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• We've been training doulas online for years with high marks from our students! Learn on-the-go; perfect for tech-savvy students with busy schedules. No travel or childcare is required.
• In person trainings are back in 2023! Check out our Schedule tab for locations.
• The online course is designed to be completed across the span of 1 semester or roughly 3 months, with guided support from your educator. If in person, the pre-requisite videos + 4-day workshop is an intensive version of the online material.
• After completing your training, it's time to connect with your local community! You can now work with clients as a birth doula, postpartum doula, or reproductive health support doula.
• As you get busy building your doula practice, connect with your DTI community often. We offer virtual support 3x per month as well as special workshops every month.
• Students benefit from returning to their course modules as often as they like during the 12-month program. The online course is provided inside our private community. Video lessons are captioned and audio files are transcribed.
• After training is complete, all students access our Certifying DTI Doulas group and supportive Zoom calls 3x per month with one of our experienced educators.

Review the content outline HERE

• When you register for any DTI training, you're signing up for a 12-month program.
• Online, your training course opens on the start date, guiding you through 3 months of modules.
• During this time, you'll have access to a dedicated educator who will support you and your fellow cohort members with monthly Zoom calls and weekly discussion starters.
• If you attend in person, your 4-day workshop is the equivalent to the 3 months of modules. Same content, different format.
• After the 4-day workshop or after the 3-month online course, all students continue receiving weekly support from our team of educators. We host mentor Q&A Zoom calls 3x per month and answer questions daily on our community group. See you there!

DTI's program is unique in that it offers each participant 12 months of guided support. After you complete your semester of training (or 4-day workshop) with a small group and dedicated educator, you will transition to our certification group for virtual calls 3x every month with our larger community and educator team. We are here to guide you as you begin this important work!

To become a DTI-certified full-spectrum doula:

• Complete the training of your choice.
• Build a community resource list to include other doulas, childbirth educators, healthcare providers and more. The more you refer, the more you can expect to receive referrals in return.
• Complete your required reading list spread out over the 12 months, to continue to deepen knowledge gained during your training.
• With permission from the instructor, observe a childbirth education class or series. A live class for parents in your local community is preferred.
• With permission from the facilitator, observe a newborn feeding class or new parent support group.
• Infant and Child CPR certification
• Document support for 3 clients as the primary doula. Must occur during the 12 months you are in the program. This can include 3 labor doula supports. You can also choose to support a different reproductive health event, such as abortion care, miscarriage or loss, or support during fertility treatments. Virtual support counts!
• Submit a short journal entry from the doula's perspective on each of the labor or reproductive health clients you support.
• Document postpartum care for at least 2 clients after the birth of a baby. This can be done as daytime or overnight shifts in the client's home. If providing virtual support, keep a time log of your work.
• Write a business strategy outline as you carve out how you would like to be practicing as a doula in 1 year, 5 years, and beyond.
• Write a short essay describing your role as a full-spectrum doula
• Write a short essay on how you see yourself making an impact as a doula and in the larger community.
• No later than 12 months after your cohort launch date, submit documentation for all of the above using our Certification Guide.
• Guidance for all of these requirements is provided through our experienced Team of Educators!

• Certification is not required to be a great doula.
• Doulas are special non-clinical healthcare providers. Licensure is not required and certification is a personal choice. At DTI we believe it's imperative to push back on efforts to regulate doulas.
• Doulas wear many hats and there are different ways to work in the field. Sometimes trained DTI doulas don't complete certification and still find satisfying work as a doula. Still others use it to springboard into other areas of reproductive health. The possibilities are numerous!

• We offer a 6-month extension for a fee. If your 12-month time period expires without requesting an extension, your program is complete.
• However, you can maintain your DTI membership for as long as you would like to. We have monthly and annual renewal options.
• If you find you would like to pick up your work again at another time in the future, you will need to start fresh and register for a current, upcoming training group.

We strongly recommend using a written document (contract) and setting a fee for your services with your very first clients, immediately following your training. Developing a professional practice provides the highest rate of long-term sustainability for our doulas. However, this approach is a personal choice. DTI advocates for autonomy for the doula to develop a practice which feels authentic to themselves and the communities they serve.

• If you already feel certain you will not be practicing as a birth or reproductive health doula in the near future, we offer postpartum only trainings.
• If you already feel certain you will not be practicing as a postpartum or reproductive health doula in the near future, we offer birth only trainings.
• Check out our 2023 Schedule for birth-only or postpartum-only training dates. These trainings are offered exclusively online.

• If you complete all of the requirements listed above, you are welcome to submit your materials for review and approval at any time. Students must allow up to 10 weeks for the review and final approval process.
• Most participants find they need the 12 months to become established in their work and create a thriving, sustainable practice.

• Yes! Doulas have the freedom to work anywhere they choose, including internationally.
• To work as a doula, licensure is not required. Doulas do not have one central regulatory body. Given that our work is one hundred percent non-clinical, regulation is not required. Certification is a professional marker that many doulas choose to pursue, but it should not be a requirement before working as a doula.

• Yearlong support! Many of the doula trainings offered are just a short workshop without support for the journey beyond. Signing up with DTI affords you a 12-month program including a comprehensive curriculum with virtual support from your community every step of the way.
• Rigorous and current. DTI doulas are experienced, well-educated and well-prepared to serve all pregnant and birthing families through the lens of cultural humility and reproductive justice.
• Giving back is built into the model. Each registrant becomes part of a greater purpose. As an organization DTI is committed to offering a minimum of 60 scholarships per year. We meet this goal through our pay-it-forward model, allotting 25% of all full paying members' tuition fees into the scholarship fund.
• Practical. Once earned, certification is lifetime. Life happens! If you need to step away from doula work to have a baby of your own, or for any other reason, once earned your certification will not lapse. All doulas who train with us are able to stay plugged in and current in the field through either monthly or annual DTI membership.
• Autonomous. We strongly believe in autonomy for all persons, including doulas. The doula role is non-clinical and should never be regulated or licensed. We have complete confidence in the training and support our doulas have access to in order to be effective change-makers in today’s reproductive health climate.

• The DTI full-spectrum program is $1697 online or $1897 in person. This provides 3-in-1 training and includes a year of membership (a $240 value). Many doula trainings are just a training — a short workshop without support for the journey beyond. Signing up with DTI affords you a 12-month program including a comprehensive curriculum with virtual support from your community every step of the way.
• Each registrant becomes part of a greater purpose. As an organization DTI is committed to offering a minimum of 60 scholarships per year. We meet this goal through our pay-it-forward model, allotting 25% of all full paying members' tuition fees into the scholarship fund.
• Aside from the cost associated with purchasing books from the reading list, DTI's program is all-inclusive. There are no hidden fees or confusing processes to maintain your status as a doula. It's a misconception that DTI's program costs more. Add the total of separate workshops and required fees together from other programs, and DTI's full-spectrum offering is roughly the same.
• DTI offers a full team of experienced educators to support you after the training as you work on carving out your unique path as a doula. The full-spectrum program offers support for doulas working in a variety of ways and settings. If you plan to build a business around your services, you will have several potential revenue streams.

• 3-month plan: Carries 10% interest
• $1697 + $169.70
• $622 for 3 months = $1,866.70

• 6-month plan: Carries 20% interest
• $1697 + $339.40
• $339.40 for 6 months = $2,036.40

• 12-month plan: Carries 30% interest
• $1697 + $509.10
• $183.84 for 12 months = $2,206.10

Yes! Learn more and apply HERE.

• We believe families deserve compassionate, evidenced-based support at all stages of life—no matter their gender, race, religion, class or sexual orientation. Together, we are cultivating culturally humble communities that reimagine the role of reproductive work.
• Learn more about our mission & values.

• DTI’s goal is to open the door wider to include as many different people as possible in our community. One way to do this is to use inclusive language throughout our course materials. Culturally humble educators and doulas can and should take the time to listen to the experience of all people as unique individuals to learn about their needs regarding learning environments, care providers, birth locations, and more.
• A doula’s role is to affirm all pregnant people. Using the language “birthing families,” “pregant person” and “birthing person” when speaking to groups includes all and excludes no one. Our entire society is set up to affirm two genders when in fact, gender exists on a spectrum. Gender and sex are not the same thing. Clients who benefit from and prefer using gendered terms remain free to use this language with their doulas and other providers.

• DTI stands for autonomy. We believe in human rights. Therefore, protecting choice is imperative. Reproductive rights combined with social justice is defined as “the right to have a child, not have a child, and to parent children in safe, healthy environments.” To reach the point of having a choice, rights must come first.
• We are always learning, growing, and studying about the larger healthcare system and how doulas can work most effectively as a part of the solution.