Certification as a Childbirth Educator or Doula – Yes or No?

There is much controversy around training and certification as a childbirth educator and doula.  Which organization shall I choose?  Is certification even necessary?  Will certification make a different to my clients?  How will certification benefit me?

All of these very legitimate questions need to be answered one by one by the individual.  In choosing an organization through which to become certified, it is important to thoroughly investigate the organizations being considered.  Ask the following questions:

• How long has this organization been established?
• Does the mission and vision of the organization fit with your personal philosophy?
• Is it an organization, a 501c3 non-profit, or for profit company?
• Does the organization have as its foundation evidence-based information?
• What is the process of certification, including fee structure?
• If this is a membership organization, what are the member benefits?

Once you have decided on an organization with which to align yourself, accessing the benefits of certification to you is vital.  Certification indicates to your clients and colleagues that you have cared enough to go the extra steps to read, learn, and take the exam for certification.  This puts you ahead of those not seeking certification – not every person is a natural teacher or labor support assistant and training and certification gives you that edge.  Along with certification comes recertification and the need to attain continuing education.  If a person is not certified, there is no compelling reason to learn new things.  They can become stagnate and dull, teaching outdated with materials and information.

In the US, there is no standardized training, certification or licensing for childbirth education as there is for nursing.  Individual hospitals or birth centers may have their own policies that dictate who teaches expectant families.  For example, a hospital may mandate that only certified childbirth educators teach the childbirth classes and only lactation consultants can teach breastfeeding classes.  On the other hand, some facilities do not require that their childbirth educators be certified; the only requirement is that they are nurses.  However, nursing schools are typically not teaching how to teach, therefore an increasing number of nurses (and non-nurses who wish to teach) seek out programs that can teach them how to teach the information for a variety of teen and adult learners. 

Some organizations or programs take those with little or no maternal/child health background and provide a rigorous path of external reading, observation of other educators, workshops, and other educational work.  Other organizations and programs require a certain level of expertise prior to entry into their paths of study, such as labor/delivery nursing experience, midwifery, doula training or similar experience.

Affiliation and/or certification by an organization often carries with it adherence to an established Scope of Practice.  A scope of practice for childbirth education or doula work can indicate boundaries or limitations set by that organization, often with evidence-based information to back up those boundaries or limitations. Again, there is no standardization.  So no, technically, one does not have to be trained or certified.  However, it is common for expectant parents to ask for background training and certification – it shows a commitment to the professionalism of the field. Additionally, nurses who have been teaching from a set childbirth education curriculum find training and certification exciting for themselves and they then share this excitement and enthusiasm with their students.  This increases “patient satisfaction” and increases popularity of the hospital or birth center programs.

Doulas may or may not choose to become certified due to initial outlay of cost.  However, being able to advertise that you are a certified doula with a certain organization does raise awareness of the level of expertise and quality of labor support.  While many certification programs for both doulas and childbirth educators may include in-person workshops (2-4 days in length), many organizations now are piloting online training workshops that can be done in the comfort of one’s own home.  This not only saves time, travel but also money on the peripheral expenses associated with training.  Along with online training may come an offer of mentoring, which can truly help bridge the educational gap between in-person workshops and online offerings.  These online training opportunities are also attractive to those living in remote areas, countries other than the US, and in areas not typically served by in-person workshops.  While online offerings may not be the preferred method of learning for some individuals, it can certainly increase the number of childbirth educators and doulas, and thus increase the information and support to expectant families around the globe.

Below is a table that can be used as a summary of what has been presented in this blog.  The ultimate decision is up to you.  Want to compare childbirth education certifications?  Click here.

	Certification	No Certification
Specific, targeted learning	Yes	No
Cost for starting to teach	Yes, training	No
Adherence to Scope of Practice	Maybe	No
Benefit of aligning with recognized organization	Yes	No
Recognition by other birth professionals	Yes	Possible
Recognition by clients	Yes	Possible
Membership $ for organization	Yes	No
Need for recertification	Yes	No
Need for regular continuing education (CE)	Yes	No
Support from organization	Yes, perhaps	No
Access to specific CE	Yes, perhaps	Possible