Labour Support Course Cost?

[sunlit_mists]

How much did or will your LS Course cost you?
Where and when did you take it?
How was the course structured? Weekend, full day, ongoing?
How many hours was it total?
Are you certified and through what organization?
----------------------------------------------------------


I have two options, and am interested in other peoples experiences.

I am in Canada, in BC, and have the option of taking a DONA approved course locally ( 30 mins from my home), it is 16hrs long, and over one weekend. Cost $375 Cdn.

OR

I can travel south to Seattle (3 hours away), to the Seattle Midwifery School, and take a 2 weekend course (also DONA approved of course), of about 32 hours, for $580 US, and expenses to stay in Seattle.


I am leaning towards SMS because although I will certify, it is not the end all and be all of taking the course for me, and I think ( based on course outlines) that the SMS course is more in depth and more complete.

Opinions anyone?

[HamiltonBirthRevolution]

In part, it's abot what you can afford at the moment. If the Seattle course is financially bearable for you and you feel it will be a worhtwhile course, by all means, go for it!

I am going to DONA course that's being held at The Farm in Tennessee in two weeks. The trainers are from up here in Ontario, and I was originally supposed to do their standard weekend long course for $375CDN, but not enough women were available at one time to run the course. Since I had heard of this particular trainer's reputation and wanted to train with her, when she gave me a shortlist of upcoming trainings, The Farm retreat training was amongst them.

Ina May herself was originally scheduled to speak at the training, but a scheduling change is preventing that. Though, we will have Pamela, who appears in Ina May's "Guide To..." and was with Ina May at the founding of the commune, he birth centre and the midwifery assistant's school.

Pretty exciting stuff for me!

This course is $420USD and transportation is extra (and only 8 out of 16 spots in the course come with dorm placement, so some women will be paying a reasonable daily fee to be billeted with a Summertown family). There are a number of women from the area going and we're arranging a car pool, so that will drastically reduce our travel costs.

I will be certifying through DONA, as is my prefereance.

I am a member of CAPPA Canada and did my postpartum course through them ($350 CDN, weekend course, approx 16 hours). I wll be certifying through them for my postpartum. I think they have an option for certifying when you've taken a training via another organization, if you are concerned about certification possibilities.

[tlcdoula]

I hope I can remember the answers correctly - it has been awhile since I certified.

How much did or will your LS Course cost you? DONA $300 and CAPPA $275
Where and when did you take it? I took my DONA training in Madison, WI and my CAPPA training I did as a distance course
How was the course structured? Weekend, full day, ongoing? The DONA training was a Friday through Sunday event and my CAPPA training was on my own time.
How many hours was it total? Honestly I don't remember. I know my DONA training was more hours.
Are you certified and through what organization? DONA and CAPPA

I was trained through DONA, Debra Pascali-Bonaro (sp?) was the trainer. It was a weekend, for about $375. The workshop was absolutely incredible!

I do not want to discourage you, at all, however I think you may want to consider what is taught in both classes. Remember- what we doulas do is not medical, technical, etc, its really more about compassion and intuition. Understanding labor, understanding options particularly nonmedicinal comfort techniques, etc, is what you really need to learn. Cultural competency, birth terminology, and local birth practices knowledge will definately benefit you and these are things you can build upon independantly.

For me, as soon as I went to my first birth I knew I was called to midwifery and I am grateful I was able to get going witht that financially - I was able to enroll in midwifery school!!

good luck!

[loveslabor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunlit_mists How much did or will your LS Course cost you? Where and when did you take it? How was the course structured? Weekend, full day, ongoing? How many hours was it total? Are you certified and through what organization? ----------------------------------------------------------

I took a beginning midwifery course with Elizabeth Davis in San Anselmo, California. It was 8 Sundays, for 8 hours each Sunday, totalling 64 hours.

She offers it several times a year. I believe it coust around $850.

I am not certified, but plan on doing so through ICEA, but the class is accepted by all my local hospitals as full doula training.

I'm really glad that I took the long course so I would have additional knowledge and Elizabeth is just wonderful. I hope to take her advanced classes sometime this fall.

[MindOverLaborDoulas]

I took my DONA weekend training March '06 and it cost $300 in Virginia. This was for 20 hours (but only written up for 16 ). It did not include anything other than sitting and listening to the trainer and a pitcher of water w/ disposable cups. We did 5 or six role play situations the whole time.
At the time I was pleased pretty much (PM if you have questions about that one! ).
I talked to a Doula a couple of weeks ago that attended one in Pittsburgh, PA in April or May and was absolutely thrilled with it. It cost $275 and included all food and lodging in a convent! They were able to stay together and bond and network and gab the whole weekend.
I do not know if I will continue on with my certification (again PM me) but I do know that if I do get certified, then I will not go through getting recertified.

[HamiltonBirthRevolution]

MindOver Labour, I had a similar reaction to my postpartum class. It was nothing that I hadn't heard before and I felt the entire thing was dumbed down. I feel that the course left me less prepared to run a pp doula biz than it should have.

I've heard that the weekend course taught by the trainer I'm doing the retreat with was amazing, though. A local doula described the event as transformative and inspirational. So, I'm looking forward to the retreat version at The Farm!

I also know how you feel about cert and re-cert issues. I feel like it's important to go for my labour cert, but I've also heard the getting the required sigs on the evals from PCP/Delivering OBs can be difficult.

I'm ambivalent about the certification for the pp training. I think I'll go for another few months before I decide.

It seems that the training would be important to have down as a basis for your education, but self education and ongoing edecation are things I'm naturally interested in. As well, the really important thing for most clients won't be the number of letters after your name, but the way they feel with you and the trust factor you can build with them. It's the same in the corporate world too: specific education and Uni degrees don't count for nothing if the boss likes you and has faith that you will do the job well.

[MindOverLaborDoulas]

Not to highjack the thread, but it is true that letters do not really mean that much. I know that there are other Doulas on here that have never been certified.. it is not a reflection of your skills.
For instance, I have 2 Bachelor of Science degrees. All that proves is that I was able to survive college while being pregnant twice, being a single mother, then getting married and I am sorta sane!
The training did leave me totally unprepared for owning a Doula business. It really only taught me to be a good listener and to make sure that I help empower women to have the birth that they want.

HBR~ From everything that I have ever read and heard.. it would kick a** to go to The Farm!!
Good Luck sunlit_mists!

[tlcdoula]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MindOverLaborDoulas I took my DONA weekend training March '06 and it cost $300 in Virginia. This was for 20 hours (but only written up for 16 ). It did not include anything other than sitting and listening to the trainer and a pitcher of water w/ disposable cups. We did 5 or six role play situations the whole time. At the time I was pleased pretty much (PM if you have questions about that one! ). I talked to a Doula a couple of weeks ago that attended one in Pittsburgh, PA in April or May and was absolutely thrilled with it. It cost $275 and included all food and lodging in a convent! They were able to stay together and bond and network and gab the whole weekend. I do not know if I will continue on with my certification (again PM me) but I do know that if I do get certified, then I will not go through getting recertified.

Wow, I am sorry to hear that your experience wasn't that great. Mine was fantastic and I left feeling very empowered. Even to this day I still look very fondly on the event. Mine included food (I can't recall exactly what it was, but I believe they had snacks in the morning and lunch one of the days - the other day we went out for lunch or dinner), but not lodging. I am surprised that yours included lodging. Honestly I have never heard of that for such a cheap rate.

If you wouldn't mind pm-ing me I would love to know why you are reconsidering certification.

[Abbydoula]

How much did or will your LS Course cost you?
375 CDN

Where and when did you take it?
Douglas College, New West BC

How was the course structured?
Weekend,

How many hours was it total?
??I don't remember the hours.
2 days

Are you certified and through what organization?
I am working on my certification throuh DONA

As you can see I am also in BC. I just took the course with Jalana as the instructor at the end of April. I really liked it, but I've been totally immersed in birth learning/birth giving (my two most recent babes) for the last 4 years. I have known this was my path about 6 months into my 2nd pregnancy...4.5 years ago now.

I don't know what my main reasoning is for certifying with DONA, but it seems to me that the majority of doulas around here (Vancouver) (or maybe just the ones I have contact with) are with DONA...maybe it is what I think potential clients are used to? Or maybe it is because my doula and another doula friend of mine are both certified through DONA and it is what I have information about?? I also think I am certifying because it is a set up structure by which to cover all of the bases as far as what-a-doula-should-know goes.

You don't NEED to be certified. This is just where I am comfortable. I know plenty of doulas who aren't certified and they are still highly qualified doulas.

In the lower mainland, with marketing and networking, you WILL find clients. Have you talked with the folks at Doula Services Association of BC? I JUST sent in my membership so I haven't connected there yet. Are you in the lower mainland?

All of this being said I don't think the Douglas College course taught me a lot I hadn't already considered a great deal (but like I said...4.5 years of immersion in labour, birth, breastfeeding etc.). I did get to see several videos I had not seen (the Russian water birth video, The Rebozo Way, Follow me Mum and another LOVELY birth of a midwife in Mexico).

I did get to talk with a wide variety of women with a wide variety of experience and plans.
But I did not have a lot of my business organisation questions answered. Though I do see in the class binder that there are enough samples of contracts, etc., to give me some ideas of what to put in my own contract.

What do you want to gain from the course? I think that is the most important question to ask as you make the decision on which course you will take. Are you taking it to learn as much as you can about birth or do you already know a lot? Is it because it is a required course for a job you plan to apply for (you can work as a post partum doula for a home health business, Drake Medox in Vancouver and they require a post-partum course. And there is another birth program that hires doulas "The South Birth Program" I think.)? There are some options for employment as a doula. I found that this doula course only touched on the options that are available to us for doula employment in Vancouver/lower mainland and pretty much gave very basic information on all things a doula will do. It didn't really show me how to run a business, it didn't really address the questions to which I was looking for answers. What it DID do was show me that I am on the right path and gave me confidence in the fact that I do have the ability to seek out the answers to those questions Flakey, maybe, but true

It was a great weekend though! How can I go wrong spending a weekend talking about birth with fairly like minded women? I found Jalana to be respectful and engaging and really excited about being a doula. Those things make for a great workshop!

What is on the Seattle course outline that is not on the outline for the BC class? I'm guessing they go into a lot more detail in Seattle. If you have little experience, then maybe Seattle is the way to go or if you find that you gain a lot of of the classroom experience. If you plan to learn most things on your own or already have a lot of experience, then why spend more money?
ALSO, I think taking a doula couirse IN the area in which you plan to practice is a wise decision just for networking reasons.

Abby

[sunlit_mists]

Thank you for the local information Abby, It helps alot, as did all the information from the other wonderful women who have responded.

Abby, I would love to talk to you more, as the douglas college course is one of the courses I have considered.

Would you be interested in meeting for Coffee sometime ( my treat) and chatting a bit more, it would be nice to have a friend who is doing what I am.

I am planning to certify with Dona, but my long term goal is Midwifery, and am considering the SMS course because of that.

Do you have an email I can have, to talk off the board?


Alli

[fearlessbirth]

How much did or will your LS Course cost you?
$375

Where and when did you take it?
Madison, FL in February '06

How was the course structured? Weekend, full day, ongoing?
It was a weekend course. 8 hrs/day for 3 days

How many hours was it total?
24

Are you certified and through what organization?
Not yet certified. Need one more 'qualifying' birth but I am applying for certification with DONA.

[Matrescence]

How much did or will your LS Course cost you?
Oh gosh... I think it was around $300-$325 something like that.
Where and when did you take it?
I took mine 4 years ago, the trainer used a church gym.
How was the course structured? Weekend, full day, ongoing?
Thurs, Fri & Saturday... full days
How many hours was it total?
16 or 18 I can't remember
Are you certified and through what organization?
Yes