The Peace Tree Organization

The Peace Tree Organization is a group of individuals interested in asserting social justice as it applies to the process of pregnancy, labor, and birth. It has been found that one's birth is deeply affecting -for the extent of a person's lifetime. Peace Tree Organization is interested in helping women who would be otherwise unsupported in bringing their babies into the world with the peaceful, humane, nurturing support all human beings deserve. 

The current focus of Peace Tree Organization is to support pregnant prisoners who would otherwise have no continuous support during the labor process. While recognizing the sincere intention of staff (both hospital and prison) to provide as high of quality care for these women as they can, continuous support is not available. The doulas who volunteer to support these prisoners do so because they are aware of the deep impact of continuous support. Since friends and family members are not allowed to be with prisoners as they birth, the doulas of Peace Tree Organization are the only option for this valuable form of care.

It is well documented that the presence of a doula improves birth outcomes for both mother and baby. We are confident that the citizens of North Carolina will appreciate our enabling of births which provide the safest, most compassionate, least expensive, and potentially healing outcomes possible. To learn more about the value that a doula would provide to pregnant prisoners, please visit our page on How Doulas Make a Difference as well as the sites for our certifying organizations DONA and ALACE. For information specifically on how doulas benefit prisoners, the article The Use of Doulas for Inmates in Labor: Continuous Supportive Care With Positive Outcomes is extremely informative.   

Our ultimate goal is to provide the continuous support of a trained doula for all prisoners who give birth in North Carolina. To this end, Peace Tree Organization is always seeking new forms of involvement from the citizens of the state. This can come as volunteering to attend births, assisting with the financial aspects of running a non-profit, helping with community outreach, or providing services to support the doulas who are dedicating their energy to these women in need, free of cost (such as child care, transportation, meals, or healing services for the physical and emotional processing that comes after these intense situations). 

Be sure to stay in tune with yourselves, eachother, and ways to enhance the important skills you bring to the births of these vulnerable women. Check our page on Educational Opportunities for PTPDs often!