Kamusta! Ako si Anna.
Hi! I'm Anna Balagtas (she/they) and I'm a first-generation queer Filipina settler on the Haldimand Tract, the traditional territory of the Chonnonton, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples (Kitchener, Ontario).
I'm a birthworker, queer reproductive justice advocate, educator, and communications creative with my practice rooted in queer carework and the prioritization of QTBIPGM wellness, equity, and abundance.
In 2020, I founded Pocket Doula, a landing space for folks to learn more about reproductive justice and birthwork in the Canadian context. In 2021, I became the Executive Director of Cornerstone Birthwork International in which I helped develop training and curriculum focused on full spectrum birthwork. The curriculums I built focused on political carework ie. supporting sex workers, supporting undocumented folks and migrant rights, supporting incarcerated birthing people, etc.
In 2024, I founded the National Collaboration for Doula Access alongside 3 incredible folks, Jessica Johnson, Tahia Ahmed, and Sabrina Flack. Our national non-profit is a for BIPGM by BIPGM organization that helps support and sustain BIPGM across Canada through funding, professional development, and resources.
In my work today, I'm focused on community collaborations that disrupts and dismantles systems that no longer serve us and I'm seeking ways to become co-conspirators with folks who want to move towards a path of liberation through reproductive justice and community organizing.
How did Pocket Doula come to be?
Before I became a birthworker, I was a nanny for different families in Toronto. I love all my kiddos so fiercely. I love their parents too. As I was moving through the childcare world, I knew that this line of carework wasn't my forever calling. Though I loved witnessing kids and their magic as well as supporting the parents support themselves - I felt there was something bigger.
When I was first introduced to birthwork, I had no idea what it was. From my understanding a doula was a non-medical person who helped people give birth and take care of babies postpartum. I was thrilled! I felt this was exactly what I was trying to move into.
I took the weekend classes that were available to me in person. Spent tons (and I mean tons) of money investing into "approved" trainings - all to feel completely lost at the end. Though I knew I so badly wanted to be a doula - the workshops I attended and the trainings I took part of just didn't reflect what I felt like I needed to know. But the problem was... I didn't know what I needed to know. Which made it all the more confusing. A year and thousands of dollars later, I took a step back from birthwork. I wasn't sure this work was for me anymore.
Wait! You quit birthwork?
Yes, but only for a year. Eventually I started exploring birthwork again - but this time I started to move into community spaces that taught me that birthwork is entirely political and entirely radical. This was the very first time I was hearing and learning about the intersections of politics within reproductive care.
Since my emergence in political carework, being a birthworker made so much more sense to me. The reason I felt so confused and left behind in my other trainings was because the facilitations didn't meet my needs. We didn't talk about anti-racism, we didn't talk about harm reduction, we didn't talk about trauma-informed care, we didn't talk about capitalism or appropriation or advocacy - my original training was never rooted in birth justice. To this day, I am still unpacking, learning, and unlearning the lessons of reproductive justice.
Weaving the work
THE BEGINNING
2020
Pocket Doula was born into a world shifting beneath our feet. What started as independent birthwork practice quickly became something more…a space for experimenting with what it means to build care infrastructure that moves with our communities, not against them.
THE TRANSITIONS
2020-2024
These years held space for continuous evolution. Pocket Doula moved through shifts in what it means to be an independent business that keeps growing to meet community needs. Each transition revealed new ways of working, new relationships, new possibilities for what reproductive justice work could look like.
COMMUNITY WORK
Organizing and Collaboration
I spend a lot of my time community organizing and seeking ways to meaningfully collaborate with folks on reproductive justice based projects. This work is about building relationships, creating connections, holding space for collective dreaming about what's possible.
MENTORSHIP
Supporting emerging birthworkers
My passion has shifted toward supporting emerging birthworkers in their practice and helping collectives and organizations find their footing within queer reproductive justice more meaningfully. This looks like being a mentor, a bridge-builder, and holding space for others to find their voice in this work.
CO-CONSPIRACY
Moving towards liberation
Pocket Doula continues to evolve as a resource hub to help community members and my colleagues live out their values and seek ways to become co-conspirators with folks who want to move towards a path of liberation through reproductive justice and community organizing.
This work is the work of the collective and it's such a privilege to be part of your community. Thank you for witnessing me and allowing me to witness you!