Host:
Melissa Harley, B.A., AdvCD/BDT(DONA), CLC, LCCE, FACCE

Guest:
Rose Archer, Doctoral Researcher, Birth Doula, Certified Chaplain

In this thoughtful episode of the CCDS Doula Collaboration Podcast, host Melissa Harley sits down with researcher, birth doula, and Board Certified Chaplain Rose Archer, author of the paper “Surviving in the Midst of ‘Nowhere’: Disrupting the Conceptualization of a Maternity Care Desert,” to explore how community-centered research reshapes our understanding of maternity care deserts and informs doula practice.

Rose shares how her work as a chaplain and doula, alongside personal experiences with pregnancy and postpartum complications, led her to pursue doctoral research focused on reproductive health inequities in Black birthing communities. Drawing from her research on Gadsden County, Florida, Rose challenges dominant data-driven narratives and highlights how large-scale classifications often miss lived community realities.

Together, Melissa and Rose discuss centering community voices, honoring intergenerational knowledge, and recognizing doulas as trusted connectors who help bridge gaps in access, trust, and care. This episode offers doulas, educators, and advocates a grounded framework for translating research into meaningful, relationship-centered practice.

In this episode, you’ll learn about:
• How maternity care deserts are defined
• Why large data sets miss community realities
• How transportation, time, and trust affect access
• The role of community advisory boards in research
• What reproductive liberatory consciousness means
• How doulas serve as trusted community connectors

Quotes from the Episode:
💬 “I can actually recall the night I knew I wanted to do research.” — Rose Archer
💬 “There’s a disconnect between the narrative we see on a large scale and the narrative we’re living in community.” — Rose Archer
💬 “We don’t want to pathologize communities.” — Rose Archer
💬 “Doulas are often the trusted person someone calls when something doesn’t feel right.” — Melissa Harley

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:
📌 Surviving in the Midst of ‘Nowhere’: Disrupting the Conceptualization of a Maternity Care Desert, published in Sociology of Health & Illness https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39340760/
📌 March of Dimes, maternity care desert classifications
📌 Gadsden County Healthy Start Coalition
📌 Healthy Start Programs
📌 Telehealth initiatives through state Departments of Health

About the Guest:
Rose Archer is a birth doula, Board Certified Chaplain, and doctoral student in African American Studies at Emory University and a McKnight Doctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on race, gender, and reproductive health inequities, centering community-based strategies of African American birthing people in rural communities. Her nationally recognized scholarship examines how structural forces constrain reproductive autonomy and how communities actively disrupt those inequities.

🎙 About the Host:
Melissa Harley, B.A., AdvCD/BDT(DONA), CLC, LCCE, FACCE is the founder of Capital City Doula Services and the CCDS Doula Collaboration. A DONA-approved trainer since 2010, she has trained more than 1,500 doulas worldwide and served on the DONA International Board of Directors for seven years, including as DONA International President in 2020. She is the 2025 recipient of the Penny Simkin Award for Excellence in Doula Care.

Melissa coordinates DONA International's conferences and webinars and remains committed to education, mentorship, and strengthening the global doula community through teaching, writing, advocacy, and leadership.

To connect with Melissa, visit:
www.capitalcitydoulaservices.com

📩 Have a topic suggestion or want to be a guest?
Contact Melissa at: www.capitalcitydoulaservices.com

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