Teri Nava-Anderson, doula

Laughing or crying together. Holding space.
Squeezing hips, rubbing backs, & holding hands.
Advocating. Witnessing. Welcoming.

Welcome Home Community Birth Center, Winter 2020 Cohort

Community-Centered Birth & Postpartum Doula Training & Mentoring

Passionate about birth and/or postpartum?

Empathetic & sensitive to the needs of others?

Interested in becoming a doula or focusing your business as a doula?

Harmony Doula Mentoring offers Community-Centered (also called Community-Based) Doula Training workshops in-person in California, live online, and through self-paced on-demand courses online. It is an approved doula training for students in the midwifery program at Midwives College of Utah (MCU). We also offer one-on-one business coaching and mentoring for professional doulas and doula groups.

Our goal in this comprehensive, 46-hour birth and postpartum doula training program is for our doulas to feel confident in supporting clients and families through the whole perinatal period to the fullest of their ability.

Students learn:

  • evidence-based information about the benefits of doula support
  • the anatomy and chemistry of birth, postpartum recovery, and lactation
  • the significance of doula support to families
  • hands-on techniques to help a client be informed and be an active decision making member of their birth and recovery team
  • tips and tricks for coping and relaxation
  • trauma-informed and inclusive care
  • practical steps to begin a career as a doula
  • ... and more

"Teri is an INCREDIBLE teacher, and so knowledgable in all aspects of pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, and so much more! I feel very well prepared and am confident in knowing I will be an excellent doula. So grateful for this training!" - Corinne

Are you a doula for whom birth or postpartum work has ignited a passion, but you don't know where to start? Or are you a doula whose flame is starting to burn out and you need a little help to tend that spark? Or you a group of doulas looking to get a new practice off to a great start?

Whether you are looking for a mentor, an accountability buddy, or a business coach, I'm happy to help. As an experienced solo- and group-practice doula and successful business owner, I know how to help you get known in your community, build a client base, create passive revenue streams, and have financial security. Book your mentoring session now!

Schedule Your Session Now


Lactation Classes for Doula Certification DONA International

Lactation Support 101:
Skills for Birth Professionals

Working toward certification?

Want to advance your knowledge of breast & chest feeding?

After completion of this course, you will be able to:
  • Clarify your role in pregnancy & postpartum as a birth or postpartum doula
  • Understand why human milk matters
  • Help with prenatal planning for a more successful breast/chestfeeding relationship
  • Understand the impact of culture, friends, birth circumstances, & other roadblocks to breast/chestfeeding
  • Understand the anatomy & physiology of lactation
  • Better support the nursing dyad in the first hours & weeks
  • Identify & manage common problems
  • Teach client to assess if baby is getting enough
  • Teach hand expression & pumping
  • Know when to refer to a specialist

This workshop fulfills the DONA and CAPPA requirements for lactation education and will prepare you to offer breast/chestfeeding support for your clients. It is taught using a variety of teaching methods including lecture, videos, roleplay and Q&A. Certificates of completion will be awarded. If you are seeking DONA or CAPPA certification, please bring the appropriate documents for Teri to sign.

Students have three options for the course: 1. live, online instruction with lecture and discussion all integrated, 2. hybrid instruction with the same lecture offered as a recording to watch in your own time, followed by live, online interactive discussion, and 3. Independent study, completing the lecture and assignments at your own pace. Please note the for the hybrid course, the date given is for the discussion group. Please give yourself at least 4 hours to watch the lecture in advance of the discussion group.

Upcoming Schedule:

  • Aug 19, 2023, 9am-2pm (in-person)
  • Sept 11, 2023, 9am-2pm (live online)
  • Nov 13, 2023, 9am-2pm (live online)

Fee:

  • $100 (live online or in-person)
    Register Now
  • $75 (online modules for independent study)
    Register Now

Advanced Doula Skills Classes - Acupressure


Advanced Doula Skills Classes

Interested in advancing your skill set?

Want to know how you can improve outcomes?

Workshops are open to doulas, nurses, midwives, other birth workers, and anyone else who might interested. Instruction assumes some experience and knowledge of the birth process at a more than fundamental level. CEUs (Continuing Education Units) through DONA International are available for most classes. Please inquire about CEUs if you require them.

Upcoming Classes:
Jan 22-23, 2024 - Live, in-person

  • When Survivors Give Birth with Selena Shelby, Santa Rosa, CA (7-14 CEUs)
    Register at cvent.me/Nw1K2x

Our general catalog of classes (*** denotes classes that can be taught virtually / online):

  • Doula Tool Kit: Acupressure skills for Pregnancy, Birth, & Postpartum (2 CEUs)
  • Doula Tool Kit: TENS Unit (1 CEU) ***
  • Doula Tool Kit: Teaching Infant Massage to Clients (1 CEU) ***
  • Understanding Labor Patterns & Optimal Fetal/Maternal Positioning (2 CEUs) ***
  • Inlets & Outlets: Biomechanics of the Pelvis, and optimizing through Pelvic Floor through Bodywork for a Better Labor (2 CEUs)
  • Trauma-informed Care for Birth & Postpartum Workers: Working with Surivors of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Birth Trauma (3-4 CEUs) ***
  • Mindfulness Practice for Doulas (2 CEUs)***
  • Understanding Self-Hypnosis Modalities for Childbirth (2 CEUs)***
  • Writing Great Guided Meditations (1 CEU)***
  • Supporting VBAC Clients: From Evidence-Based Facts to Panic Attacks (2 CEUs)***
  • Essential Oil Safety in Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery, & Postpartum (2 CEUs) ***
  • Business Building: Creating a Team or Group Practice (2 CEUs)***
  • Childbirth Education for Doulas ***

Find out more here and Subscribe to Harmony Doula Mentoring on Facebook for class schedule and updates.

Interested in scheduling a workshop for your local doula community? Teri is available and willing to travel throughout the US to teach on a variety of topics. Combine topics to make a half day, full day, or full weekend Advanced Training Experience.

 

5 Traits of Successful Doulas

Holding Space for Birth

Active listener

Really listen to your clients. Meet them where they are at. What do they want? What do they need? What are their hopes and expectations?

Watchful

In watching your client, what is their body languages telling you? Are they open? Are they safe? Are they grounded? Are they trying to reposition their baby through movement?

Instinctive

Trust yourself. Follow your instincts. Be compassionate and nurturing. Do what you’re moved to do. Say what you’re moved to say. Be authentic.

Patient

Being on-call, waiting for a labor to start, then waiting on a baby to come can take a long time. You have to be able to sit in the waiting without getting bored, discouraged, or impatient.

Reliable

Be available, be present, be consistant, be impecible with your word. When you commit to attend a birth or assist a new family, it's important to follow through and be at your best. Always have a back-up in case you cannot do that.

Common Myths about Doulas

Myth: You have to have given birth yourself

False. There are many wonderful and effective doulas who have never given birth or parented a child.

Myth: You have to identify as female

False. A doula can be anyone who cares about and understands the needs of birthing and postpartum people.

Myth: You have to be "crunchy"

False. Every person deserves the doula that is right for them. The only commonality between all doulas is their commitment to supporting people in their journey through pregnancy, birth, or postpartum.

Myth: Doulas only support unmedicated births or don't support cesareans

False. Doulas support birth. Birth is a full spectrum of experiences. Doulas advocate for people being an active decision-maker on their care team and to choose the path that feels the most right to them, whatever that might be. Some doulas may choose the kind of client they prefer to work with or have an ideal client, but if the client's preferred birth plans change, the doula continues to support them.

Myth: You can't make a living as a doula

As an individual, you will decide how you run your business: if you want to volunteer (some doulas do), if you want to offer low or reduced rates (some doulas do), if you want to price yourself at the top of the scale (most doulas don't, but some do), how often you want to work (many doulas work part-time, others work full-time). If you want being a doula to be your primary source of income and you're willing to put in the effort it takes to be a successful business person, then you will.

Myth? You have to fight the system

This one is true. All birthwork is political. You have to care about birthing and postpartum people and how they are treated. You have to be aware of whether or not they are being heard and understood, and advocate for them when they are not. Being in an environment where this might not be true is hard on doulas.

The Harmony Doula Mentoring team offers regular mentoring and peer review sessions to doulas who train with us in order that they feel supported in the work they are doing.

 

Service Area

Graduates of the Harmony Doula Mentoring Program have attended births all over northern and central California, including:

Community Birth Centers

  • Homestead Natural Birth Center (Modesto)
  • Pacifica Family Maternity Center (Oakland)
  • Nightingale Birth Center (San Mateo)
  • Welcome Home Community Birth Center (South Sacramento)
  • Sierra Natural Birth Center (Sonora)
  • Full Moon Family Wellness & Birth Center (Santa Cruz)

Home Births

  • San Francsico & the Peninsula (Belmont, Burlingame, Daly City, Palo Alto, Stanford, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Mateo)
  • San Jose & Silicon Valley (Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Mountain View, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Milipitas)
  • Oakland & East Bay Alameda County (Alameda, Fremont, Hayward, San Leandro, Castro Valley)
  • Tri-Valley (Livermore, Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Daville, Alamo)
  • Diablo Valley Contra Costa County (Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Concord)
  • Delta Valley (Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Bethel Island, Byron, Mountain House, Discovery Bay)
  • San Joaquin County (Tracy, Lathrop, Manteca, Ripon, French Camp, Stockton, Lodi, Linden, Farmington, Escalon)
  • Western Stanislaus County (Modesto Metro area, Salida, Oakdale, Patterson)
  • Sacramento County (Galt, Isleton, Walnut Grove, Rio Vista, Elk Grove, South Sacramento)
  • North of the bay into Napa, Solano, & Yolo County (Sonoma, Fairfield, Vallejo, Vacaville, Davis)
  • Placer County (Roseville, Rocklin, Auburn, Colfax, Lincoln) and up into Placerville & El Dorado county
  • The Central Valley from Calaveras to Sonora in Tuolumne County, all the way down to Fresno
  • and all points inbetween!

Hospitals

  • Stanford (Valleycare in Pleasanton, Lucille Packard in Palo Alto)
  • John Muir Medical Center (Walnut Creek)
  • Kaiser Medical Center (San Leandro, Walnut Creek, Oakland, Antioch, Modesto, San Jose, Redwood City, South Sacramento, Roseville, Santa Clara, Santa Teresa)
  • Sutter Health (Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Tracy Community Hospital in Tracy, Delta Medical Center in Antioch, Davis, CPMC in San Francisco)
  • Doctors Medical Center (Manteca, Modesto)
  • Eden Medical Center (Castro Valley)
  • Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital (Redwood City)
  • Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (San Francisco)
  • UCSF (San Francisco)
  • Highland (Oakland)
  • Good Samaritan Hospital (San Jose)
  • Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (San Jose)
  • El Camino Hospital (Mountain View, Los Gatos)
  • Alta Bates (Berkeley)
  • Mt. Rose Hospital (Hayward)
  • Washington Hospital (Fremont)
  • San Ramon Regional (San Ramon)
  • San Joaquin General (French Camp)
  • UC Davis (Davis)
  • Woodland Memorial Hospital (Woodland)
  • Mercy Hospital (General in Sacramento, Folsom, & San Juan in Carmichael)
  • Methodist Hospital (Sacramento)
  • Adventist Health (Lodi Memorial, Sonora)
  • Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (Martinez)
  • St. Joseph's Hospital (Stockton)
  • Emanuel (Turlock)
  • ...and more