OUR CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION TRAINING PHILOSOPHY
Inspiring Creative, Evidence-Based Childbirth Educators.
Want to know what we’re all about? This is the heart of what we believe about training great childbirth educators. It’s our point of view on the childbirth ed world, you could say. Is it a match for you? If so, we’d love to have you join us.
THE TRIPLE WIN.
The best decisions you’ll make as a birth professional will be good for you, good for the client, and good for the greater birth community. You. Your clients. Your community. Making choices that score wins in all three areas will lead to a long-term, successful career. Win-win-win. You don’t have to choose just one. You can be financially successful and care deeply about every family you support and your community too. The triple win applies whether you own your own business, work for someone else, or serve low-resource families through a nonprofit. Heart and business go together! That’s what we are all about.
YOU'VE GOTTA KNOW YOUR STUFF.
There’s so much information available out there about birth. Some of it is solid and based on research, and some of it can get nutty. As childbirth educators, we’re responsible for making sure that we’re sharing the good stuff — otherwise parents and providers won’t trust us, and we won’t last in this work. Bad information could even lead to a bad outcome for a mom or baby. That’s why every person who enrolls in my program gets a free six-month student membership to the Evidence Based Birth Academy, with the option to extend to a year (my Lamaze training is the only one in the world that offers this bonus). I'll give you other resources for connecting with reliable, trustworthy information too. We work really hard to make sure our trainings are evidence-based, and we want you to have the resources to do that for your birth classes too.
THERE'S AN ART AND A SCIENCE TO TEACHING ADULTS.
Think about the very best class you’ve ever taken... The class that engaged you, inspired you, and sparked you into action. Was it a boring slide presentation? We’ll bet it wasn’t. Our guess is that in that class you were moving, thinking, engaging, talking, listening and touching. That’s great, evidence-based adult education. It’s the way we teach, and it’s the way we’ll help you learn to teach. We actually devote a lot of brain space in our everyday lives to thinking up new teaching ideas to use in our classes and to share with you (big Saturday night fun, we’re telling you). Our goal is to inspire you with creative teaching so you can turn around and inspire your students — Millennials expect that. This kind of teaching is evidence-based adult education (shout out to #2 above), fun to teach, and builds your student loyalty and referrals. Wait, was that just another triple win?
CERTIFICATION + THE ORGANIZATION YOU CHOOSE MATTERS.
We believe in certification. It gives you legitimacy, shows you’re vetted by the industry, and opens up a lot of career opportunities. There are a lot of organizations out there now, claiming to train and certify childbirth educators. Some of them are legit, and some are pretty iffy (and not likely to stick around). We’ve found Lamaze International to be the best. The Lamaze childbirth education certification is the only childbirth educator program in the world that has passed the rigorous standards set by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). We value evidence-based teaching, and so does Lamaze. They provide great materials that we can all use in our classes, and the Healthy Birth Practices are solid. The organization also has a nonprofit, elected board of directors that is dedicated to its members — not to profit alone. Lamaze International works together with the American College of Nurse Midwives, DONA International, ICEA, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and other respected (and legitimate) maternal health organizations to advocate for change in health policy. Lamaze certification is recognized and respected all over the world. When you earn the right to put the LCCE credential behind your name, it really means something.
WE NEED EACH OTHER!
You will benefit so much from the community of childbirth educators we’ve worked to create. From the minute you step foot in one of our seminars to five years down the line when you’re long-since certified and need a little support, you’ll have a caring network to help you grow. We help each other with teaching ideas, brainstorming and support, and the “make it even better” evaluations that we do during our workshops. Your students will need each other too, so we’ll model how you can build connection and community in your classes. That feels so good to everyone, and it will build loyalty and long-term referrals to your classes. More wins!
YOU DESERVE A TRAINER WHO WON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK.
All of our trainers are currently, actively teaching successful childbirth education classes in our home communities. It’s important that you learn from somebody who has their finger on the pulse of what’s happening with families today. Otherwise, who knows what you’ll be missing out on! We’ll share everything we know about creative teaching, nurturing new families, professional ethics, finding and using evidence-based information, and growing a thriving base of students. We pour our hearts and souls into every single training, and every single childbirth educator. Heart and soul — it’s in our name!
WE ARE OUT TO MAKE A CHANGE.
Money’s great (and we’ll support you in building a financially successful career), but our passion for great childbirth education goes a lot deeper. We’re in the middle of a maternal health crisis. Families aren’t receiving evidence-based care, and in the United States, black women and babies in particular are dying (research tells us that’s because of the effects of systemic racism). Our trainers are attuned to the power dynamics that influence birth around the world, whether it’s a woman of color or a transgender person having a baby. The Lamaze Code of Ethics says that educators should be culturally competent, that we advocate for safe and healthy birth, and that our primary responsibility is to promote the well-being of the person giving birth. Those principles are woven into the fabric of our trainings. Until everyone having a baby has access to respectful, evidence-based care, Heart Soul Birth Pros’ mission includes advocating for change.