The accreditation process is more than just a ‘tick-box’ exercise and it’s not about getting four births and/or four postnatal experiences under your belt as quickly as you can. It is a way for you to grow and develop as a doula with the support of an experienced doula, whilst finding your feet and discovering what kind of a doula you are, and want to be. There are no official regulations for doulas anywhere in the world, instead different doula organisations have set their own requirements for what training and level of experience is needed to call their doulas certified or accredited.
At the BirthBliss Academy, we have created our own accreditation programme and we really want this to be a straight-forward and transparent process for all the doulas that choose to sign up to it. We want you to feel well supported, not just in your work as a doula, but also with running your own business and all that this entails. We will be collecting feedback regularly from the doulas that complete the process and the programme will very likely evolve and improve over time. We are super excited about working with you and to offer you a way to stay with the BirthBliss Academy from the very beginning of your doula journey until you have reached the level of becoming an Accredited Doula.
Requirements for doula accreditation:
We would like to see you support at four births for birth doula accreditation, which would include a minimum of two antenatal sessions, an on-call period and the birth.
We would like to see you support four families for postnatal doula accreditation.
It might be possible to include previous births and postnatal jobs that you have supported at in the last 12 months, if we are able to get a feed-back form completed by the person you supported.
For your benefit, we would like you to have a range of different experiences, but it is not necessary – what you learn from each client matters more.
For the accreditation process, you can support one friend or family, although everyone that you chose to support will teach you something and add to your growth.
We would like you to speak with your Doula Coach after each experience so that you can take forward what you have learnt into your next doula job.
Ideally, we would like this process to take between 6 to 24 months – always keeping communication channels open with your Doula Coach.
The total cost for accreditation is £225 for the birth accreditation and £225 for the postnatal accreditation. If you're doing both at the same time, the cost is £400. There is an enrolment fee to pay before you start your accreditation, which is included in the full cost. This fee is £45 each for birth and postnatal accreditation and £40 if you're signing up for both. You pay the remaining fee (£45 per job) to your Doula Coach directly before each debriefing session.
All the feedback forms will be kept online and we will give you access to everything that you need when you sign up to the programme.
We are really looking forward to having you join us and working with you to achieve Accredited Doula status!