An Open Letter to Organizations Offering Weekend Doula Trainings

PIN IT

An Open Letter to Organizations Offering Weekend Doula Trainings

To the leaders, founders, and educators in doula education and certification,

This letter is written with respect for the history of the field of birth work, and urgency for its future. 

The goal is not confrontation for the sake of conflict but rather alignment with what families deserve and what aspiring doulas need to thrive in a rapidly evolving and increasingly complex reproductive health landscape.

Let’s take it back, the modern doula profession exists because pioneers recognized that continuous emotional and physical support improves outcomes, strengthens families, and counters the growing medicalization of birth. Those early leaders created pathways, language, advocacy frameworks, and legitimacy for a role that had always existed in communities and kinship networks. 

Their work changed the standard of care.

It is precisely because of that legacy of courage, innovation, and love that we now call on every organization offering weekend doula training to reconsider the model that has shaped this field for decades.

This is a Model With Historic Roots but Present Limitations

The weekend training format emerged in a different time and context. 

Early participants often came with significant backgrounds in perinatal care or related fields: nursing, childbirth education, midwifery support, and community based birth knowledge. They required structure, yes, and they also held foundation and experience.

Today, many trainees arrive without prior medical or childbirth exposure, and they are walking into a system that is more medicalized, more intervention focused, and more burdened by inequity than ever before. 

Birth today demands trauma informed practice, anti oppression literacy, consent based communication, mental health awareness, knowledge of obstetric violence, and the ability to navigate institutional dynamics in hospitals and community settings.

To be clear: two or three days cannot prepare someone for that reality.

It was never designed to.

The Stakes Are No Longer Theoretical

When doulas graduate without adequate training, they do not simply feel unsure. They can unintentionally enter clinical environments without scope clarity, without strategies for advocacy, and without safety nets for themselves or the families they serve. This affects outcomes, trust, and the public understanding of who doulas are and what we bring to reproductive health care.

We see graduates who feel unprepared and assume that they alone are struggling. We see doulas who want to work but freeze when they face systemic racism, trauma in the birth room, or medical power dynamics they were never prepared to navigate. We see doulas who burn out quickly, who offer unpaid or low paid labor for years to gain confidence, and who quietly leave the field believing they are not capable… when in reality they were not supported.

That is preventable harm. Not intentional harm, but harm nonetheless.

This Is Also a Justice Issue

The communities most harmed by shallow training models are the same communities most harmed by maternal health inequities: Black and Indigenous doulas, queer and trans doulas, disabled doulas, immigrant doulas, fat or plus sized doulas, young doulas, and doulas who enter birth work seeking economic opportunity and community healing.

When training is fast and incomplete, those with the least systemic support carry the heaviest emotional and financial consequences. Passion is not a substitute for preparation because this work deserves a strong foundation and ongoing nurturing.

If we believe birth work can be a pathway to community wealth, leadership, and reproductive justice, then we cannot continue to offer short programs as the primary entry point. We must meet aspiring doulas with the depth, mentorship, and educational rigor that honors the power of what they are stepping into.

This Is A Call In, Not A Call Out

We are not erasing history in getting loud about the harm and inadequacies of the weekend training. We are honoring it by allowing the field to evolve. The weekend model served a purpose in its time, and we can appreciate that while still acknowledging what we know now.

Adult learning research makes clear that retention declines sharply after several hours of cognitive load. Trauma informed practice requires reflection, supervision, practice, and mentorship. Advocacy inside medical systems requires structured teaching, practice, and debriefing. Business training and boundary setting cannot be absorbed in a single sitting but rather requires trial and error and circling back to improve or correct. The modern scope of doula practice demands more time, more support, and more craft.

Continuing education opportunities do not solve the problem if the foundation is insufficient. Learning should expand a base, not repair or replace something that is critical yet absent.

What This Letter Notices and Requests

We see the profound intention behind every organization that has trained doulas through any model. We see the love for families, the belief in dignity, and the desire to open doors. We also see an industry moment that requires courage, humility, and evolution.

So here are our asks:

• • Move beyond weekend formats as the primary training structure.
  • Build curricula grounded in trauma informed, anti oppressive, and evidence based frameworks.
  • Prioritize mentorship, practice, and reflective learning instead of information marathons.
  • Offer transparent pathways and true accessibility that do not rely on hidden financial burdens or unpaid labor.
  • Give new doulas the preparation they need to stand strong in clinical and community settings.
  • Teach the business and sustainability skills required for birth workers to support themselves and their families.

To be very clear, our intention is not to reject the past. This is a commitment to the future of birthwork.

We Can Build This Together

Birth work is sacred and  transformative and powerful… And it is entering a new chapter with our changing world and worsening outcomes in reproductive health.

To every organization that helped define this profession: thank you. Truly. You sparked a movement, and now we invite you to evolve with it. Let us build doula education that protects families, protects doulas, strengthens maternal health outcomes, and honors the depth and magic of this calling.

Let us make this a profession built on rigor, equity, and care.

The weekend era opened the door and the next era must fortify it.

With respect, resolve, and vision for our shared future,

bebo mia inc.