Birth Doula Training & Certification · Online
Walk into any birth thoroughly prepared.
Self-paced training and certification with Patty Brennan, 43 years in birth work. For anyone who feels the calling: to open a practice, to volunteer, or to support the people you love. No medical background needed.
Start with Patty’s 5-minute video
- 1Who doula training is for, and who it isn’t
- 2What you learn in the four modules
- 3How certification works, start to finish
Full refund, minus $50, within 7 days · Payment plan available
From her students
What students wrote back after the training.
I absolutely loved this experience. Worth my money and time investment. I am so thankful I undertook this venture. I feel inspired and filled with recognition of my soul’s purpose.
“This entire process has been so thorough and informational. I have come out of it learning and understanding many things that I wish I had known way before! I will forever recommend your course.”
“Thank you so much–I can’t get enough! What an education and experience! Best $$ I ever spent.”
“Your clients will always be your greatest teacher.”
Maybe you’ve wondered whether you’re the right person for this.
You have never had a baby, and you wonder if anyone will trust you at a birth.
You have no medical background, and the subject feels overwhelming before you’ve even started.
You worry you are too young, or too old, to begin.
You’ve seen thin trainings, and you want one that actually prepares you.
Patty hears these questions often enough to run a free webinar on them every month.
If people already turn to you, you’re closer than you think.
In Patty’s words: if others naturally turn to you in their time of need, you are already a doula. The training builds on that.
“I’ve never had a baby.”
About a third of her students hadn’t either.
Over 25 years of Patty’s birth and postpartum trainings, roughly one student in three had never had a baby. In her words, it “has not proven to be an obstacle.”
“I’m not a nurse or a midwife.”
Doulas are strictly non-medical.
The work is emotional, informational and practical support, plus hands-on comfort. Clinical training isn’t required, and many people take the course to help a family member or friend.
“I’m too young, or too old.”
There is no upper age limit.
Lifespan certifies doulas from age 18. Past that, women and men of all ages are welcome.
“I’m not good with technology.”
You don’t have to be tech-savvy.
The online classroom is built to be easy to use, and you can try a free sample lesson before you pay anything.
From sign-up to certified, at your own pace.
No class dates and no deadline. Your access to the course never expires.
Step one
Register
Pay in full, or put down a deposit. Your online classroom opens after your first payment.
Step two
Work through the four modules
Videos, quizzes, case studies and skill-building exercises, plus templates you can use with your own clients.
Step three
Ask Patty when you’re stuck
You have easy access to your instructor the whole way through.
Step four
Read the required books
Each certification has a reading list. Borrow from the library, buy used, or share with a friend. The books are the only extra cost.
Step five
Take the exam
Online, open-book and untimed. You need 85% to pass, and you can take it as many times as you need.
Step six
Get certified
Certification is included in your course fee, and the process can be completed shortly after training.
The syllabus
Four modules, about 65 hours.
Videos, quizzes, case studies and downloadable tools, in an online classroom you don’t need to be tech-savvy to use. Try a free sample lesson first.
The essentials every doula needs.
Scope of practice, advocacy and the skills of support, for every kind of family you’ll serve.
- Scope of practice for doulas
- Communication, mediation & advocacy
- Trauma-informed care
- Cultural humility
- Grief & bereavement support
- Working with under-resourced families
How labor and birth actually unfold.
Pregnancy, labor and birth, so you can explain to a family what is happening and why.
- Anatomy & physiology of labor and birth
- Complications of pregnancy
- Movement & positioning for physiologic birth
- Comfort measures & natural pain relief
- Medical interventions & informed choice
- The value of birth plans
Your role, before, during and after.
Lessons cover the doula’s role prenatally, at birth, and after the baby is born.
- Proactive preparations for birth
- Hormones in physiologic birth
- Hands-on relaxation & support techniques
- Helping clients navigate the medical setting
- The doula’s role at a cesarean birth
- The birth doula’s role postpartum
Taught by lactation expert Barbara Robertson, MA, IBCLC.
Six short modules on getting feeding off to the best start, and on knowing when to refer.
- Basic anatomy & physiology
- How the birth experience affects breastfeeding
- Skin-to-skin
- Helping clients feel secure with their milk supply
- Latching & positioning
- Knowing when to refer
Full refund, minus $50, within 7 days · Payment plan available
What happens after you click.
Choose how to pay
$797 in full, or $297 down and five monthly payments of $110.
Your classroom opens
You get access to the online classroom after your first payment. You don’t need to pay off a plan before you start.
Study on your own schedule
There is no deadline. If life changes your plans, your course will be there when you come back.
Not ready yet? Try the free sample lesson, or bring your questions to Patty’s monthly webinar.
Start my trainingsupporting families since 1983
“I encourage new doulas to trust themselves, summon their courage, and jump in the deep end after training.”
Your trainer
Patty Brennan has spent 43 years in birth work.
Educator, doula and homebirth midwife
Patty has worked as a childbirth educator, a birth and postpartum doula and a homebirth midwife. She has been supporting families since 1983.
She has trained doulas for decades
She founded the Center for the Childbearing Year in Ann Arbor in 1999, and trained birth and postpartum doulas as a DONA International trainer from 2002 to 2021.
She built doula care in her own state
Patty founded two community-based nonprofit doula programs in Michigan, which helped make doulas widely available, especially for low-income families. She also wrote The Doula Business Guide.
Three students, three starting points.
A working chiropractor
“I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate the birth doula training I took with you. I used so much of what I learned in the birth and breastfeeding of my daughter. I felt prepared for labor and more empowered to make the choices I did. Your training also helped me to be even more loving and supportive of the women I get to care for as a chiropractor. I still use resources and skills that I gathered from your class on a regular basis.”
Never been pregnant
“As a young woman who has never experienced pregnancy or birth, the subject was a bit overwhelming at times. But your teaching style made the material so approachable, understandable and fun.”
Certified once before
“I have been certified once before by a well known doula organization and it did not provide nearly as much information, resources, and tools that this certification provides. I feel thoroughly prepared to face any birth and obstacle.”
Enrolment
One course, one price, certification included.
Birth Doula Training & Certification with Patty Brennan.
- Four self-paced modules, about 65 hours
- Certification included in the course fee
- Open-book, untimed online exam
- Access that never expires
- Easy access to Patty while you study
- Medicaid-approved in 6 states, accepted by Carrot
Required reading books are not included. Already trained with Lifespan as a postpartum or end-of-life doula? Add this training for $497.
Seven days to change your mind.
A full refund, minus a $50 cancellation fee.
If the course isn’t right for you, ask within one week of purchase and you get a full refund, minus a $50 cancellation fee.
Before you pay anything, you can try a free sample lesson, and ask Patty your questions on her free monthly webinar.
The fine print: after one week, or once you’ve opened more than 5% of the course, there are no refunds. Use the sample lesson to decide first.
Questions people ask Patty.
Still unsure? Call Patty on 734-663-1523. If she can’t pick up, she calls back, typically within 24 hours on weekdays (Eastern Time).
No. Doulas are strictly non-medical. They give emotional, informational and logistical support, plus hands-on comfort. Many people take the training simply to be better prepared to help a family member or friend.
As long as you need. There is no expiration date on the course, so if life changes your priorities, you can come back to it when you’re ready.
It is online, open-book and untimed, with multiple-choice and true/false questions. You need 85% to pass, you don’t have to finish in one sitting, and you can take it as many times as you need.
In most states, no. Doulas are largely unregulated. But doula agencies, hospital programs and some reimbursement programs, like Medicaid in some states and Carrot, may require training or certification.
Patty’s honest answer: it is unlikely you will earn a living wage soon after training. Most doulas are self-employed, and success depends on many things, including where you live. Doula work can supplement a family income nicely, and a growing number of agencies and hospitals now hire birth doulas.
Pay a $297 deposit and you get access to the classroom. Then five monthly payments of $110 are charged to the same card. The plan includes a small admin fee, so the total is $847. You can pay it off early with no penalty. Your proof of certification is issued once the balance is paid.
Walk into your first birth prepared.
Start my trainingFull refund, minus $50, within 7 days · Payment plan available
“Patty was such an inspiring woman to learn from as I begin this new part of my life! Her energy, enthusiasm, and passion for serving mothers and their babies (and partners!) will stay with me forever.”Kate Louik, Ann Arbor, MI