This scholarship training is CLOSED.

Live in St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren, Branch, Kalamazoo or Calhoun Co.?

Apply for a scholarship to attend training in Dowagiac.

Live in St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren, Branch, Kalamazoo or Calhoun Co.?

Apply for a scholarship to attend training in Dowagiac.

Scholarships for doulas to support families in Southwest Michigan.

In January 2023, the State of Michigan began funding doula services for Medicaid beneficiaries. This is a huge step forward toward DONA International's vision: a doula for everyone who wants one.

In order to serve all of the families insured by Medicaid as well as families paying out of pocket or covered by employee benefits, we're going to need a lot more doulas! To that end, we've received funding for 12 birth doula scholarships for future doulas who live in Southwest Michigan.

To apply, you must live in one of these Michigan counties:

Priority counties: St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren, Branch

May also apply: Kalamazoo and Calhoun

Approved applicants will attend a Heart Soul Birth Pros training in Dowagiac. This is a DONA International approved birth doula workshop, which means that you will be eligible to apply for Medicaid approval in Michigan immediately after your training. You will also be eligible to become certified by DONA International if you choose to complete the remaining steps for certification.

The training is held in collaboration with the Great Start Collaboratives of St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren, Branch Counties, as well as the Southwest Michigan Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative.

What do birth doulas do?

A birth doula's job is to help make birth better.

Doulas attend the birth with their client and provide non-medical support in a number of areas:

• Physical support. Helping the client to be as comfortable as possible throughout the birth as well as strategizing on positions to help move the baby through the pelvis. This could include hands-on comfort measures, trading off with the client's partner or other support person, suggestions for position changes, and physically holding or adjusting the client's position.

• Emotional support. The doula is the only person on the birth team who has a primary responsibility to tend to the client's emotional experience. Doulas offer nurture, kindness, and encouragement.

• Information and advocacy. Doulas help clients know what's happening in their bodies and what to expect next. They provide evidence-based resources. Advocacy includes slowing down decision making (when it's not an emergency), prompting clients to ask questions, amplifying the client's voice, and reminding parents that they can say yes or no to any interventions and that they are the final decision maker in their birth.

• Partner support. In addition to caring for the client, doulas support friends and family members who are also attending the birth. That could include information and guidance on how they can help, as well as practical support like making sure they get rest and meals during the birth process.

What's included in the scholarship?

This scholarship includes:

• Full tuition for the birth doula workshop ($899 value)

• Lunch and snacks

Who can apply?

Eligibility requirement for the scholarship include:

• Must be a current resident of one of the following Southwest Michigan Counties: St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren, Branch, Kalamazoo, Calhoun

• Must be 18 years of age or older at the time of the training (a requirement to serve Medicaid families)

• Must plan to become a professional doula and provide services to families in Southwest Michigan

What to expect?

If selected, be ready for:

• Interactive four-day training

• Attend all hours, all four days

Things to consider before applying.

Becoming a doula is not for everyone, and our goal for this scholarship is to train up doulas who will be actively doing this work to support Southwest Michigan families. Before applying, please consider:

• Full-time doula work is usually considered 4 clients per month, although some doulas do extend to support 5 clients in a very busy month. Some doulas also work part-time, taking on 1 or 2 clients each month.

• Doulas are on call 24/7 for their clients and need to be able to leave to attend on births at all hours and sometimes with short notice. That means you may need to leave another job or school, or miss a test, appointment, family celebration, or other important event. If you have children, you'll also need childcare available on short notice. The work requires physical stamina as births often happen overnight and are sometimes very long — 24 hours or more. You could choose to partner with another doula to reduce some of these demands (sharing call time or trading off at long births).

• Michigan Medicaid reimburses $1,500 per birth and $100 per visit (birth doulas typically attend 3-6 visits). Package rates for private clients range from $1,000 to $2000 per birth (including visits).

• Most doulas are self-employed. That means building your business and learning the process to accredit with Medicaid. We'll provide resources, but this process takes a lot of self-initiative and commitment from the doula.

• If you receive a scholarship, you must be available to attend and complete the entire training, you cannot miss any hours of the workshop. If you are not able to clear four days for training, it is probably not the right time in life to become a doula.

This scholarship is NOT for you if:

• You don't live in one of the approved counties.

• You don't want to support Medicaid clients.

• You have another career that you don't plan to leave, or that won't flex to allow you to leave or call in to attend births on short notice.

• Your own life is chaotic or overwhelming, as doula work requires nurture, responsiveness, and availability.

• You can't be on call 24/7 (note that some doulas do share call time with a partner doula, which would allow you to be on call half the time).

• You just think it would be cool to learn about doula work, but you don't have any plans to become a professional doula.

Ready to make it happen, future doula? Here are the details.

Training Dates and Locations

Region 8 Birth Doula Workshop Dates

SCHOLARSHIP FULL/CLOSED

There are no future scholarships planned.

We recommend signing up
for our paid trainings,
payment plans are available.

Application Process

Please apply as soon as you know you are interested, as we do expect this training to fill quickly.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis leading up to the workshop. Please keep the dates open on your calendar until you are notified as to whether you are a scholarship recipient. Applicants will be notified no later than one month before the scheduled training.

If the training fills, we'll create a waiting list for additional doulas, in case a spot opens.

Please fill out the application below as completely as you can. Questions? Email scholarship@heartsoulbirthpros.com.

Thank you for your interest. Please answer the questions thoughtfully and completely. We look carefully through each response to identify those with the time, flexibility, determination, and skills to become a professional doula. You don't need any special background in the medical world, but you do need passion and commitment to do this uniquely intense work.

Thank you for your heart and your passion, future doula!