Debra Pascali-Bonaro’s Work and Website About Gentle Birth
Since we’ve been focusing on new beginnings, we wanted to give a shout-out to a woman who’s work we so admire and a website we think is excellent.
Debra Pascali-Bonaro. LCCE, BDT/PDT(DONA) is the heart of the gentle birth movement. She’s the director and creator of the documentaries, Orgasmic Birth and Organic Birth. She trains doulas and educates childbirth professionals and new parents all over the world about the powerful role birth plays in women’s lives when they’re permitted to experience it fully. Debra is a sought after professional speaker, chair of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization, member of the White Ribbon Alliance, Lamaze International childbirth educator, former Public Relations chair of DONA International, and co-author of the book Orgasmic Birth, Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth Experience.
Debra launched her new website (www.debrapascalibonaro.com) this month to tie together the many different yet interconnected facets of her work. Since we’ve been focusing on new beginnings, we wanted to give a shout-out to a woman who’s work we so admire and a website we think is excellent.
Every Mother Counts: Your new website is beautiful. It really provides readers a fresh look at what you do. Let’s start by talking briefly about how your website represents what your work is about.
Debra: The website has been a real opportunity to take a new look at that. Previously, I’d divided my website into separate areas and people didn’t realize that the different things I was doing were interconnected. The new website was a way to share all the different ways I’ve been working to empower women, their partners and babies through birth. Certainly some of that work is in America where I live and other western countries that have resources. My work here is often centered around over-use issues concerning interventions, but also the tools we’re not using that could create a more blissful birth. In the developing world we’re focused on bringing more dignity and optimal care to women with limited resources. It’s been an interesting journey to do both because what I’m learning is so much of this is really not about money. It’s about caring and bringing a more respectful and nurturing perspective to birth.
EMC: Let’s talk about how different elements of your work developed.
D: I began as a childbirth educator and then became an educator who wanted to come to your birth with you, if you’d allow it. A lot of my professional base comes as an educator, a doula and a doula trainer.
EMC: You operate programs around the world to facilitate doula training?
D: I do doula trainings all over the world and many are private for specific communities, facilities or regions. But I also offer workshops to community groups and retreat workshops around the world where people can go on vacation and learn about gentle birth.
EMC: How did the films come about?
D: I literally had a dream in the middle of the night about making a film about birth. That’s how I got the idea for the films, Orgasmic Birth and Organic Birth. I know — just like with Christy’s documentary, No Woman, No Cry, film touches people at a deep emotional level that helps them understand their options and I hope motivates them to take a stand.
EMC: Where have you screened those films?
D: We started off at film festivals. Since then we’ve shown it to individual groups and been aired on television in more than six countries that we know about. Periodically people say they’ve seen it in countries where we had no idea there’d been a screening. At this point we’re going around the world where in many countries the overuse of technology has really deprived people of a pleasurable experience.
EMC: Is that how your professional scope started to expand?
D: I got involved in the US in a coalition to improve maternity services and was looking at creating a federal initiative. I was already doing a lot of international work and was curious how other groups around the world were receiving this Mother, Father, Child initiative. We never saw the initiative as an international thing because it wasn’t developed in a culturally sensitive way. When international groups embraced it many of us said, “Wait, wait, wait. We’d prefer you create your own and adapt it to your culture and resources.” Then, many groups suggested we do it together as one voice instead of specific to every country and region and an international committee was formed. Sadly, our leader, Mary Kroger, passed away and I was asked to chair the first big meeting where people from around the world were coming. Out that meeting the initiative has grown. We have eight demonstration sites around the world and I to chair the International Mother Baby Child Initiative. Shortly after we started getting our initiative going we decided we needed to break into our own organization. That’s a big part of what I do, which allows me to have a global perspective
EMC: What have you learned from that global perspective?
D: There are many different issues that need to be handled with different tools in different ways based on economics and culture. But at the end of the day I see how similar we are and how all women want respectful, nurturing care and a circle of support that allows birth to be easier and safer. When you combine high-tech with high-touch you have the best outcomes. I often say I love to work with grass roots and grass tops to ultimately bring it all together because together with everyone taking part, we can really effect change.
