Become the Doula You’re Meant to Be
Evidence-based, trauma-informed doula education rooted in reflection, inclusion, and lifelong professional growth.
Why Learn with
Doulaing The Doula
At DTD, we believe that nurturing begins with how we care for one another. Every course blends verified research, lived experience, and trauma-informed teaching methods. Our education is designed for all kinds of people in all kinds of bodies, honoring the complexity each learner brings. We stay with you throughout your growth—supporting you through your first trainings, your early practice, and the advanced pathways that come after.
- Evidence & Integrity
Grounded in research and transparent about what we teach and why. - Trauma-Informed & Inclusive
Grounded in research and transparent about what we teach and why. - Lifelong Support
Connection, mentoring, and community throughout your professional journey.
Comprehensive Doula Education for Learners Everywhere
Our doula training and coursework model is specifically designed to address the learning needs of all people, from friends and loved ones hoping to offer better support during a pregnancy, to professional doulas and healthcare professionals looking to expand their knowledge and earn CME.
Find your perfect fit with our care pathways:
Aspiring Doulas
→Get started on your doula path: learning activities, videos, and in-depth information on basic childbirth designed to help you set a strong foundation as a labor support professional.
Trained Doulas
→Refine your skills, learn more about culturally-aware birthing techniques, spend time with birthing parents and skilled doulas as you build your experience and set a strong foundation for your practice.
Professional Doulas
→Elevate your practice with our unique advanced practice CE courses. Apply your skills by mentoring others as a Foundations Coach, and increase your visibility and influence as a perinatal professional.
Medical Professionals & Students
→Enhance your labor support skills through a person-centered approach that focuses on the skills of caring for others that are left out of most health care curriculum while earning CEs.
General Education
→Better support your friends and loved ones through their pregnancy and birth by familiarizing yourself with the birthing process and learn more about the needs of birthing parents.
Doula as an Action, Practice, and Movement
Our founder, Dr. Amy Gilliland, is the first author and researcher to use doula as a verb in print, documenting her research participant’s use of the word during an interview. “I watched as she doulaed her through every contraction.” Although you might not find it in the dictionary yet, to us it means:
doula. (verb)
1. to nurture, centering the client & their interests.
2. To utilize neurologically based caregiving skills of the social brain
What our learners say
Birth Doula Work Is More Complex and Multifaceted Than Previously Thought.
Birth doulas develop skills along a continuum from novice to expert, including growth in communication, decision-making, self-awareness, emotional support, professional relationships, and intuition. Effective birth doula work requires sophisticated emotion management, analytical and communication skills, in addition to labor support skills. As doulas gain experience, they learn to anticipate labor events, read client cues, navigate complex clinical environments, and trust embodied knowledge developed through reflection and practice. The study found that expertise depends not only on the number of births attended, but also on reflection, adaptation, and the ability to influence complex social dynamics while meeting clients’ needs.
- Growth From Novice to Expert
Birth doulas develop through five stages of expertise: novice, advanced beginner, seasoned, proficient, and expert. Growth is influenced by birth experiences, reflection, adaptation, and professional development. - More Than Labor Support Skills
Effective birth doula work requires sophisticated emotion management, analytical and communication skills, decision-making, self-awareness, and the ability to manage relationships with clients, families, and healthcare staff. - Experience Builds Intuition
As doulas gain experience, they move from relying on rules and guidelines toward embodied intuition, pattern recognition, and the ability to anticipate labor events, staff responses, and client needs. - Reflection Drives Expertise
The study found that reflection, mindfulness, and adaptation help doulas turn experience into actionable knowledge, supporting long-term professional growth and expertise. - Meeting Clients’ Needs Matters Most
As doulas progress toward proficiency and expertise, success becomes less about birth outcomes and more about whether the client’s needs were met and fully supported throughout their experience.
Doula Training &
Certification Options
Doulaing The Doula has created a doula training and certification process that is grounded in the natural growth and development of doulas; that empowers the individual doula, and that builds stronger doula communities both during training, and after, as doulas grow their practice and hone their skills. Learn more about our unique, customizable training and certification options.
Transformative, Comprehensive, Culturally Informed Doula Courses
Our courses, designed by Dr. Amy Gilliland, one of the most respected doula trainers in North America, focus on creating well-rounded, thoughtful doulas using evidence-based, trauma-informed, culturally aware curriculum. Participants learn real-world doula skills from an experienced doula, research scientist, and award-winning educator who is personally invested in their learning. On top of learning about perinatal care and brain-based caregiving, we want you to have an experience that leaves you feeling like a better version of yourself: more capable and more confident.
DTD Childbirth Course
A great way to get started on your doula path or to learn more as a professional doula with topics covering:
- Anatomy & the reproductive system
- Physiology of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and more
- Medical terms
- Medication administration and effects
- Labor positions
- And more!
Birth Doula Training
An intensive three-day workshop that dives deeper into the role of the doula and covers topics like:
- Emotions and psychological processes associated with labor & birth
- The role of labor support
- Hands on skill building for positioning and comfort measures
- Enabling birthing parents to cope with complications
- Scope of practice
- And more!
DTD Postpartum Course
An interactive online course designed to help doulas understand the postpartum experience and to develop strategies to support families in the first year after birth. The course covers topics like:
- Physical recovery
- The new parental brain
- Psychological adjustment and emotional recovery
- Postpartum grief, rage, mood disorders, and suicide prevention
- Discovering baby
- Sexual intimacy, body image, and genital self-image
Postpartum Doula Training
A Three-Day Intensive, Interactive Workshop
Our Postpartum Doula Training is designed to empower postpartum doulas in supporting families when an infant has complex care needs and in helping parents find harmony in a new household. This three-day in-person workshop covers key topics and support techniques to help postpartum doulas better serve their client families.
DTD Infant Feeding
A course designed to help doulas help the parents they serve with their feeding journey, whether that includes breast feeding, bottle feeding, or both. This course covers topics like:
- Breastfeeding basics
- The journey of lactation
- Common problems and solutions
- Human milk expression
- Infant formula feeding
DTD Newborn Communication Skills
This workshop is designed to increase the skill and accuracy of doulas, nurses, and other perinatal professionals in recognizing infant cues to an advanced level of 85% agreement. Participants will:
- Analyze infant communication video content focusing on a wide range of babies as both individuals and in small groups
- Learn how to engage parent curiosity in what their child is naturally doing
- Identify and analyze the nine measures of infant temperament and key temperament profiles. Exploring ways to co-create knowledge with parents about their child
- Developing a working model of that child‘s temperament with their parent(s)
Foundations of Doula Practice
Build your doula practice by exploring key business and marketing principals that will help you:
- Connect more meaningfully with your target clients
- Share your doula message across multiple platforms
- Better manage required paperwork
- Learn more about culture, colonization, and Doulaing as a radical act of equity and justice
CE for Medical Providers
Training workshops specifically designed for nurses, medical professionals, and medical students to enhance their labor support skills. Earn CEs as we cover topics including:
- Positioning
- Comfort measures
- Optimizing relationships with labor partners
- Treating previously traumatized patients
- And more!
