Community Birth Doula Training & Certification Program

 ABOUT DOULAS

Doula (“Doo-Lah”) is a Greek word meaning “woman servant”. Throughout human history in all cultures, across all times, women have helped other women have their babies. Doulas are continuing this ancient tradition of woman-to-woman support during childbirth, with a modern twist. Today, Doulas are trained, professional childbirth companions with expertise in perinatal health education, advocacy skills, knowledge of physical comfort measures for childbirth and breastfeeding support. Combined with a kind and caring nature, Doulas are invaluable to pregnant women and new mothers during the childbearing year.

Doulas are essential on the pregnancy support team

Doulas work collaboratively with the pregnant woman’s medical or midwifery provider co-facilitating safe and satisfying birth experiences for clients. Doulas are recognized as valuable members of the maternity care team and contribute to improving birth outcomes, such as lowering the risk for cesarean section and prematurity.

Is Doula Care covered by Insurance?

Increasingly, HMO and PPO plans are including payment for Doula services. As of January 1, 2023, California’s Medi-Cal plan will include Doula support as a covered benefit. Certified Doulas will be able to bill Medi-Cal for their services.

What Doulas Provide:

• Emotional support to pregnant women and their partners
• Informational Support (pregnancy and childbirth education)
• Advocacy: Helping clients understand their rights and options
• Physical support and comfort measures during labor and birth
• Breastfeeding support
• Lactation support and education
• Newborn care instructions to new parents
• Recognition and referrals for abnormal, complex or danger signs of pregnancy, childbirth or in the newborn

ABOUT COMMUNITY DOULAS VS. CONVENTIONAL DOULAS

The difference between a community Doula and a “conventional” Doula is that community doulas are usually from the same background as the persons they serve. They may share ethnic and racial similarities, or have common backgrounds, such as being a teenage mother or a refugee or immigrant. They may share similar life experiences, such as being a member of a particular ethnic group or minority, or have shared aspects of culture, such as language. They may integrate specific cultural birthing traditions into their care.

RESULTS OF DOULA SUPPORT

Studies have shown that the presence of a doula can:

• Shorten length of labor
• Reduce medical interventions
• Reduce cesarean section
• Reduce use of pain medications
• Increase breastfeeding success
• Improve maternal-infant bonding
• Lower postpartum depression
• Improve overall maternal satisfaction with the birthing experience

ABOUT THIS TRAINING

Prerequisites

No prior experience is needed for this training. The only requirement is a love of pregnancy and babies and an interest in pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and newborns. This course focuses on working with families from low-income and BIPOC backgrounds in public health and community settings.

Who Should Attend?

• Anyone interested in pregnancy and childbirth
• Mothers and Grandmothers
• Prenatal & Postpartum Yoga Instructors
• Prenatal & Postpartum Massage Therapists
• Community Health Promoters
• Home Visitors working with pregnant women
• Case Managers working with pregnant women
• CPHWs
• CNAs and LVNs and RNs
• Students majoring in public health, nursing, medicine or social work
• Aspiring midwives or medical students who want to become OB/GYN physicians

Course Details

This class is a 32-hour course which takes place over 4 days. The classes meet 8:00 am to 4:30 pm PST. There will be two 15-minute breaks morning and afternoon and a one-hour lunch break.

Format and Location

This class will be hybrid. Some sessions will be in person and others over Zoom.

Dates of Class:

Session #1 : Sunday, September 3 (on Zoom)

Session #2: Monday, September 4 (At CalEndow)

Session #3: Tuesday, September 5 (At CalEndow)

Session #4 Wednesday, September 6 (at CalEndow)

COURSE CONTENT

Please go to our to learn more about what will be covered in this training. This class includes HIPAA Training and Certification and Infant/Adult CPR and First Aid Training which is mandatory for certification.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Cordelia Hanna, MPH, CHES, ICCE, CLE, CBA- Principal Course Leader, Curriculum Developer

Cordelia Hanna has been working in the field of maternity care for over 30 years. She obtained her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Health Education and Promotion/Maternal Child Health from Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California in 2008 and her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Dance from Indiana University, Bloomington in 1986. Cordelia is currently pursuing her doctorate in Health Psychology at Walden University. Cordelia is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), the gold standard for professional health educators, accredited by NCHEC. She is also an ICEA-Certified Childbirth Educator, CAPPA-Certified Lactation Educator, and ALACE-Certified Birth Assistant who since 1991 has taught Childbirth Preparation Classes and Breastfeeding Education to hundreds of couples in private practice, clinics, public health, hospital and community settings. She is an apprenticeship-trained midwife, who has worked as an Assistant Midwife and Labor Companion/Monitrice in homes, birth centers, and hospitals throughout Los Angeles County and Oregon since 1991.

Cordelia is passionate about promoting community health promoters– breastfeeding peer counselors and doulas– to address ethnic health disparities such as low rates of breastfeeding, high rates of prematurity and cesarean section, and maternal mortality. Cordelia thinks about maternal-child health globally but acts locally. Cordelia worked for The Pasadena Public Health Department Black Infant Health Program from 2002-2012, a California Department of Health-funded program to reduce African-American/Black perinatal health disparities. Here, she initiated and managed a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program and established the very first Community-Based Doula Program for African-American/Black families in Los Angeles County; succeeding in lowering the high rates of infant mortality and cesarean section among Pasadena’s African-American population.

From 2011 to 2019, Cordelia worked with Esperanza Community Housing Corporation’s Promatora de Salud/Community Health Worker Program, providing training in perinatal health and Doula support for Community Health Promoters/Promatores de Salud working in South Los Angeles, one of the Los Angeles county regions with the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality due to negative social determinants of health.

Cordelia is a mother of two home-born, breastfed, and family-bedded children who are now bright and capable young adults. She is a grandmother of two granddaughters and a grandson. Her life partner is from Ghana, West Africa, and they enjoy an international lifestyle spanning two continents.

Carla Michael, MSW, CD, CPD, CLE, Student Midwife – Co-Course Leader

Carla Michael was born Hollywood and raised in Pomona, CA. As a mother to three girls, Carla is well aware of the necessity of love and care during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period.

Her passionate desire to work with children and families led Carla to a career as a social worker and to obtain a master’s in social work at California State University Los Angeles. Craving a more personable relationship with families while exploring “birthing and babies”, she decided to take a different route and become a full circle doula.

Carla obtained full circle doula training with Shafia Monroe Consulting’s Full Circle Doula Training® (an intensive 30-hour prenatal, labor and postpartum doula training course). This distinctive training is built on the legacy of the 20th century African-American Midwife, who provided holistic perinatal services with birth and postpartum rituals and mothering skills building confidence and leadership abilities within families to improve birth outcomes and increase breastfeeding duration rates.

Carla models this model of care in her practice as a doula, which is improving birth outcomes by reducing prematurity, increasing breastfeeding rates and duration, reducing infant mortality and she has also completed an extensive 14-hour training regarding perinatal mental health and is well versed on the seldom-discussed mental health needs of mamas after birth.

With Carla’s first baby, she had no support with breastfeeding and always wanted to work for an organization such as La Leche League, not knowing that a career in breastfeeding was actually attainable. Therefore, in addition to her work as a doula, she became a certified lactation education specialist training through Breastfeed LA’s 95-hour program and is now currently on the pathway to becoming an IBCLC (international board-certified lactation consultant). This is critical because there are no statistics on how many Black IBCLCs there are in the United States. Carla believes that increasing the amount of Black IBCLC support will increase the rates of Black women’s breastfeeding outcomes, which is so crucial to their bundle of joy’s overall health in life. She enjoys instructing breastfeeding classes to pregnant mamas to prepare them before even before their little babies enters the world, and currently teaches Happy Mama Healthy Baby’s breastfeeding education classes for clients, and our Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Training, Postpartum Doula Training, Perinatal Support Specialist Training and Birth Doula Training.

Carla is currently a student midwife working in a birth center. Carla believes in women-led births and that, with the proper support, education, and by listening to her intuition, a mama can have the birthing experience she’s always dreamed of. Carla is always honored to support a mama in this memorable, life-changing journey and looks forward to sharing her wisdom and experience with you in this training.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellation must be made in writing by the deadline (30 days prior to the first day of the course). Tuition will be reimbursed less $50.00 administrative fee if notification received by this date. After this date, there will be no refunds. However, in extenuating circumstances such as documented illness or emergency, the tuition is fully transferable to another person or training (this course or another topic); credit is good for the amount of training. If the course registering is a higher price, the additional balance will be required. If it is a lesser price, there will not be any refund of the balance. Credit will be honored for one year from the training. If not used by that time, the credit will expire.

Special Cancellation Policy for Doulas: 

If you are “on-call” and have a birth during the training, please notify the instructor as soon as possible that you will not be attending. The full tuition will be transferred to another person, or different training (this course or another topic) to be used within one year of the training date.If the course registering is higher price, the additional balance will be required. If it is a lesser price, there will not be any refund of the balance.

Event Venue

California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities, 1000 N. Alameda St, Los Angeles, United States