Transforming Mental Health Support: Examining the Role of Radical Mental Health Doulas


Amanda Denis, University of Calgary

People experiencing mental health crises are often caught in a system that focuses on symptom eradication but fails to address their specific needs. This paper discusses our ongoing project to develop and implement a grassroots community-based mental health service in the form of a RADICAL MENTAL HEALTH DOULA (RMHD), with the goal of providing support that upholds people’s rights and dignities and advocates for their needs and wishes to be heard. Radical doulas, like traditional doulas, emphasize continuity of care while expanding doula practices by attending to diversity and intersectionality. The Radical Doula movement is rooted in social activism, and is inherently feminist, anti-racist, anti-classist, and connects activists, professionals, and allies. Applying the values and principles of Radical Doulas to the mental health sector, RMHDs aim to transform mental health support from the dominating clinical model aimed at fixing the individual using a top-down (doctor-patient) approach, to a peer-to-peer and community-based model that cultivates acceptance and belonging. This paper discusses our ongoing community-engaged Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) project that involves people with lived experiences of mental health struggles as co-researchers. The FPAR approach provided opportunity for continuous relationship building, inclusion of diverse lived experience expertise, and for vulnerable emotions to be shared in all phases of the project from conceptualizing a grassroots community-based and social-justice oriented RMHD framework to developing a training curriculum and piloting the first cohort of RMHDs in Calgary, Alberta. Eight co-researchers completed the five-day RMHD training in spring 2023 and each supported two clients for a period of six months from June to November, 2023. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the RMHDs at the mid-point of the pilot project and at the end. A secure digital platform, Zamplo, was used to collect demographic data about the RMHDs and the clients, as well as journal reflections, and monthly client check-in surveys. Preliminary data analysis reveals that working outside of formal systems, RMHDs are able to establish strong relationships with clients, built on trust, offering continuous care that is tailored to each client’s evolving needs. Challenges that RMHDs experienced in their work, included adapting to a broad and constantly shifting scope of work, questions around whether they were doing enough for their clients, emotional heaviness of responding to clients’ experiences of trauma, and the need for a strong doula community of support. The RMHD project is now preparing for a second pilot project. Findings from the first pilot are informing adaptations to the RMHD training curriculum, doula and client recruitment processes, and how to increase visibility and legitimacy of RMHDs role working parallel to the mental health system. Progress to date shows that by combining individualized and flexible care, RMHDs have a unique ability to support clients as they engaged with the mental health system. Clients are feeling more confident, respected, and heard because they have been provided resources and are supported by RMHDs before or after these encounters. The RMHD framework is innovative, sustainable, and could potentially build a shared future for all community members who engage with the mental health system.

Non-presenting authors: Tiffany Boulton, University of Calgary; Joanna Rankin, University of Calgary; Xiao Yang Fang, University of Calgary

This paper will be presented at the following session: