A Community Birth Worker (CBW) is a professionally trained community childbirth assistant who sees the mother (and her partner) throughout pregnancy, during labor, and after birth to provide emotional, physical, and informational support. Additionally, the CBW accompanies the women in labor to help ensure a safe and positive birth experience. During pregnancy, the CBW assists the mother (and her partner) with exploring her concerns and preferences for childbirth and can offer suggestions for holistic and natural remedies for minor pregnancy discomforts. CBW’s have the added benefit of being able to support mothers with a range of psychosocial and economic factors. CBW’s traditionally work within medically unserved communities and are connected a community based organization.
How does a CBW differ from a doula?
The Community Birth Worker is very similar in practice to a doula, however, they also receive additional skills in home-visitation, charting, assessing psychosocial and health needs; contraception education and basic lactation. As a CBW you are able to work within an agency or work independently with an expansive set of skills. See scope of practice chart below.
What is an average CBW client load?
A CBW would have the same client load as a doula.
Training Details
Training is a total of 64 hours. Class will be held from 9am-6:30pm each day. There is also an online component to the course which consist of resources, discussion questions, and quizzes. During the training you will receive a 200 page resource book, over 100 resources, books, and articles. There are 6 total training modules to include:
Post-training, there maybe an opportunity to work with Mamatoto to receive mentorship and support in completing any additional Doula certifications. Those employed with Mamatoto Village, will have access to monthly professional development at a reduced cost.
How does a CBW differ from a doula?
The Community Birth Worker is very similar in practice to a doula, however, they also receive additional skills in home-visitation, charting, assessing psychosocial and health needs; contraception education and basic lactation. As a CBW you are able to work within an agency or work independently with an expansive set of skills. See scope of practice chart below.
What is an average CBW client load?
A CBW would have the same client load as a doula.
Training Details
Training is a total of 64 hours. Class will be held from 9am-6:30pm each day. There is also an online component to the course which consist of resources, discussion questions, and quizzes. During the training you will receive a 200 page resource book, over 100 resources, books, and articles. There are 6 total training modules to include:
- Foundations of Perinatal Health Work
- Pregnancy, Growth, and Informed Decision Making
- Normal Physiologic Birth
- Complications, Interventions and Unexpected Outcomes
- The Newborn and the New Family in Postpartum
- Breastfeeding for CBWs
- Reproductive Justice
- Teaching and Research Skills
Post-training, there maybe an opportunity to work with Mamatoto to receive mentorship and support in completing any additional Doula certifications. Those employed with Mamatoto Village, will have access to monthly professional development at a reduced cost.
