The stillbirthday Birth & Bereavement Doula® certification is an affordable, wonderful way for you to establish a community outreach, doula business or ministry. Here are the tasks to certification:
Online Training Portion
8 open book exams, each corresponding with a designated file. Each open book exam has approximately 10 questions.
One
Complete study of gestation and conception, integrated with exposure to personal, spiritual, cultural responses to pregnancy and to pregnancy loss, including an exposure to pre- perinatal psychology. Participants will be exposed to the importance of identifying opportunities to provide holistic, preperinatal and early obstetrical care.
Learners will be able to:
Combine prenatal specific information with thanatology.
Identify connections between cultural, religious and personal values a patient may place on conception and gestation and the values the patient may place on prenatal loss.
Describe how value system identification contributes to the construction of a patient-appropriate, holistic and integrated response.
Identify currently unmet needs by those receiving prenatal care.
Discuss how to apply a holistic approach to their patients.
Identify stillbirthday principles of service.
Two
Study of prenatal development through weekly physical changes, coupled with identifying the personal, spiritual and cultural variables in a mother’s emotional response to pregnancy and to pregnancy loss at any point in pregnancy. Participants will be exposed to the importance of identifying opportunities of providing wraparound support to any mother experiencing pregnancy loss at any point in pregnancy.
—Prenatal bonding per month, especially for known fatal diagnosis and “rainbow” babies
—How miscarriage and stillbirth are like and unlike live birth emotionally and physically/signs & stages of labor in all trimesters
Learners will be able to:
Interpret patient responses at any point during pregnancy when prenatal demise has been determined.
Modify their treatment approach of the patient depending on their response.
Three
Study of the processes of childbirth, of medicinal options for childbirth, and how these compare and contrast during birth in any trimester.
Hospital admission through discharge:
—Medical options and why some are different in loss
—Special permissions, “releasing” baby, funeral planning
Four
Study of the processes of childbirth, of non-medical options for childbirth, and how these compare and contrast during birth in any trimester.
Non-medical options:
—General and specific to loss-including homebirth and emergencies
—Birth plans for all options and methods (medical and nonmedical combined)
Learners will be able to:
Discuss the processes of full term childbirth.
Describe similarities and differences in non-medical support provided for full term birth through assistance in any trimester and during pregnancy loss.
Five
Study of emergency care of infant after birth, how to provide wraparound support for family.
—Prematurity info – the experience of baby and family: live miscarriage, fatal diagnosis
—NICU info – the experience of the baby and family: fatal diagnosis, one living multiple
—Multiples info – when any or all of the babies die
Learners will be able to:
Identify emergency situations that require NICU care.
Discuss the various outcomes from having a child in the NICU.
Specify the various individuals involved in the NICU bereavement process.
Describe the similarities and differences in the emotional and/or grieving process for all individuals experiencing a situation where a child is in the NICU
Six
Study of postpartum care for newborn and mother, compare and contrast this postpartum care in any trimester.
Postpartum Care:
—Immediate physical postpartum care – lochia, breast milk, etc.
—Emotional postpartum care- enlisting family support, navigating medical records/results, etc.
Learners will be able to:
Discuss the physical and emotional process during the postpartum experience following a live birth.
Explain the postpartum physical and emotional process of a patient who experiences the loss of a baby full term.
Describe the similarities and differences in live birth and stillbirth outcomes.
Discuss how they impact the patient’s grief. Identify methods to assist the patient through the grieving process.
Seven
Study of postpartum emotional care, compare and contrast this postpartum care in any trimester. Explore emotional needs of each family
member after pregnancy loss, and explore emotional needs of all professionals who provide the family care during antepartum, intrapartum, or postpartum.
Grief Education and Support:
—Immediate grief – parents, siblings, SBD doula
—Upcoming grief – milestones, future pregnancies, etc.
Learners will be able to:
Identify numerous tangible and nontangible tools to help a patient through the postpartum and grief processes.
Identify methods to manage compassion fatigue and provider grief.
Eight
Practical, ethical approaches of integrated knowledge gained into credentialed SBD doula, or into any already established professional position, including as a nurse, ultrasound technician, midwife, doctor, EMT, chaplain, social worker, perinatal hospice, or any other profession that may work directly with families during the pre-perinatal, antepartum, intrapartum, or early postpartum period.
While the first 7 chapters have a stronger, didactic, theory approach to each of the many significant aspects of care, this final chapter pulls every chapter together with real, practical application. It is the culmination and offers you the confidence to apply these concepts and tools into your role.
Learners will be able to:
Employ reasonable applications, approaches and methods of providing patient-specific, informed care in any pregnancy and birth situation or outcome.
“Final Tasks”
In addition to the all of the materials above, there are three documents required for certification, that we collectively refer to as “Final Tasks.” You will submit your Final Tasks in the mode we provide you in your student materials. The Final Tasks consist of:
Two Book Reviews
The student will select two titles from our published reading list. We have a wonderful selection to choose from, but you only need to select two books to read and review. It is not required that you purchase these books; if you are interested in building a lending library for your clients you might choose to. Otherwise you can choose titles that are available from your local library. If there is a title that the student has a particular relationship with and would like a substitute for their review, they can simply check in with Heidi Faith on the substitute.
Your book review will be a simple synopsis of the text: identify the intended audience, the core message the book conveys, what you gained from the book.
If you are pursuing nursing contact hours, one of the two books for your review must be “Companioning at a Time of Perinatal Loss” as outlined in the book review page.
Community Project
The primary message of the Community Project is that you are not alone as you are serving families. Compiled as a page on your website or as a printed brochure, you will compile resources that will be relevant to the families you’ll be serving, from fertility clinics, birthing centers, midwives, chaplains, social workers, funeral homes, support groups and more. We help you with establishing your Community Project in the program. Ultimately, your Community Project will be a living document, always changing as resources for your community become available or change over time.
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