Become a Doula
Become a Doula: Internships and Mentoring
Step ONE
- Complete and Submit the Intern Application below
Step TWO
- Pay application FEE
$2900 PIF (payment plan available –$3300)
Step THREE
- Attend the Doula Internship Orientation Night
First Friday in December 7-9 PM
Some of our Graduate Successes
- Hired by Doula Love
- Founded Brave Birth Services who continue to partner with graduates
- Founded Birthing Stone who continue to partner with graduates
- Accepted to Yale Midwifery School
- Accepted to Oregon Health Sciences University Midwifery Program
- Hired on at as full-time staff doula at Providence Women’s Clinic
- Accepted to Birthingway College of Midwifery
- Dozens of personal practices founded
Birth Doula Internships and Mentoring
Course Description
Mother Tree’s internship is unique and the only opportunity in the country where student doulas will gain the opportunity to work with active professional private doula practices, hospital-based doula programs and gain the skills, professionalism and confidence to create a thriving doula practice all your own.
6-month Intensive Internship
Our 6-month* intensive internship (* with 6 mo. add’l of monthly check-ins) will help you generate a vibrant, professional practice. More than just readying you for certification you will learn everything you need to be a leader in the birth community along with the practical skills of running your own business. Pairing you with a professional doula mentors you will have the opportunity to be supported through births, be primary doula, co-doula and back up doulas through our referral network. Weekly Learning circles prepare you for every aspect of running your own doula practice along with.a self paced curriculum.
The program is self-paced and many interns work full-time during the program. the primary requirement is to be available Thursday evenings for the learning circle, 1-2 births on-call per month and 3 to 4 12-hour shifts in the month as backup.
Learning Topics
- Building a professional doula practice
- Professionalism training for working in a team-based environment with providers
- Cultural competency
- Collaborative Team Care
- Structure of prenatal and postpartum visits
- Understanding the biodynamics of birth
- Pain Coping Techniques and Comfort Massage (applied skills)
- Advocating for a client/Interacting with hospital staff
- Healing the birth story
- Clearing the space for birth & Emotional Counseling
- Supporting induction, epidural and hi-risk birth
- Supporting Unexpected Outcomes: traumatic birth, prematurity, stillbirth
- Supporting Optimal Fetal Positioning
- Using your intuition
- Breastfeeding Counseling
- Birth Recovery
- Trauma Informed Care
- Business Skills Workshop (Doula Practice Basics 101)
“I am so happy that I found out about Jesse’s birth doula internship about a week before it was going to start back in January of 2021. I had been a birth doula in USA since 2017 and worked in the maternity field in Sweden since 2013. Even with my previous experience, I learned more than I ever expected. An incredible group of mentors during the 6 months and a really fun group of doulas. This was at a time when Zoom was our main communication, but we still managed to get together in-person a couple of times, and I could tell how much they needed to shift their teachings from in-person to virtual. It was so well put together and received, and I am truly grateful to Jesse, all of the mentors and the community here in Portland who have welcomed me in this new city and shaped me into a more conscious doula surrounding many areas in this line of work. You can never stop learning in this field and I would not be the doula I am today without this internship. Thank you.”
COURSE INCLUDES
- Full Advanced Training Intro Day
- Doula Learning Circles WEEKLY THURSDAYS 6- 9:30 pm (provides built-in backup) 240 hours of curriculum
- BiMonthly 1-1 Mentorship Call/Video Chat
- Monthly Birth Junkie Night (hands-on skills such as hospital skills/tour, bellycasting, movie night, birth bag tools)
- 6 – month commitment to providing doula support to the Gateway Doula Project (a few 12 hr shifts per month)
- 1-2 private “student birth” clients per month (the program helps to match)
- Online learning forum for creating of protocols and business documents/handouts
- Keynote panel nights with professional doulas, expert community speakers
- 2 mentor doulas providing you round-the-clock suppport
- Observations of professional doulas in interview, prental, birth & postpartum
- Observations of prenatal classes with expectant parents when available
- You will be certification-ready if you complete all components
- Certificate of completion & recommendation to your future endeavors
- 50% off Postpartum Doula Training
Intern Application
The following information is confidential and for internal use only, and will not be used for marketing, or shared with third parties.
Attribution
Contact MotherTree for more
SPECIAL VALUE FOR DOULAS
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