ACBE's Birth Doula Workshop
A birth doula is a professionally trained and experienced caregiver who provides continuous support and companionship before, during, and just after childbirth.
The word “doula” is derived from an ancient Greek word for a female slave who would assist with childbirth in the ancient Greek household. Although the modern professional term—defined as “one who serves”—first gained popularity in the late 1960s, this essential support role is timeless and prevalent throughout many historical cultures.
A professional birth doula can use non-medical techniques to alleviate discomforts during pregnancy and labor, and will stay with the laboring person throughout their entire labor and birth. A birth doula also helps the laboring person and their partner communicate more effectively with their clinical care providers, such as doctors, nurses, and midwives.
A birth doula provides guidance, emotional support, and assistance to the birthing person or family in getting the knowledge they need to make informed decisions. The doula’s role is non-medical and emotionally oriented, and a doula nurtures and protects the birthing person’s memory of their birth experience, recognizing birth as a unique experience that a parent will remember all their life.
Through our training program, you will become familiar with the physiology of normal labor and birth, learn how to care for the emotional needs of a person in labor, and gain skills to help birthing persons prepare for the birth experience they want.
ACBE’s birth doula training and certification program is designed to provide you with the skills necessary to become a professional birth doula.
You will learn how to support clients through their labor and birth experiences, empowering birthing persons and their partners as they make choices through pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery.
The ACBE’s Birth Doula Workshop is a 3-day seminar which fulfills the in-person training requirements for birth doula certification through ACBE.
Basics of Breastfeeding Education fulfills another in-person training requirement (Breastfeeding Education) for birth and/or postpartum doula certification.
Workshop Prerequisites:
Please read Penny Simkin’s book The Birth Partner (available here) prior to attending your workshop. You do not need to bring The Birth Partner with you to your workshop, but you may be asked to discuss what you have read during class.
By the end of the ACBE Birth Doula Workshop, you will be able to:
Explain the differences between the roles of the doula, midwife, doctor, nurse, and partner when attending a birth
Verbalize the impact of childbirth on the birthing person’s life
Identify normal physical changes associated with pregnancy
Define the differences between minor discomforts of pregnancy and warning and danger signs during pregnancy
Understand how a history of sexual abuse or birth trauma may affect pregnancy, labor and birth, postpartum recovery, and breastfeeding
Define the components of initial contact and home visit with the client
Discuss the onset of labor, including the six signs of progress in labor
Demonstrate at least four physiological positions for labor and birth
Define the difference between an induction of labor for medical needs versus social reasons
Identify at least four non-invasive techniques for relief of pain in labor
Describe at least three labor support techniques for relief of back labor
Define advantages and disadvantages of labor epidurals
Discuss the doula's role when caring for a client who has an epidural or cesarean birth
Identify the current criteria for vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC)
Discuss the doula's role during difficult labors and births
Describe the relationship between a doula and birthing person during a cesarean birth
Describe the normal newborn and newborn procedures at birth
Discuss the importance of early breastfeeding for both the mother and the baby
Identify requirements for birth doula certification through DONA International
Describe how the normal postpartum period differs from postpartum mood disorders
Explain the importance of postpartum follow-up and processing the birth experience, including closure with the client
Discuss methods for building and marketing a birth doula business
The ACBE Birth Doula Workshop is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing for 23.5 continuing education hours. CEP #9357. This continuing nursing education activity is also approved by the Wisconsin Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation for 24.75 contact hours. WNA provider approval number WICEAP-8001.