Hi, my name is Kim and I live in Toronto and I'm looking into becoming a Doula. I really enjoyed having my children and I would love to help others have wonderful and safe deliveries.

I'm also looking at connecting with other Canadian Doulas to pick their brains on what it is like here specifically and to answer some of my questions that may be more Canadian specific.

I can't wait to meet all of you and hear about your experiences and your advice.

Cheers,
K. :teddy

Hi Kim! I'm a Canadian doula in Southwestern Ontario too! If you have any specific questions I'll be glad to do my best and answer them. I also run this site, so let me know if you ever need any help!

Hope you find some good information here! Glad to have you join us. :welcome

WELCOME, KIM!

:wave

Hi, Kim and welcome. :wave Did you come from the DONA board?

:welcome

I'm just starting my journey and so anxious to do more!! You've found a great place for support and information!!!

Thanks for the welcome. I asked a specific question about the Canadian economics of becoming a doula and a member of the DONA board suggested I come here. I'm really glad she did too. I know the more I get into this the more I know I've made the right decision.

I'm taking the DONA course in July and I'm already doing the reading for that. (The thinking woman's guide to a better birth)

I'm also hoping that after I take the course I may be able to shadow a local Doula to see it all in action.

Thanks again for the welcome. I'll definitely be back here often.

Cheers,
K. :wave

Thanks for the welcome. I asked a specific question about the Canadian economics of becoming a doula and a member of the DONA board suggested I come here. I'm really glad she did too. I know the more I get into this the more I know I've made the right decision.

I'm taking the DONA course in July and I'm already doing the reading for that. (The thinking woman's guide to a better birth)

I'm also hoping that after I take the course I may be able to shadow a local Doula to see it all in action.

Thanks again for the welcome. I'll definitely be back here often.

Cheers,
K. :wave

That was me! ;) I am glad you decided to check it out. I only found alldoulas a couple of weeks ago and I love it!

I feel just like you do about knowing i have made the right decision. The more I learn the more I want to learn and the more excited I get for the next step. You will find yourself in very good company here. It is nice to be able to talk to others with the "birth bug." I know my husband gets tired of me going on about birth stuff! :yawn Welcome again.

Your the woman who told me about this site. Thanks so much. I'd been researching Doulas on the web and never found this one. I'm so glad you told me about it.

Thanks,
K. :squeeze

I found it on a yahoo message board (Birth Biz) myself. It is my pleasure!

Hey there!! I'm a birth doula in New Brunswick. I'm just waiting on DONA's certification commitee for 'the call' :crossed . I'm finally getting busy after a year of holding my breath and waiting for my advertising efforts to pay off. Hopefully I can help you with a Canadian perspective as well.
I'm the mother of 2 toddler boys and of course I'm a total birth junkie!
:welcome

www.cappacanada.ca

Thought you might like to check that out too.

Welcome~

Can I ask another question? What is the difference between CAPPA and DONA? I was going to take the DONA course in July, are the CAPPA and DONA courses comparable?

K.

:welcome

We are glad you are here!!!!!

I have heard there isnt much difference between the two.. I chose DONA because they had training near me and I really need the interaction with other people.. I heard CAPPA has a wonderful long distance training program though! :thumbs

Welcome Kim!

I'm Jill I live near Sacramento in Calif. I'm working on my certifications also. I've been a LLL Leader and then did Doula work for family and freinds. Now that the twins are in school full time I've decided to make a go of this birth business :wub For my 40th birthday this past Sept I decided I wanted to be a midwife. My husband is all for it, though finances will be tough. So I'm doing birth and post partum Doula work and plan on applying to midwifery school in the fall of next year.

:oops I totally rambled on and on...

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AllDoulas is the bomb!!!

:welcome Kim!

I'm Lori, and I'm a Certified Labor Doula through CAPPA. I'm also in the beginning steps of certifying as a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE). I live in Ohio, USA with my awesome dh and 2 teen boys.

I'm so glad that you found ALLDOULAS, and it's exciting to know that others are spreading the word about this wonderful site that Tiffany has put together for us! (wheew! Run on sentence, there! :snicker )

About the differences of DONA and CAPPA.....I've also heard that they are very similar in philosophy and training. The certification steps are slightly different, I think. CAPPA's leadership is very easy to contact by phone, email, and off of their Yahoo Group CAPPAinfo (I've heard that DONA's leadership isn't nearly as accessible). DONA members do tend to get more referrals from the DONA website as opposed to the CAPPA website, however. I get referrals from elsewhere, so that's not a concern to me. They're both great organizations, and I don't think one could go wrong with choosing either of them. The best people on here to discuss the differences in detail are those who are in both organizations (which I'm not); there may be others here, but I do know that DoulaVal (http://www.alldoulas.com/forums/member.php?u=222) and tlcdoula (http://www.alldoulas.com/forums/member.php?u=39) are in both.

Oh my...I'm sorry for rambling so much! :lol Welcome to Alldoulas!!!!!! :ghug

Thanks for rambling on. The info the better for me. I've investigated CAPPA more and I like the fact that there is a CAPPA Canada and they can talk to me and teach with Canada in mind. I also thought they seemed a little more stringent in what I needed to know before the workshop. And the testing. And also they have a course sooner for me in my area. I don't know. I'm so confused now.
Yikes! :omy

:razz (a smilie from my son, he likes the smilies.)

It is tough to decide on a certifying organization, I know! :waitasec Why don't you try to PM DoulaVal and tlcdoula? I'm sure that they could give you a balanced look of both groups. Better yet, how about starting a thread in the Aspiring Doulas category, with the title, "?s for DoulaVal & tlcdoula: CAPPA/DONA" or "DONA and CAPPA similarities/differences" or something to that effect. A thread titled with your topic of your concern could possibly grab people's attentions a little faster than being embedded within your introduction (although there is nothing wrong with that!). ;) Your concerns are the same as many others who may read them, so your questions could help many others, too! :thumbs

:razz (a smilie from my son, he likes the smilies.)

You're fitting right in; we :heartbeat smilies around here!! I, myself, am pretty obsessed with them!!! :rofl

I am certified with both DONA and CAPPA. I don't believe that either training or certification is superior (note my disclaimer at the bottom), but I can give you pros for both. I believe CAPPA requires more medical knowledge, and I find that has helped me immensely in wading through hospital births. DONA (I certified with DONA ten years ago so I might be outdated) doesn't seem to require as much medical expertise. You'll be glad to know some of that. DONA has a great referral thing going on at their website, as does CAPPA, but DONA has a weensie bit more name recognition, so I get more referrals from DONA. But I'm working on that daily. :) I hope that helps you a bit. Do like me, certify with both, then you'll be covered. I will also add that CAPPA has more programs, such as childbirth educator and lactation educator, and I have found that doulas like to have the many certifications so that their birth business has many ways to make money. Diversification is the way to go. Just think, you can teach the childbirth class, attend the birth, do the postpartum work, and teach a breastfeeding class to the same couple. I know, what world am I living in, but it's a nice thought. hehe

V

Thanks so much Val. I think after all this I have decided to go with CAPPA. I actually like the Medical knowledge aspect of it. I think I would feel more comfortable knowing more and I am interested in the Childbirth Educator as well.

Thanks again so much to all of you for the advice and the warm welcome. Any more questions I may have I'll be sure to start a new thread.

Cheers to all of you for being such great, inspiring women!

K. :wub

CAPPA will also let you "fast track" on some of the certifications once you certify in one area! That is one of the things that appealed to me.

Hi everyone! :newbie I live out west in Mission, BC (~1hr from Vancouver) I took my training 7 years ago but have 5 children (aged 2 - 11) so haven't attended too many births. I am just starting to get back into it and it feels so good!! I started a collective of doulas after I took my training 7 years ago and we are still having our monthly meetings! We have our own referral line and try to get noticed in our communities. It has been a challenge ; this year we are focussing on fundraising so we can do some better advertising. Would love to hear how everyone else markets their business.
I have also taken my CBE training and am trying to get some classes going. Not getting much time to focus on them so it has been a slow process.
Looking forward to getting to know my fellow doulas.
Thanks for having me. :smooch
Teri

Welcome Teri! :sgrin

My name is Candice and I am a married SAHM to to 3 kids and currently becoming a certified doula though DONA!! Great to see you joined! You will :heartbeat it here! :woohoo

Hi Teri, wow having a collective of Doula's sounds like a great idea. I take my training in May and I hope to meet some great people and then I'll probably contact some of the established Doula's in my area.

Welcome,
K.

:welcome Teri!

I'm Lori, and I'm a CAPPA Certified Labor Doula. I live in Ohio, where it's cold, and we're soooo wanting spring to arrive!!! :teddy I bet that you Canadians are thinking the same, although you may be a little more desperate than those of us further South! :lol

It's really great that you have found alldoulas.com! This is a wonderful place to be for support, learning, venting, and giggles!!!! Welcome to the group! :ghug