Community-Based Doula Training Programs

ACU is hosting a national pilot program on establishing a sustainable, community-based doula training program to set your community health center (CHC) up for success! Doulas can contribute to improved maternal and infant outcomes and experiences by providing continuous support throughout pregnancy. However, varying roles and practices, prohibitive costs of training and certification, variances in insurance coverage, and insufficient funding are barriers that CHCs face when establishing these services. Join ACU’s pilot program to explore successful models from existing CHC programs that have successfully expanded their patient care offerings and workforce opportunities by developing a doula training program. These models will demonstrate how cross-training doulas as community health workers (CHW) or peer support specialists enables them to provide culturally-informed education and birthing support, assist with health insurance enrollment and care system navigation, address social drivers of health, build trust between patient and provider, and much more! You will learn about recruiting successful candidates, creating a community-informed training program, and upskilling and retaining perinatal team members over the course of monthly sessions. Your organization will leave the program with an actionable plan to build doula services into your patient offerings and expand your workforce.

For more information contact Sarah Gutema, Program Manager, at sgutema@clinicians.org.