Birthing From Within - About Doula Workshop

What's Different About
Birthing From Within's
Doula Training?

"Everything! There is no comparison." That's the answer often given by doulas who have taken both our training and another training. Although Birthing From Within offers a three-day doula training (like many others), the content and philosophy are worlds apart. In a nutshell, here's what is different:

BFW Doulas begin within.

Before learning how to support the parents, a BFW Doula is guided to examine what is motivating her to do this work. Some doulas might want every woman to experience the power she felt in birth; others want to protect mothers from unnecessary intervention or prevent outcomes that they feel are disempowering.

BFW Doulas learn a self-discovery process to clear their story after every birth.

If a doula takes credit for the outcome of a birth, pride will cloud her compassion. If she blames herself for the outcome, she will believe herself to be powerless; this drives many doulas to advocate against interventions or to stop attending births (especially hospital births) altogether. BFW Doulas begin their training by taking an inventory of their birth stories and beliefs, and then learn a self-help process they can use after every birth to examine what they are telling themselves about their role as a doula and about birth.

BFW Doulas learn how to conduct lively and meaningful prenatal and postpartum interviews.

The prenatal interview is more than getting hired and filling out a questionnaire and birth plan. First, BFW Doulas learn how to listen deeply to what parents are saying while listening within to what they are feeling or telling themselves. Then they learn a new language that includes solution-focused questions (instead of problem-focused or outcome-focused questions), metaphor, and creative teaching. To enrich their postpartum interactions, they learn a new way to listen to a birth story, and how to help parents find new meaning when the birth was difficult.

BFW Doulas learn traditional and unique ways to support parents during labor and postpartum.

This training spends little time on simple things doulas can learn on their own, like how to use the birth ball or aromatherapy. Emphasis is on learning how to teach pain-coping practices prenatally or in the crisis of labor, how to speak the language of Laborland, and how to help parents get information and make decisions. Doulas are most impacted by learning how their conscious awareness of the Masculine-Feminine energies of birth influences how birth unfolds for mother, father/partner and the doula herself.

BFW Doulas receive ongoing training and support after their Workshop.

A three-day workshop, however exciting and inspired, can only be an introduction to the work that lies ahead. When a doula chooses to join our unique and in-depth certification program and begins her work, she needs ongoing emotional support and more advanced training. BFW Doulas are invited to participate in monthly Conference Calls with her peers, led by an experienced BFW Doula and Advisor. She also has access to the online discussion board where doulas and mentors from around the world meet.

People ask us why they should take our training if they are already certified or trained through another organization. What does an experienced doula get out of it? Very simply: we recognize the challenges of working in birth in our culture, and we address them head-on. We provide dozens of new ideas for working with pregnant women and their partners and can radically change how you work as a doula. We bring hope and love back into doula work. We hope you will join us at one of our upcoming trainings.

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