Continuing Education for Doulas
In a profession of ever changing information, keeping your skills and
knowledge current is essential to your practice!
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Continuing education as a doula allows you to professionally grow, while expanding your knowledge and understanding. You will continue learning through presentations, classes, workshops and conferences, all relevant to client care within the doula profession. Your doula organization will have requirements for your re-certification. The steps to quality may include attending additional programs, presentations and/or workshops that qualify for continuing education. You may also find classes and training opportunities by searching online or by contacting your local doula association's website or other birthing community affiliates.
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Local Support
In Edmonton, Alberta we are fortunate to have a large community of birth professionals working with families. Becoming a member of the Doula Association of Edmonton, and the Association For Safe Alternatives In Childbirth (ASAC) are great starting places to connect with our birth community. Who knows, you may just find members of your new doula practice, or a trusted friend with whom you can call upon for backup labour support!
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Carl Folke Sahlin, Women in Regional Costume, Maya Indians, Yucatan, Mexico, watercolor, Smithsonian American Art Museum,
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Rebozo for Labour and Birth
In many cultures around the world, rebozos have timelessly been used by pregnant and birthing people. They traditionally were used to aid as comfort measures, to offer relaxation, to ease labour and relieve back pain, while conserving a birthing parents energy. Each community that uses the Rebozo has their own understanding and sacredness around it and its uses For many Indigenous people the Rebozo is a symbol of resilience and surviving the genocide.
We, at Full Circle Birth Collective heard the concerns raised by Angeles Mayte Noguez Acolt and Montserrat Olmos Lozano, both Mexican Tutunaku birth workers in their call to stop culturally appropriating the use of the Rebozo when not of cultural decent. We value their advocacy on how to appropriately respect the traditions and sacredness of the Rebozo, and thank them for doing the work. We respect these sacred traditions and encourage our students to support indigenous sources for continued learning; being mindful and aware of appropriation of culture or tradition for profit. In the past we shared this wisdom with others with the intent of teaching doulas ways to supporting birthing families, and we are deeply sorry. Moving forward, in awareness of perpetuating culture appropriation and the damage and hurt this has caused many, we are stopping the facilitation of the teachings of the Rebozo . We are working on self reflecting and decolonizing, how we engage with the world. We at Full Circle Birth Collective are diving into learning and unlearning practices that are appropriations of other cultures and truly hearing the voices of those who have been affected. |
Sonya is a seasoned labour and postpartum doula, a certified doula instructor, a placenta encapsulation specialist, and certified childbirth educator through CAPPA. She has worked with hundreds of mothers and families, embarking alongside them on their birth journey, for the past 23 years.
Sonya believes birth is a transformation of self and that all families deserve individualized care to support their growth as parents. Those of us who take on the facilitating doula role also require support and guidance to become the best they can be, for the families they are privileged to serve. Sonya is a member of the Doula Association in Edmonton, a member of ASAC and CAPPA, as well as a founder and the sole proprietor of Full Circle Birth Collective. She has attended many midwifery and birth related training classes, seminars and workshops in Canada and the USA. Her education of the Rebozo was received by Gena Kirby and her experiences in her time at "Maternidad La Luz", serving many families from Juarez, Mexico.