Certified Childbirth Educator Training

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Certified Childbirth Educator

Our Certified Childbirth Educator program is an eight-week non-credit course for those who wish to teach childbirth classes to expecting parents. This course trains instructors to teach evidenced-based natural birth and has a special emphasis on working with diverse populations. This program prepares students to teach childbirth classes in a variety of settings: hospitals, home birth and birth centers.

Coursework is 100% online with a community-based practicum component, written with the same standards of excellence with which all of Aviva Institute's programs are designed. Courses are done in a cohort group with other students with a high degree of instructor involvement. This program is not just reading books and writing papers like other distance childbirth education training programs; it is highly interactive, challenging, engaging, and fun.

Next Session: September 27 - November 22, 2010

For more information click here and drop us a message through our Contact Page and read more about the program below. Or if you've checked us out and you're ready to enroll, click the blue "Enroll Now" button at the bottom of this webpage.

Book List

Go to the Bookstore to get the latest editions of these books quickly

Required Textbooks

Childbirth Education: Practice, Research and Theory by Francine H. Nichols and Sharron Smith Humenic
List Price: $69.95
ISBN/ISSN: 9780721680095
Publisher: Saunders
Pregnancy, Childbirth & the Newborn: The Complete Guide, revised by Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley & Ann Kepple

Additional Reading –You are encouraged to read these books prior to the training, and have them available in your library for families.

The Complete Book of Pregnancy & Childbirth,
revised by Sheila Kitzinger

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin

Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block

The Official Lamaze Guide to giving Birth With Confidence by Judith Lothian and Charlotte DeVries

Birth as An American Rite of Passage by Robbie Davis-Floyd

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer

Birthing From Within, by Pa m England

The Birth Book, by Bill & Martha Sears

Birthsong Midwifery Workbook, by Daphne Singingtree, CPM

At the end of the course, the Childbirth Educator who completes the certification program will:

Create positive expectations about a mother’s ability to flow with her labor and birth by presenting education about labor, delivery and postpartum in an empowering way.
Help reduce complications and interventions by preparing parents with skills and resources to handle normal and unexpected childbirth. Help parents develop self advocacy skills with professionalism and respect.
Be skilled in the use of visual aids and alternative teaching methods for a variety of learning styles.
Be able to teach a variety of methods of childbirth and encourage parents to find the one that works for them.
Create classes that are fun, interesting, and empowering for parents.
Be aware of the impacts of racism, poverty and other disadvantages on the childbearing couple and counter them.
Reach across cultures and ages to invite all people to share in the joy of childbirth and learning.
Prepare a family for labor, delivery, postpartum and breastfeeding adaptations and challenges so that they are resilient and skillful.
Recognize possible risk factors for abuse and provide early intervention.
Impact a childbearing family in a positive and faith building way that enriches and improves their lives in a profound manner.
Grow and keep current in childbirth methods, useful comfort measures and cultural competency.
Encourage, support and help other childbirth professionals.
Be recognized for excellence in their profession
Keep records of student/s satisfaction with classes and birth outcomes and adjust classes if these outcomes are not excellent.

Practicum and Requirments for Certification

Attend two labors and births and submit reports about your
experiences and observations. These may not include your own births, but may include births you previously attended as an observer or active participant.
Observe a complete childbirth series and write a report about what your learned, liked or disliked about the course.

and

Attend two La Leche League series meetings, submit scanned documentation or
Shadow a lactation professional for four hours, submit scanned documentation or
Completion of the Aviva Institute Breastfeeding Educator Course
is also acceptable.

About Certification: There is no single standard for childbirth education certification, most agencies are independent. Only a very few have outside agencies review their certification process, Aviva Institute is one of those few. Aviva Institute is a state authorized college with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. All courses and certificate programs had submit to a rigorous process involving reviewing of course objectives, sylabus, teaching methods and faculty approval.

Instructor

Jesse Remer Henderson BCD, PCD, CBDT, LCCE

Jesse is the founder of Mother Tree Birth Services. She is a Lamaze certified educator and and a certified DONA International doula and doula trainer. She has supported hundreds of families in an out of the hospital setting. She has worked in the Legacy Health System, Adventist Medical Center, Zenana Spa and Wellness Center and Loving Touch Classroom.

Her teaching specialty includes Natural Pain Coping Techniques, Comfort Massage, Comfort Positions for Labor. Jesse's passion is helping all women (birthing or birth professionals) discover their inner Mother Nature in birth and beyond.

Prerequisities:
None, although previous doula or childbirth study is helpful.

Computer Requirements: Click here

Practicum:
1. Observe a complete childbirth class
2. Attend two labors and birth
3. Attend a Le Leche League meeting or take an approved breastfeeding course.

Spring Term Dates: 4/12-6/6
Fall Term Dates: 9/27-11/22

Participation is required five out of seven days a week, however it can be anytime of day that works with your schedule.

Tuition: $450.00

A limited number of partial scholarships are available for low income students planning on teaching families facing issues such as poverty, language issues, cultural differences, and racism. For more information click here.

Non-credit pass/fail course