Training manual
A complete training manual for birth doulas. Second edition.
593 pages. Five units. Twenty-one chapters. The cleanest evidence base in doula education, paired with the warmth of a mentor who has actually done the work.
The training manual that takes the work seriously.
Written by a registered nurse, lactation consultant, and ICEA-approved doula trainer with fifteen years in maternal-newborn care as a doula and ten as a registered nurse. This guide moves through the full arc of perinatal care, from the first prenatal visit through the postpartum year, with the clarity of a clinical textbook and the warmth of a mentor who has actually done this work.
It names the racial disparities in maternal mortality. It teaches what to say when a baby has died. It gives you the language for every difficult moment and the structure to stay in this work for years.
Passion brought you here. This book will prepare you to stay.
Best value · recommended
Get the textbook + Companion Workbook bundle
The textbook teaches the science; the workbook is where it becomes practice. Save $20 vs buying separately.
Get the bundle — $150Just the textbook — $120 · Just the workbook — $50
Paperback · 593 pages · First Edition · Sold through Mary’s Hands Network.
The role of the doula. Scope of practice. History of birth work in the U.S. Racial disparities in maternal mortality named clearly. The ethical and legal frame for everything that follows.
Anatomy and physiology of pregnancy. Common discomforts and red flags. Prenatal visits, screening, and decision points. Mental health across pregnancy. Building the prenatal relationship.
The mechanics and emotional landscape of every stage of labor. Comfort techniques with evidence behind them. Cesarean birth as a normal birth. Interventions, complications, and how to advocate without overstepping.
The fourth trimester. Newborn assessment and care. Lactation, supplementation, and feeding without dogma. Postpartum mood disorders. The slow return to wholeness.
Building a sustainable practice. Working with hospitals, providers, and other birth workers. Bereavement and pregnancy loss. Trauma-informed care. Staying in the work for the long haul without burning out.
The workbook is where students put the textbook into their hands — structured study, conversation guides, and the actual tools they’ll use with clients.
Learning objectives mirrored to the textbook · structured vocabulary review · A&P review where the science calls for it · discussion prompts with full writing space · 10-question multiple-choice chapter quiz.
20-question cumulative quiz across all of that unit’s chapters to support synthesis and exam prep. Complete answer key with rationales in the back matter, evenly distributed across A/B/C/D.
A single-page visual that maps the full arc of doula care from intake through archive — every contact, every handoff. Suitable for client onboarding.
Every visit a doula will run, walked through in order, with SOAP-style record-keeping notes that support insurance reimbursement.
The complete 39-question pre-birth questionnaire and the postpartum questionnaire with PHQ-2 depression screening, scoring, and full escalation guidance for crisis disclosure.
Red-flag warning-signs reference (mom & baby) · medical abbreviations card · printable “What Is a Doula?” one-pager you can hand to clients, providers, and community partners.
“Sick until proven healthy, or healthy until proven sick. The mindset you bring to the room shapes the room. Every chapter teaches you which mindset to walk in with.”
, from Chapter 9, on intervention thresholds
Paperback, 593 pages. Sold through Mary’s Hands Network.
