SMC Online Doula Training
Train as a SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion online. You will acquire full circle doula knowledge to improve infant and maternal health and gain the foundation and skills needed to be a confident, effective and professional doula.
- 4 Weeks
- Online
- Certificate Program
Overview
SMC Full Circle Doula Training program is the premier dual certification program for labor and postpartum doulas. It was created by Shafia M. Monroe in 2002 to improve birth outcomes in the Black/African American community and communities of color by honoring the legacy of the 20th century African American midwife, teaching birth culture, creating a circle of care, mothering the mother, and helping families celebrate their new baby.
SMC continues to be the lead doula training program for improving Black infant and maternal outcomes in the US. Since 2002, SMC has trained over 2,600 persons worldwide. Moreover, nearly 90% of trainees identify as African American/Black women and men, and persons of color.
Hybrid Learning Experience
SMC’s Online Doula Training is a combination of synchronous and structured asynchronous learning.
Asynchronous Structure
You learn on your own schedule without any real time instructor, however, specific assignments are due each week of the course. All course content – lessons, pre recorded video lectures and tutorials, tests and quizzes, homework and assignments can be accessed 24 hours a day from any digital device. This is the asynchronous learning component of the course.
Linear Modules
SMC training is linear, meaning you must complete the first week before you can proceed to the next week, and so on. You are required to log into your training four-times per week. There are assignment due dates of Wednesday and Friday of each week. Further, all coursework is expected to be completed by the end of the four week course.
Synchronous Learning Component
The synchronous Learning Component consists of a weekly live session where you will be able to interact with instructors and your peers. The weekly live online sessions require students and instructors to be online at the same time. All attendees must be online and connected to the internet during the live sessions.
The SMC Full Circle Doula Training will provide you with tools, skills, confidence, and know-how to begin your journey to lovingly providing perinatal doula care.
Training Schedule
SMC Doula Philosophy of Care, Black Midwives Prayer, Certification, Legacy of the Black Midwife, Requirements, Doula History, Racism and Health and more.
Reducing Infant Mortality, Midwifery Model of Care, Anatomy, Nutrition & Herbs, discomforts and comfort measures, documentaries, special guests, birth plan.
Physiology of Labor, Signs Labor, Stages of Labor, Black Birth Traditions, The Doula Bag, Reproductive Anatomy, The Doula Bag, Working With the Medical Team.
Understanding Postpartum, Postpartum Foods, Newborn Care, Breastfeeding, Business Development, Understanding Newborns, Mother Shower Blessing.
Evidenced-Based Curriculum
The SMC Full Circle Doula Training will provide you with tools, skills, confidence, and know-how to begin your journey to lovingly providing perinatal doula care.
The training manual is required to help you meet your certification and achieve the goals of the SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion training program. The manual is essential because it preserves the invaluable knowledge of the SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion philosophy.
A substantial portion of discussion topics, answers to the homework assignments, and to the final quiz are in the training manual. The training manual provides standard operating procedures for Full Circle Doula Care. It also serves as an ongoing resource after your training ends, saving you time from having to search for information. Utilizing the manual as an on-going resource can help build your expertise and business as an SMC Full Circle Doula Birth Companion.
Additional Training Information
The required reading materials form the foundation of this training. Please read all the materials and bring them with you to the training.
Required Reading List:
- SMC Full Circle Doula Philosophy, an abstract by Shafia M. Monroe Download PDF — 10-pages
- Mothering the Mother, Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing, by Shafia Monroe.
- Listen to Me Good, Life Story of an Alabama Midwife, by Margaret Charles Smith and Linda Janet Holmes
Required reading materials may be available at your local library and online at https://smile.amazon.com/.
Live sessions occur each Wednesday during the course from 11am PT – 2:30pm PT. Students are expected to:
- Attend all four live virtual sessions.
- To keep their camera on during the live classes.
- Not share their screen with non-members.
- Mute background noise.
- Have adequate lighting for sharing.
- Use a microphone and headset if needed or bluetooth device.
Our online training can work well for accommodating hearing-impaired students, as everything is written out, with the exception of live online sessions. Closed caption is active during the sessions and students are always welcome to bring interpreters to online or in-person training meetings.