Action and Moms of Hoosier Action. We are open to tabling and speaking opportunities related to maternal and infant health in Indiana.
-
Listening
MARA is founded on listening. We provide this service to postpartum people and their partners through private, one-on-one listening sessions and public “MARA Listens” events. By holding space and bearing witness without judgment, we learn about the needs of new parents and can be confident that our efforts match the needs and lived experiences of parents in our community. Since 2019, we have hosted listening sessions throughout the year, with some focused on lived experiences of grief and loss as well as birth and early parenting during the pandemic. In addition, with the support of IU’s Center for Rural Engagement and the skills of Dr. Eliza Hamilton Abegunde, we were able to offer a birth listening training for 19 local perinatal professionals. We have also offered listening sessions for birth and postpartum doulas, holding space for them to share the joys and challenges of perinatal work.
Sharing our stories can be a powerful form of advocacy. It can help normalize the birthing process and inspire or guide others to name what they need during the perinatal period. While we have heard stories of joy, we have also heard stories of isolation, lack of postpartum mental health care, obstetric violence and resulting trauma, lack of informed consent and the failure of families and communities to appropriately support the birthing or postpartum family.
-
Labor Support
Labor support helps to center the birthing person, helping them feel safe and protecting the autonomy needed to make the best choices for themselves and their babies. Labor support can include physical, emotional, and spiritual support before and during childbirth. MARA believes in the importance of returning birth wisdom to the community.
We want to partner with individuals and organizations who are interested in increasing access to birth support in our community. We believe there are many ways in which the community can be of support during birth. In addition to promoting community support, we have also raised scholarships for local doulas to attend certification trainings to broaden the birth worker cohort in Bloomington and have connected new doulas with experienced mentors.
-
Postpartum Support
The Community Postpartum Support Training is intended for established organizations already invested in culturally informed service and the health and well-being of families within their communities. We look at the strengths within existing religious organizations and community groups, and help them understand the needs of pregnant, birthing, and postpartum people in their communities. Given this knowledge, they can mobilize their congregations or organizational membership to decrease social isolation, increase access to services, and optimize maternal health and wellness.
With the help of a grant from Indiana University’s Center for Rural Engagement, we were able to develop a curriculum for organizations invested in providing community-based social support during the postpartum period.
Community groups received foundational knowledge about the perinatal period and were supported in: assessing their community’s needs, planning and implementing a sustainable community plan, and evaluating their success. Technical assistance was also provided to steward groups throughout the process.
-
Advocacy
At MARA, we advocate for families by:
Pushing for organizational policy and legislative change to better support birthing people and families.
Identifying ways to better support and empower women and birthing people throughout the perinatal period, and support the development of these efforts.
Connecting with people and organizations interested in this and similar advocacy and service areas to amplify our work.
Collecting stories from those with recent birth experiences to help build a better understanding.
Sharing what we know with the community.
