COURSE CURRICULUM
What will I actually learn on a doula course?
The BirthBliss Doula Academy course brings birth and postnatal doula training together in one programme.
You will learn about birth physiology, postnatal recovery, infant feeding, communication, trauma awareness and professional practice. Alongside that, we spend time looking at something that is harder to put into a syllabus, how you are with people.
Because knowing what to do matters. Knowing when to listen, when to offer something and when to leave space matters too.
Both our in person and online courses follow the same core curriculum and lead to the BirthBliss Diploma in Birth and Postnatal Doula Support.
BIRTH + POSTNATAL
One course covering both areas of doula support.
SAME CORE CURRICULUM
Choose to learn in person or online.
DIPLOMA
BirthBliss Diploma in Birth and Postnatal Doula Support on completion.
You might be wondering whether four days can really prepare someone to be a doula.
It is a fair question.
A doula course cannot teach you everything you will ever encounter. We would be wary of any course that suggested it could.
What good training can do is give you a strong foundation. It can help you understand birth and the postnatal period, recognise the boundaries of your role, practise listening and communication and begin to understand how you respond when things do not go to plan.It can also help you notice yourself.
Your assumptions, your reactions, the urge to fix something or offer an answer when perhaps what is needed is time, information or someone who is prepared to stay alongside.
That is why BirthBliss training combines knowledge with practical learning, discussion and reflection.You are not being taught a script for how to be a doula. You are developing the understanding to begin finding your own way of doing this work.
01
UNDERSTANDING DOULA SUPPORT
History and evidence, the doula role and boundaries, working with maternity professionals and knowing what sits within and outside the role.
05
INFANT FEEDING
Breast anatomy, lactation and milk production, positioning and attachment, feeding difficulties, breastfeeding and bottle feeding support.
02
PREGNANCY, LABOUR AND BIRTH
Birth physiology and anatomy, hormones, recognising labour and progress, stages of labour, birth settings, the third stage and the first hours after birth.
03
COMFORT, PAIN AND WHEN BIRTH CHANGES
Understanding labour pain, comfort measures, pain relief options, epidural support, caesarean birth and supporting families when plans change.
06
07
COMMUNICATION, RELATIONSHIPS AND TRAUMA AWARENESS
Listening, communication, difficult conversations, understanding the impact of previous experiences and offering support without fixing or directing.
LOSS AND DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES
Pregnancy loss, stillbirth, neonatal loss and difficult diagnoses. Boundaries of doula support and when specialist help is needed.
04
POSTNATAL DOULA SUPPORT
The early weeks, recovery and wellbeing, newborn care, practical and emotional support, working with partners and the wider family.
08
BEGINNING YOUR DOULA BUSINESS
Self employment, fees and packages, contracts, insurance, DBS, record keeping, on call, backup, finding clients and building a practice that works for you.
There is another part of the curriculum that is harder to put into a list.
Doula work is not only about what we know. It is also about how we are with someone when they are experiencing something life changing.
Learning what to do is only part of becoming a doula.
Throughout the course we return to seven qualities that influence how we support another person.
These ideas form the BirthBliss Compass.
They are woven through the course because doula work is not only about what we know. It is also about how we use that knowledge when we are invited into somebody else's experience.
The curriculum is the same. The way you experience it is different.
IN-PERSON
✓ Four days of learning with a small group (max. 8)
✓ Discussion and practical exercises
✓ Birth support techniques
✓ Group reflection and questions as they arise
✓ Printed course manual
✓ Doula Starter Kit
✓ Access to the online course afterwards
ONLINE
✓ Work through the same curriculum in your own time
✓ 145+ lessons, video and written
✓ Practical learning and reflective exercises
✓ Pause and revisit lessons
✓ Lifetime access
✓ Live Zoom Doula Days
✓ BirthBliss community
Am I expected to know all of this already?
No.
You do not need a medical background, previous birth experience or an existing knowledge of maternity care before you begin.
Aspiring doulas arrive at BirthBliss from very different backgrounds.
What matters more at the beginning is your willingness to learn, listen, reflect and remain curious.
From course to diploma
TRAINING
Complete the BirthBliss birth and postnatal doula curriculum.
REFLECTION
Complete the required course and reflective work.
DIPLOMA
Receive the BirthBliss Diploma in Birth and Postnatal Doula Support.
BEGIN WORKING
Start building experience and finding clients when you feel ready.
OPTIONAL CERTIFICATION
Continue into the BirthBliss Certification Programme if you would like structured support while gaining experience.
Your Diploma and Certification are not the same thing. The Diploma is awarded when you complete your BirthBliss training. Certification is an optional next stage where you work with families and continue reflecting on your practice with professional support.
A course built from experience
BirthBliss was founded by Kicki Hansard who has worked as a doula since 2002 and has been teaching doulas since 2005.
The course has developed through more than two decades of work with families, doulas, maternity professionals and educators. More than 1,500 doulas have now trained with Kicki.
FEDANT accredited
Recognised by The Doula Association of Ireland
Member of the European Doula Network
Could you see yourself doing this work?
You do not need to decide everything today.
Have a look at the two ways you can complete your BirthBliss training and choose the one that fits best around the way you learn and the life you already have.
Still unsure? Join a free taster session