CBE training programs?

moonfirefaery · 01-13-2007, 06:37 PM

I am really interested in CBI's birth doula program. I know I'd like to become a CBE one day, so I am considering doing both programs together for the vastly discounted price. However, that is still quite a bit of cash there. The usual price is $710 through CBI for the CBE course, but if you take it with the doula course, you get both for $850. Does anyone know of a CBE course that is more affordable than the regular CBI price? I'd feel more comfortable doing one at a time and paying for one at a time, but if I'm going to have to pay almost double to do it that way, I'd rather not!

I also loved the link that compared the different doula courses from different organizations. Does anyone know of a similar one about the CBE programs out there? Or could someone just tell me a little about each, why they liked it, the costs, how long it took, etc?

MothertheMother · 01-13-2007, 07:16 PM

I am certifying through Lamaze: Passion for Birth. check out www.passionforbirth.com for more details. I am very happy with that decision and I know without a doubt that it is the right decision for me. I love the mission of Passion for Birth and the training was top notch! There are a lot of threads here about it so do a little digging and you'll probably find out more about PfB than you ever wanted to know! lol

I think doing both is actually a good idea. So much of it goes hand in hand and each one can make you better at the other. There is a lot more studying to do for the cbe so assuming you can get the births done the doula cert would probably go much quicker.

I think a lot of your cbe decision will come from how/where you envision teaching classes. I was particular about being able to teach in or out of the hospital setting and that narrowed down my choices (in my mind) to either Lamaze or ICEA. Some hospitals don't require educators to be certified, some don't care where you are certified but the ones that do almost always accept these two. When I started doing my research I decided on Lamaze mostly on a feeling I got about support. I won't claim this to be fact but I got the feeling I would get more support from Lamaze and so far I've never second guessed this feeling. The Passion For Birth program is a mentoring program and you'll get support from them even after you are certified and that was very appealing to me. I could go on and on but I'll let you do your own research on that (since my opinions are biased lol)

On to CBI....I have never heard anything bad about their programs and have only heard great things about how comprehensive they are etc. There are a couple here going through them so I assume they'll chime in.

If you check the poll on this you'll see that a lot of CBE's certified through CAPPA. I did my doula cert through CAPPA but decided on the Lamaze route for cbe only for the hospital recognition. There are often combined trainings for cbe and labor doula for around $500 (vs about $350 for each one) so that is a discount. I think the cert packets are still the same price but you don't have to order them right away.

Ok. I think I kind of covered my opinions on some of your questions...hope this helps.