[scheelimama]

I'm planning to begin my doula training soon and attend a conference in the next month or two. I figured I'd go with DONA since there are no federal guidelines yet for doulas and DONA is the most widely recognized. There is a training in a month and a half about 1.5 hours from me. But I just found out that there is a Birth Arts training right here where I live in a month. I checked out their website and it seems their requirements for certification are even more than DONA, which is fine with me. So, is there any reason you would go with one over the other?

 

[ldsapmom]

I went with DONA as I felt it was the most reputable for my area at the time (I think it probably still is the most well-known where I am).<br><br>
I don't know anything about Birth Arts. Maybe you could find some help at alldoulas.com?

 

[Veritaserum]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>scheelimama</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7224160"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">since there are no federal guidelines yet for doulas and DONA is the most widely recognized</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
I guess I'm confused as to why there would be federal guidelines for doulas. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yikes.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="EEK!"> More government involvement in birth is the <i>last</i> thing we need.<br><br>
I trained and certified with DONA. It was ok. I don't really have experience with any other programs to compare it to, though.

 

[scheelimama]

I'm just saying that there are no guidelines by which all doula training programs must abide, so basically, they could be teaching anything (not that they are). So, I'm not sure the general population would trust a certification by some organization they had never heard of. Make sense? DONA is very widely recognized, whereas many of the other organizations are not.

 

[Veritaserum]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>scheelimama</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/7228757"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I'm just saying that there are no guidelines by which all doula training programs must abide, so basically, they could be teaching anything (not that they are). So, I'm not sure the general population would trust a certification by some organization they had never heard of. Make sense? DONA is very widely recognized, whereas many of the other organizations are not.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
Oh, gotcha! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up"> Yes, that is why I chose DONA.

 

[herbanmama]

I chose DONA (over ALACE, which sounds very very good, I will perhaps attend a workshop on the side anyway) because I live in a very conservative area, and DONA seems to be trusted and recognized here, as other PP mentioned. Also, Penny Simkin is the trainer for the workshop I will be attending, so I figure I can't go wrong.