What do you think of lay doulas?

[peacefulbabydoula]

I have no certification ..by choice.Other than the fact I don't feel i need validation by a piece of paper,I'm low on funds being a mom of 5.I have been mentored and trained by two midwifes in Virginia- one has 20+ years of midwifery with 300+births under her belt,the other is 12+ years as a doula with 7 years as a midwife(around 200+ births).I feel that I have received so much more knowledge and experience through their mentorship and attending births with them than i could ever get in a workshop and through a book.What is your opinion of a lay doula?Are you a lay doula?Do you run into any complications not being certified?Tell me all about it!
Ps.i am COMPLETELY open and honest with my clients on my training.I let them know I am not certified and I have been trained by other doulas/ and midwifes.(I don't actively bring up my training,but if its ask I do tell them)

[sunshine]

i'm a lay doula too. although when i trained w/ bradley method they considered their birth educator training doula training as well, but you didn't get a separate certification and i don't really agree with that idea.

i am considering doing training just to learn more (i think i'm well-qualified now, but always want to know more). most of my clients don't care or even know enough to really look into certification programs. they hire me because i'm very experienced and they hear good things and they just like me i guess. i've never run into any problems, but i don't think being certified is ever going to hurt you either. as doulas become more recognized and professionalized, i think it will probably become increasingly important. i already abide by industry ethical standards, but that is something important that comes w/ certification too.

for someone brand new, who wants to jump in and doula, i would probably recommend doing some training w/ a certification program. but for someone like you, i consider you a "trained" doula based on your work. i think it's ok that there are many paths.

[TO Doula]

I think a few of us have shared our stories and viewpoints in various certification threads.

I've been doula-ing on and off since 1989 when there was no certification. At this point I've been doing it as a career for six of the last eight years. I've done somewhere in the neighbourhood of 150 births, I think. Being uncertified has never held me back with clients.

I do feel it as a lack in interprofessional relationships. If I want to write, sit on boards, speak or be considered an "expert" I feel like I should have some credentials. So, I've signed up with CBI (just because I felt like the training could teach me some things I need to work on!) and will eventually have letters after my name.

My feeling overall is that doula training pretty much the cheapest and easiest to get "professional" credential there is. There is no oversight anywhere, and anyone can set up a certification organization tomorrow. It only means something if we all agree it does. So, I take it all with a grain of salt. I'm not going to judge another doula by whether she has this cert or that - I'm going to judge her by her words and actions.

In terms of letting clients know, I don't talk about it unless they ask. And they rarely ask. Why would you volunteer that information? There's no general requirement to be certified, although certain individual organizations, doula groups or hospitals may require it.

[Comfy]

For me personally, I like being a part of a large, supportive organization, and that is why I chose to certify with DONA. Someone hiring me, can look at their website, and see what I needed to do to become certified. I carry the initials very proudly after my name, and it gives me a personal sense of accomplishment.

However, having said that I don't think that being certified makes you a good doula or someone who is not certified a bad doula. In all of the doulas I have meet, if I had to choose one for my own birth (which is not going to happen, I'm just saying) the doula I would choose is not certified, had very little formal training, but had a lot of lay experience, and the heart and passion for it.

[mamato6]

I was a lay-doula for 8 years. I just certified this year, and the only reason I did it was because I'm in an area where people actually ask, and seem to care. I think I've mentioned it before, that by the time I had my workshop training, I think I only learned a couple of things - other than that, I could have taught the darn thing! So having the workshop and training doesn't mean much to me. A doula can be caring, and knowledgeable without the initials, and a doula with initials can be just the opposite (though I don't think I have met any like that :-)

[AmandaLow]

I would also be considered a lay doula, as I am uncertified. I did do the CAPPA Canada training and workshop, and have completed most of the written portion of the work, but am having some issues getting the births they require. I have been at 10 births, and so far only 2 actallu qualify for certification, although it has been almost the full 2 years since I started. I am now considering not certifying, and second a lot of the things Rean said about the organizations that certify.
Also, I have my own regrets for choosing CAPPA Canada, and if I had it to do over again would go a different route. I discovered this back at the workshop, but had already paid for everything so thought I may as well just continue. I am now not sure that I will do so, as I would have to apply for an extension and am not sure I would be granted one, and my heart isn't really it. I am now saving up for certifying through CBI, because, again like Rean said, the letters after my name are relevant to some in the doula community.
As far as clients go, I am honest about my lack of certification, but I also charge $200 - $400 less for my services, depending on the area I am working in. I also let my references speak for themselves, and I have 10 enthusiastic ones to choose from. As I get more births under my belt I am hoping my certification status becomes less relevant to potential clients.

[doulafava]

I'm not planning on recertifying, so will be a lay-doula. Maybe we can say direct entry doula or apprentice-trained doula? Lay-doula, like lay-midwife sounds kindof demeaning. I liked being certified when I was new, but even as a new doula I didn't learn much in the workshop and felt like I was mostly paying for the initials. I don't feel like I need it now - people are way more concerned about how many births I've attended than any recertification process.

Women have been acting as "doulas" long before anyone knew there was a profession or a greek word for what they were doing. IMO, uncertified doulas are just fine - they offer a nice counterpoint to what I think is the somewhat over professionalized world of certified doulas.

[MissMamey]

I am not one for needing a piece of paper. I do have credentials, but I don't feel that it has made me any better than when I didn't. The stuff that I learned at my 3 day training was nothing that I hadn't already read about or honestly thought about. Being a doula is just support for women while they are in labor. The women who helped out in the colonial days didn't need any more knowledge than just to love the mother they were taking care of. With that said, I don't feel like having credentials is a bad thing, I just feel that it isn't necessary for the work that I do. Especially since most doulas are very adamant about only providing emotional and physical support during labor, and nothing medical. Why do you need a piece of paper that says you can rub someone's back or give them a drink of water?

[DoulaCBE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissMamey Why do you need a piece of paper that says you can rub someone's back or give them a drink of water?

I do so much more than that during labor.

While some doulas are there to provide massage, water, and just generally hand hold, others are there to help their clients achieve specific goals and have specific skills and or training or certification that helps them do so.

I've helped turn posterior babies with movement and positioning. I've helped moms get babies under the pubic bone when a vacuum or forceps was presented as the only viable options.

I'm a doula who is in this to not only help families emotionally and physically, I'm there to help direct the outcome of their birth in any possible way I can. They've hired me specifically for the skill set I have acquired to help them achieve their goals.

I don't think that certification is the only way to build these skills, but some of them I did indeed acquire from the training or certification process.

[sunshine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doulafava I'm not planning on recertifying, so will be a lay-doula. Maybe we can say direct entry doula or apprentice-trained doula? Lay-doula, like lay-midwife sounds kindof demeaning. I liked being certified when I was new, but even as a new doula I didn't learn much in the workshop and felt like I was mostly paying for the initials. I don't feel like I need it now - people are way more concerned about how many births I've attended than any recertification process. Women have been acting as "doulas" long before anyone knew there was a profession or a greek word for what they were doing. IMO, uncertified doulas are just fine - they offer a nice counterpoint to what I think is the somewhat over professionalized world of certified doulas.

the language we are using doesn't seem adequate to describe the differences. to me a lay doula or direct entry or apprentice trained doula would not have done any certification process. i don't think a certified doula becomes "un"certified just because she no longer pays the dues to the certifying org. your training doesn't disappear. i don't have a better alternative term though. maybe something like cpm / cnm, different titles to denote the different ways to becoming a doula, but not a hierarchy w/ certified on top.

[DoulaYvonne]

I've stated this before, a doula with zero training who hangs out her shingle and calls herself a doula is doing her clients and herself a disservice.

A doula who has gone through a training and is self motivated to continually learn and improve upon her techniques is a doula, plain and simple.

The piece of paper is only as good as the individual behind it.

Some of us are, or were, or will be certified at some point in our career and we all have a myriad of reasons for seeking certification. Training and education, not the credential, is what separates true doulas from those that don't care about the profession and their clients.

[MissMamey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoulaCBE I've helped turn posterior babies with movement and positioning. I've helped moms get babies under the pubic bone when a vacuum or forceps was presented as the only viable options.

You can read this in any midwifery book, or doula book out there. It does not take a certification process. If you type in posterior baby into google, you can also find the information out there. I think certification is just fine, but I don't feel that it makes you any better than if you are not.

[toricaswell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoulaCBE I don't think that certification is the only way to build these skills, but some of them I did indeed acquire from the training or certification process.

we all agree here. see

it is a personal decision.

i don't plan to certify. i've been to the dona training, and have all their requirements filled except giving them my cash.

some people feel more comfortable having letters behind their name to make their doula services seem more professional. to me, doulaing is something anyone can do- my knowledge and experience make me better at it not capable of it.
i see little need for quality control among doulas- in the way of certification the way i do for hcps.
a woman chooses a doula based on personality and the things we generally offer are simple and directed by the mother anyways.
if a doula is constantly spouting off information to her client- i think she's doing her a disservice. i see it much more effective to meet a mom where she's at, give her the tools and resources to get the information she needs to make the choice that is right for her. spoon feeding her what to ask for or say doesn't empower her. knowing how to help a baby turn ect are wonderful things to know- but by no means makes or breaks a doula imo.
you don't hear about that baby that died because the doula ________ , or didn't ______ .

[DoulaCBE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissMamey You can read this in any midwifery book, or doula book out there. It does not take a certification process. If you type in posterior baby into google, you can also find the information out there. I think certification is just fine, but I don't feel that it makes you any better than if you are not.

You can find most anything in a book or online if you try hard enough.

We teach Rebozo methods in our doula workshop, we also teach methods to aide in pushing etc. So I learned those skills at the very start of my doula journey. I didn't wait until I had the problem not know what to do, go research it for the next birth, etc. But no one knows everything to start so there were other things that I learned on my own.

My comment that you quoted was more a reply to the "doulas just rub backs and get water" which I find kinda unsettling as I'm a doula who does so much more.

[MissMamey]

I hope I didn't sound like I was criticizing you. Sometimes I get frustrated, because all I hear is that doulas are only supposed to help with the physical and emotional being of the mother during labor. There seems to be so much stuff that is decided to be "out of the scope of practice" for a doula. I am constantly being told that doulas shouldn't do anything else that would be considered medical. Homeopathics, herbal suggestions, aroma therapy use, there seems to be a lot that we are not supposed to do. At the workshop I attended, I learned rebozo use, and pushing techniques, so there is a lot more that I do for mothers than just rub backs and give water. Is it the training we receive that makes us better or the experience that we gain from all of the births that we attend? But what it really comes down to is the support that we give them. I think that is the most important thing that we, as doulas, do for our clients. This does not need to be taught, we were all drawn to this profession, because we already know how to do this and want to do this for people. I know that you are a wonderful and knowledgeable doula and always enjoy reading your posts because you have experienced a lot of births