Questions about Becoming a Doula or Childbirth Educator
1) How do I become an ALACE doula?
2) Do I have to attend any classes to become a doula?
3) Do ALACE doulas do vaginal exams?
4) How do I become an ALACE childbirth educator?
5) Do I have to attend any classes to become a childbirth educator?
6) Can men become doulas?
7) Can men become childbirth educators?
8) Do I need a medical background to become an ALACE birth professional?
9) Do I need a college degree to become an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
10) Do I have to have given birth to become an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
11) Do I need liability insurance to work as an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
12) How do I find clients?
13) Is it true that ALACE makes you do vaginal exams during the doula training?
14) Can I be in both programs?
15) If I’m already trained by another doula organization, can I still take the ALACE training?
16) If I’m already trained by another doula organization, do I have to go to the workshop and fulfill all the regular certification requirements?
17) If I’m already trained by another childbirth education organization, can I still take the ALACE training?
18) If I’m a childbirth educator already trained by another organization, do I have to fulfill all the regular certification requirements?
19) What can I do if I don’t see an ALACE doula training workshop near me?
20) What is a sponsor?
21) How can I sponsor a doula training workshop?
22) Why doesn’t ALACE have more workshops?
23) Do you offer trainings in any other languages?
24) Does ALACE hold doula training workshops in other countries?
25) Do doulas have to be certified?
26) Do childbirth educators have to be certified?
27) If I become a doula or childbirth educator and then I move to another state or country, do I have to take the training again in that state?
28) Can I bring my baby or child to the doula training workshop?
29) How long does it take to become a doula?
30) How long does it take to become certified?
31) When can I start charging money to attend births?
32) How long does it take to become a childbirth educator?
33) Do I have to be a member of ALACE to take the training?
How do I become an ALACE doula?
First, you will attend a weekend-long training workshop; we hold doula training workshops all over the United States and Canada. Go to the schedule of workshops to find a workshop near you. If there is no workshop in your area, call the ALACE office at 888-222-5223.
All of the ALACE workshops begin on Friday from 1-9pm and continue on Saturday and Sunday from 9-6pm. Once you have attended the workshop you are qualified to begin attending births. You do not need to wait to be certified in order to attend births or even to begin charging. Most people either start out volunteering, or charge a reduced fee and slowly increase their fee as they gain experience. The going rate varies across the country, but the average is probably $300 to $800 per birth, higher in large metropolitan areas.
If you choose to pursue certification, you will complete the requirements on your own after the workshop. Certification is not necessary to practice as a labor assistant/birth doula, but we encourage people to become certified because it lends credibility to you individually and to the profession as a whole. The certification requirements include the following:
• writing up your experience at your first six births
• submitting three performance evaluations from clients whose births youíve attended
• completing a required reading list of five books
• auditing a series of childbirth classes
• completing an at-home, open-book exam
Do I have to attend any classes to become a doula?
Yes, the first step is to attend a weekend-long training workshop; we hold doula training workshops all over the United States and Canada. Go to the schedule of workshops to find a workshop near you. If there is no workshop in your area, call the ALACE office at 888-222-5223.
Do ALACE doulas do vaginal exams?
ALACE does not train doulas to provide any physical assessments for their clients. In fact, we require all our trainees to sign a disclaimer stating that, if a doula is interested in offering such services to their clients, they must receive specific training for these skills and must seek training from the appropriate sources. We donít prohibit doulas that are appropriately trained from providing their clients with this service.
How do I become an ALACE childbirth educator?
The ALACE Childbirth Educator Training and Certification (CBE) program is a distance-learning program and does not require attendance at any workshops or classes.
When you enroll in the program, you will receive a training manual in a three-ring binder that is over 650 pages long. It is broken up into eight sections or modules. In addition to reading the manual, each module requires outside reading from a required reading list. Many books can be found at a library, but some would be harder to find at a library and you may either borrow them from another childbirth professional or purchase them.
Each module includes learning activities and written assignments to be completed and mailed to the Director of Childbirth Education who will evaluate your work and return it to you with her feedback. As you work through the manual, you are entitled to unlimited email and telephone support from the director. There is also a yahoo study group set up where you can receive peer support.
Once you have completed the first six modules you will take an at-home, open-book exam. Upon successful completion of the final exam you are Provisionally certified; you will begin teaching classes and will continue on to the eighth and final module, which is devoted to teaching techniques. The final certification requirements are to submit six positive evaluations from students you’ve taught, complete the module 8 written work and learning exercises, audit a childbirth class series, and complete the required reading list. The average time it takes most people to work through the program is 8-12 months, but there is no maximum time limit to complete the program.
The cost of the program is $795 with two DVDs (Special Delivery and Gentle Birth Choices, a $70 value) or $745 with no audiovisuals. This includes everything except the cost of the books. You are not required to own the books; feel free to buy them or borrow them from a library or perhaps another birth professional. But you may find yourself wanting to own several of them, both for your own reference and use, and for your clients. Many childbirth educators find it useful to offer a small lending library to their clients.
Do I have to attend any classes to become a childbirth educator?
No. The ALACE Childbirth Educator Training and Certification (CBE) program is a distance-learning program and does not require attendance at any workshops or classes.
Men are welcome to enroll in the ALACE doula training. They may not, however, participate in the experiential exercise involving pelvic exams. While we support and promote all of our trained and certified doulas, men have not been as readily hired.
Can men become childbirth educators?
Men are welcome to enroll in the ALACE Childbirth Educator program. In fact, ALACE has trained at least one man as a childbirth educator. We feel that men may be able to bring their own valuable perspective to childbirth education; however, they may have difficulty finding clients.
Do I need a medical background to become an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
No, you do not need any particular kind of training or experience to become an ALACE birth professional. We require only that you have an interest in birth and desire to support women.
Do I need a college degree to become an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
No, you do not need any particular kind of training or experience to become an ALACE birth professional. We require only that you have an interest in birth and desire to support women.
Do I have to have given birth to become an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
No, you don’t need to have given birth. Many ALACE birth professionals have never given birth nor are they parents, yet they are successful and satisfied in their work and are able to provide their clients with what they need.
Do I need liability insurance to work as an ALACE doula or childbirth educator?
No, you do not need to have liability insurance in order to practice as a doula or childbirth educator. However, some childbirth professionals choose to do so. Click here to read the ALACE statement on Liability Insurance (link to liability insurance (pdf))
Start by having business cards and brochures printed and ready for distribution. You are welcome to use any of the ALACE documents or graphics for this purpose. When you next discuss your services with someone, hand them your materials. Many doulas post flyers in locations where pregnant women are likely to see them. Some ideas are health food stores, prenatal yoga classes, WIC offices, children’s stores, preschools, playground bulletin boards.
A good way to begin finding clients is to identify a group of under-served women that could benefit from your services. Some examples of these are homeless shelters, teen homes, drug/alcohol recovery centers, jails, immigrant community centers, and WIC offices. Other ideas are to canvas community health centers, midwives, and physicians offices. Tell all of these people of your services and ask them to give your materials to anyone they think may benefit from your support.
Once you start attending births, your name will be spread by word of mouth both by clients and by providers, but it is prudent to maintain your presence in the form of printed materials in all of the above mentioned locations.
I heard that ALACE makes you do vaginal exams during the doula training. Is this true?
The vaginal exam exercise is optional. No trainee will ever be made to feel uncomfortable if they opt not to participate in this portion of the workshop.
Yes. Many ALACE members have enrolled in both training programs and work successfully as both doulas and childbirth educators.
There are definite benefits to providing both services, the biggest being that teaching childbirth classes provides you with a great source of doula clients!
Also, each role requires different kinds of work hours and skills. Being a doula puts you in direct contact with birth, whereas, normally, childbirth educators may not get many opportunities to attend births. Childbirth educators can make their own schedules, based on the needs of their families, jobs, and personal preferences, while doulas work on call and must be available around the clock.
Combining both trainings can provide you with a balance of demands if you’re looking for it all.
If I’m already trained by another doula organization, can I still take the ALACE training?
Yes, we welcome anyone who has already received training from any other organization. ALACEís training program, especially the workshop, is unique among other doula training organizations. You will have the opportunity to experience an amazing sense of empowerment that you will then pass on to your clients.
If you can provide documentation (a certificate of attendance, for example) of your training by another nationally-recognized doula training organization, you will receive a $75 professional discount off the ALACE program fee.
Yes. Because the ALACE doula training workshop is unique among other doula training organizations, we feel that it is necessary to attend the weekend-long workshop.
Yes. We offer an Accelerated Childbirth Educator Training Program at a considerable discount. To be eligible to take this program you must provide documentation of full certification from another nationally-recognized childbirth education program OR you must provide documentation that you have taught at least 125 hours of childbirth education classes. Please call the ALACE office at 888-222-5223 with any questions.
The ALACE Accelerated Childbirth Education program requirements are somewhat different and more streamlined than the regular program. Please call the ALACE office at 888-222-5223 with any questions.
What can I do if I don’t see an ALACE doula training workshop near me?
We are always adding workshops to the roster. Call the ALACE office at 888-222-5223, or keep checking our website, www.alace.org, for updates. If there is no workshop planned near you, you can consider sponsoring a workshop yourself.
Our sponsors enable us hold workshops all over the United States and Canada by helping to find meeting space for the workshop, identifying local advertising sources, and acting as the local contact for people with questions. All this is in exchange for attending the workshop for free.
If you may be interested in sponsoring a workshop, please click HERE (link to sponsor) or call Whitney Hogan, ALACE Workshop Coordinator, at 888-222-5223 or email her at whogan@alace.org.
Our sponsors enable us hold workshops all over the United States and Canada by helping to find meeting space for the workshop, identifying local advertising sources, and acting as the local contact for people with questions. All this is in exchange for attending the workshop for free.
If you may be interested in sponsoring a workshop, please click HERE (link to sponsor) or call Whitney Hogan, ALACE Workshop Coordinator, at 888-222-5223 or email her at whogan@alace.org.
How can I sponsor a doula training workshop?
If you may be interested in sponsoring a workshop, please click HERE (link to sponsor) or call Whitney Hogan, ALACE Workshop Coordinator, at 888-222-5223 or email her at whogan@alace.org.
Why doesn’t ALACE have more workshops?
ALACE’s doula training is unique in that we choose to have a small number of carefully selected, highly experienced instructors who teach throughout North America. We do not have an instructor training program. We feel this is an important tool to ensure consistency and high quality. While our instructors may have different personal and teaching styles, the curriculum is consistent; no matter where you live or when you take the training workshop, you can be sure that it is of the same high quality as all other ALACE doula training workshops.
Do you offer trainings in any other languages?
While this is a goal for the future, at this time our workshops and all our training materials are in English only.
Does ALACE hold doula training workshops in other countries?
Currently we hold workshops only in the U.S. and Canada.
Do doulas have to be certified?
No. There is no overseeing body or governing board of any kind for doulas or doula training organizations.
Women have been working as doulas since the beginning of humankind, without any kind of formal training or certification. Many women all over the world, including North America, continue to do this work in the same way. While we respect this ancient tradition being carried on, we at ALACE also believe there are many benefits to formal training and certification for doulas. We strive to create a standard of care, as well as provide information and skills training to increase understanding of the biology and the psychology of pregnancy, labor, and the birth process in order to provide the best support for women and their families.
Do childbirth educators have to be certified?
No. There is no overseeing body or governing board of any kind for childbirth educators or childbirth educator training organizations.
Most ALACE Childbirth Educators work independently, but some choose to work with a hospital. Generally, if you teach classes in a hospital or are affiliated with one you will need to provide certification to the hospital. There may be benefits in a hospital affiliation such as easily available referrals, and, often, childbirth classes within a hospital are reimbursable to clients by insurance. But you may need to give up some measure of control over your curriculum, as the hospital may require you to provide it for their approval.
No. Because there is no governing body for doulas or childbirth educators and no licensure, you can use your training and knowledge anywhere you choose.
Can I bring my baby or child to the doula training workshop?
We encourage and support nursing mothers and babies, and therefore encourage you to bring your nursling of up to about 6 months to the workshop. For older babies or children, we ask you to make arrangements for another adult to bring your baby to you during breaks or as needed.
How long does it take to become a doula?
You may call yourself a doula and begin attending births as soon as you complete the weekend training workshop.
Becoming certified can take as much or as little time as you like. ALACE does not impose any deadline on completing your certification requirements; we do, however, require you to keep your ALACE membership current as you work towards certification.
How long does it take to become a certified doula?
When estimating how long it may take to become fully certified, the longest part of the process is probably finding enough births to attend and write up. Most inexperienced doulas may have a hard time accommodating more than about one birth a month into their schedules; the certification requirements include attending six births, so you can estimate the process taking at least 6 months.
When can I start charging money to attend births?
Most doulas who have attended the training workshop but are not yet certified offer their services for free while they are working on their certification. Some doulas in training may charge at a lower rate for their services, and some may charge the full rate for their area.
How long does it take to become a childbirth educator?
Becoming certified can take as much or as little time as you like. ALACE does not impose any maximum time limit on completing your certification requirements; we do, however, require you to keep your ALACE membership current as you work towards certification.
While some members may take longer to complete their certification, it seems to take an average of 10 to 12 months to complete the process, working fairly regularly and frequently.
Do I have to be a member of ALACE to take the training?
When you register for either training program, you will become an ALACE member. The 1st year of membership in ALACE is included in the tuition.
