Course Overview

Module 1 – Your Doula Mindset

  • History of Doulas
  • Supporting all women, no matter how they birth
  • Knowing your what gives you your how
  • Self-nurturing and healing to prevent burnout
  • Your mindset reflects your experiences
  • Identifying and releasing limiting beliefs
  • Dealing with stress and anxiety
  • Complementary therapies
  • Time Management
  • Problem solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Decluttering your mind and environment
  • Being assertive – saying no and not feeling guilty

Module 2 – Business Savvy Doula

  • Setting up your doula business, insurances and contracts
  • What is your goal, your mission and your vision?
  • It’s not your business what others think
  • Connecting with potential clients – your features and benefits – what is your WHY?
  • Building rapport and trust
  • Saying NO and not feeling guilty
  • Branding
  • Marketing and advertising tricks
  • Social media
  • Mapping out your business plan
  • Setting boundaries as a doula and businesswoman
  • Setting up and maintaining your resource library
  • Understanding how to look for and dissect research
  • Cross referrals and collaborating with other professionals
  • Business templates and contracts
  • Affiliate program for Back to Basics Birthing online course
  • 12-month Doula Training Academy Membership
  • Mentoring, Debriefing & Buddy program
  • Continued education through regular webinars and meetups.

Module 3 – Anatomy & Physiology of Birth

  • History of childbirth and going back to basics
  • Comprehensive childbirth education to ensure the correct information is given to your clients during discussions
  • Anatomy & Physiology of the pregnant body and hormones
  • Hormonal Physiology of labour and birth

Module 4 – Rights of Childbearing Women

  • Making the right choices
  • BRAIN Techniques
  • Governing Bodies in Australia for Resources
  • Choosing a Care Provider
  • Statistics and Resources
  • Policies, Procedures and Guidelines
  • Birthrights
  • Birth Plans, Birth Maps, Birth Options
  • The Informed Consent Process
  • Advocacy
  • Non-judgemental Continuity of Care
  • Your role versus the role of the midwife – maintaining your scope of practice

Module 5 – Mind, Body, Emotions & Hypnobirthing

  • History of hypnobirthing
  • Understanding the philosophy of hypnobirthing
  • How to support couples who are using hypnobirthing for their pregnancy, labour and birth
  • Understanding the mind / body connection
  • Perception of pain
  • Fear release techniques and hypnosis
  • Conditioning the mind for a positive, calm birth by helping women to relax more, fear less, let go of tension and trust their body and their baby.

Module 6 – Your Doula Toolkit

  • Breathing techniques for relaxation, labour and birth
  • What’s in your doula bag – your Mary Poppins bag of tricks?
  • The 5 Senses of Birth – your tools and techniques for relaxation
  • Massage – muscles, joints and ligaments of the pelvis
  • Acupressure during pregnancy, labour, birth and beyond
  • Using essential oils safely
  • The power behind using Affirmations
  • The underutilised technique of Visualisation
  • Music, meditations and hypnosis
  • Orgasmic Birth
  • Setting up the environment as a safe, comfortable birth space for mother and newborn baby.

Module 7 – Pelvic Pathways – Optimal Positioning

  • Understanding how the fascia, ligaments, soft tissue, and pelvis work together for baby to be in an ideal position
  • Helping women to get into optimum condition so that this creates space for baby to get into optimum position
  • Preparing the body to prevent problems – not fix them
  • Effective muscles release techniques using a rebozo or cloth
  • Understanding optimum positioning of baby – where is baby?
  • Helping to support the progress of labour and provide comfort measures for women so they manage their labour more positively

Module 8 – Physiological Birth, Inductions and Interventions

  • What are interventions and how can a couple avoid them?
  • Medical versus natural induction methods & resources
  • Medical versus natural pain relief options & resources
  • Working with other health professionals including medical caregivers and sifting through policies and procedures of hospitals

Module 9 – Variations of Birth

  • Supporting women through a change of circumstances
  • Working with VBAC women and their partners, including evidence-based information and resources
  • Birth settings – home, hospital, birthing centre, transfers.

Module 10 – Interventions

  • Understanding medical interventions and variations to birth
  • Medical Induction Methods
  • Medical Pain Relief
  • Natural Induction Methods
  • Natural Pain Relief

Module 11 – Caesarean Births

  • Supporting women leading up to, during and after caesarean birth
  • Maternal Assisted caesareans
  • Gentle, natural caesareans
  • Encouraging and supporting a labour caesarean
  • Healing after caesarean

Module 12 – Supporting VBAC clients

  • The myths, the evidence and the support you can provide so that women feel confident, powerful, and prepared for their next birth after caesarean
  • Understanding how to choose a VBAC supportive caregiver
  • Positive language around VBAC
  • Best tips for helping your client to prepare for a VBAC

Module 13 – Stillbirth & Bereaved Parents

  • Supporting couples through miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss
  • Resources for the bereaved couple, doula, family, and friends
  • Self-care and debriefing for doulas

Module 14 – Self-care strategies to help manage trauma

  • Seeking out help and debriefing after each birth
  • Compassionate boundaries
  • It’s not your birth – give your client the gift of owning her own birth
  • Obstetric violence

Module 15 – Professional Breastfeeding Course

  • Maternal Instincts breastfeeding course for birth workers with Amberley Harris
  • Signs baby is ready to feed and breast crawl
  • Positioning and attachment principles
  • Signs of successful feeding
  • How to identify if your client needs professional help and referrals

Module 16 – Postpartum Support

  • The first hours after birth and what to expect
  • Emotional support, healing, and mental health for your clients
  • Practical skills to support your clients in the weeks after birth
  • Local resources

Module 17 – Mother Blessings, Rituals & Cultural Appropriation

  • Cultural Appropriation versus appreciation issues in the birth industry
  • Mother Blessings, ceremonies, and celebrations
  • Honouring and celebrating a woman’s rite of passage into motherhood
  • Emotional, physical, mental and spiritual growth
  • Discussion around different cultures and rituals

 

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