Becoming a Perinatal Family Support Worker (PFSW) will not only bring you a greater understanding of how to support a new family during the perinatal period, it will also give you the opportunity to help other women and their families fully experience pregnancy, birth, and parenthood, in a healthy, informed, and self-determining way.
As a Perinatal Family Support Worker, you can proudly take your place as a professional in this growing and vitally important field. You will serve as a liaison between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery. The PFSW is an agent of change, not only deeply affecting the lives of the people whom they serve and teach, but also helping to bring about changes in hospitals and obstetrical practices, encouraging more culturally appropriate care that is relevant to the families being served. PFSW’s extend the reach of providers into underserved communities, reducing health disparities and incidences of child abuse and neglect; enhancing provider communication; improving health outcomes and instilling lasting health knowledge.
Who becomes a Perinatal Family Support Worker?
Perinatal Family Support Workers are frontline public health workers who have a close understanding of the community they serve. Our health workers are women who come from a variety of backgrounds and typically share ethnicity, culture, values, socioeconomic status and/or life experiences with the expectant mothers they serve. Think of yourself as a lay social worker.
The Perinatal Family Support Worker helps mothers to build confidence by offering information and helping them to understand their choices and the cultural context in which those choices are made. She provides a space in which parents can explore their values, fears, and hopes in a safe and nonjudgemental environment.
How is a Perinatal Family Support Worker different from a Postpartum Doula?
PFSWs received postpartum support skills, training as a lactation coach, as well as skills in home visitation, case managment, care coordination, and SOAP charting to name a few. This specialty extends beyond that of a postpartum doula, offering a more expansive set of transferrable skills.
Training Details
PFSWs receive 6 intensive weekends of trainings (Friday-Sunday), from 10am-6pm each day for a total of 56 hours. There is also an online component to the course which consist of resources, discussion questions, and quizzes. There are 7 total training modules to include:
Those employed with Mamatoto Village, will have access to monthly professional development at free or reduced cost.
As a Perinatal Family Support Worker, you can proudly take your place as a professional in this growing and vitally important field. You will serve as a liaison between health/social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery. The PFSW is an agent of change, not only deeply affecting the lives of the people whom they serve and teach, but also helping to bring about changes in hospitals and obstetrical practices, encouraging more culturally appropriate care that is relevant to the families being served. PFSW’s extend the reach of providers into underserved communities, reducing health disparities and incidences of child abuse and neglect; enhancing provider communication; improving health outcomes and instilling lasting health knowledge.
Who becomes a Perinatal Family Support Worker?
Perinatal Family Support Workers are frontline public health workers who have a close understanding of the community they serve. Our health workers are women who come from a variety of backgrounds and typically share ethnicity, culture, values, socioeconomic status and/or life experiences with the expectant mothers they serve. Think of yourself as a lay social worker.
The Perinatal Family Support Worker helps mothers to build confidence by offering information and helping them to understand their choices and the cultural context in which those choices are made. She provides a space in which parents can explore their values, fears, and hopes in a safe and nonjudgemental environment.
How is a Perinatal Family Support Worker different from a Postpartum Doula?
PFSWs received postpartum support skills, training as a lactation coach, as well as skills in home visitation, case managment, care coordination, and SOAP charting to name a few. This specialty extends beyond that of a postpartum doula, offering a more expansive set of transferrable skills.
Training Details
PFSWs receive 6 intensive weekends of trainings (Friday-Sunday), from 10am-6pm each day for a total of 56 hours. There is also an online component to the course which consist of resources, discussion questions, and quizzes. There are 7 total training modules to include:
- Introduction to Community Health Work
- Care Coordination, Advocacy and Resource Navigation
- When Pregnancy and Birth Do Not Go As Planned
- The Amazing Newborn
- The New Family in Postpartum
- Contraception Counseling
- Lactation Coach Training
Those employed with Mamatoto Village, will have access to monthly professional development at free or reduced cost.
