I am certified!

I am SO excited to share that I am now fully certified as a birth doula with DONA International!

I put many (many!) hours of work into achieving this certification, as outlined in my previous blog post.

After making a couple of small adjustments and clarifications to my certification application, I received the exciting news yesterday that I have been fully approved as a certified birth doula!

One thing that makes today extra exciting is that it is two years to the day that I finished my birth doula training. That’s right, a day shy of my second anniversary of being a trained doula, I received my shiny new credential as a certified doula. It’s completely coincidental and I think it’s pretty darn neat.

My doula training wrapped up on January 26, 2020.

I spent three long days learning about birth, pregnancy, lactation, advocacy, support, comfort measures, contractions, current issues, finding quality evidence, building a business, and so much more.

At the very end of our last evening together, my trainer (Robin Elise Weiss) brought up the question, “when can you officially call yourself a doula?” She let us trainees think on it for a moment, then handed each of us a metal pin that said “doula” (pictured above). She told us that we have all successfully finished the training and can now consider ourselves active, practicing doulas. It was a very cool moment.

A group of real life doulas, fresh out of training, ready to give support.

Since that day, I have done some serious work in building my business, expanding my reach, reading and learning, and—most importantly of all!—supporting a dozen families through pregnancy, childbirth, and the fourth trimester.

A fully trained doula can support any type of birth and does not need to pursue certification.

So why did I choose to take this extra step?

The biggest driving factor for me was the extra “oomph” I feel the credential gives me. Those shiny little letters signify to parents-to-be and birthworkers alike that I am fully dedicated to this work and to constant growth within the ever-expanding birth world. I felt that certification gave me added credibility and reliability.

I also chose to continue my birth doula path with DONA International. There are many great doula-training organizations out there, producing wonderful birthworkers all the time. However, I chose to stick with DONA because it is the world’s largest and leading doula organization. It is also the first of its kind; it was created in 1992 to professionalize the role of the doula. I feel that DONA is a well respected, professional organization and holds its members to a high standard.

Lastly, I plan to continue my education path within the birth realm. I have a board full of upcoming courses to take and a business budget dedicated to additional trainings. I have to recertify as a DONA doula every three years, showing proof of continuing education. If I’m going to be taking these courses anyway, they might as well count for something, right?!

My current hospital badge, soon to be upgraded with CD(DONA).

I am thrilled to be fully certified and proud to be a member of DONA International. I am so thankful for the mentor support and training opportunities I get through this community.

I wear these new letters with a big sense of accomplishment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go update every thing in my life with “CD(DONA).”