I have been a doula for many years and decided to further my education with BirthWorks International. I absolutely LOVE my experience and all interactions I have had. I finally feel like I have found my tribe. Thank you for having such a great space for doulas, birthworkers, and families.
I highly recommend BWI in general but the Intro Zoom Call was very amazing. Mrs. Cristin is super sweet and very knowledgeable. She knows her stuff and I would recommend the organization 100%. Hearing and see things I never knew opened my eyes to why I want to continue and start my journey on becoming a Birth Doula. If you’re looking for an organization who’s all about you and how you can be the next best in your community this is the organization and place. I’m not just saying this but I’m currently walking in it and living it and they are amazing! Great appreciation goes to everyone on the team.
After birthing my baby 12 weeks premature, I knew I wanted to help others through their journey! Not only did BWI help me receive the proper training and evidence based information to share with families, I was able to be mentored by the pioneering experts who are changing the care in NICUs! I worked closely with Jill & Dr Nils Bergman (changed recommendations at The WHO for guidelines on skin to skin with premature infants) and am now, proudly a BWI mentor and trainer! Thank you, BirthWorks!
I recently completed the Kangaroula workshop through BirthWorks International in April. This workshop provided invaluable insights into the powerful mother-baby connection, nurture science, and the unique role of a Kangaroula. Despite birthing four children and having over 40 years of neonatal nursing experience, this course was incredibly enriching and transformative.
The instructors, Jill and Dr. Bergman, were not just exceptional; but truly inspiring. Their wealth of knowledge and their contagious passion for the course made the workshop an unforgettable learning experience. The small group setting and interactive discussions further enriched the experience.
As a registered Kangaroula, I am advancing my qualifications by undergoing the certification process. I highly recommend the Kangaroula workshop to doulas and any healthcare professional committed to advancing their practice and supporting the mother-baby dyad.
I am deeply grateful to Jill, Dr. Bergman, and Birthworks International. Their dedication, shared wisdom, and expertise have enriched my professional journey. Thank you for this excellent workshop!
Susie Johnsen, MSN, RN
I am so thankful to have found Cathy and BWI. I have been doing birthwork for 3 years and have been on the fence on certification. The stars aligned and finally feel like I have found community, mentorship, and an organization that is in alignment with my beliefs on birth being sacred. I am thankful to Cathy for sharing so much of her wisdom and to the cohort of amazing women for sharing their knowledge too. I am grateful to sit at the feet of my elders and of the women doing this work. I feel excited and directed to continue on may path. Thank you so much Cathy and BWI.
Julianna Winer, CD, RYT
Full Spectrum Doula
Reproductive Health Educator
Yoga Teacher
San Diego, California
"Thank you BirthWorks for helping to empower women with both the knowledge to make informed choices about birth and the confidence to do so. I am grateful to the movement that laid the foundation for me to be able to have the birth experience I had hoped for!”
I am a family physician with an interest in preventive medicine as well as using lifestyle measures to prevent but also to treat diseases by using various changes in lifestyle choices.
These include eating more plant foods, avoiding stress, moving more and building stronger loving relationships with friends, family and others you encounter on your life's journey.
There is more evidence accumulating that your physical, emotional, and spiritual health can have profound effects on the health and well being of your children, from the time of conception to the end of the first year of life, known as the Primal period.
As Cathy Daub's husband, I have been intimately involved with the development of BWI that began 35 years ago. As a result I have been introduced to the concepts and research on Primal Health by Michel Odent MD which have demonstrated ways in which current birth practices tend to compromise the health of mothers and children who are experiencing various types of trauma and exposure to toxins during the Primal period. However, the hospital & governmental protocols have not changed significantly from the past in supporting pregnant women especially those that are disadvantaged or women of color
Through a focus on the practice of Human Values BWI childbirth education and birth and postpartum doula certification programs build confidence and decrease fear. BWI encourages movement in labor and zero separation of mother and baby at the time of birth to improve birth outcomes and more successful breastfeeding. The research of Nils Bergman MD has led to a major policy change with the World Health Organization that states: "Skin-to-skin contact with a caregiver, known as kangaroo mother care, should start immediately after birth, without any initial period in an incubator."
BirthWorks promotes evidence-based research in all of their programs and uses what they learn from the latest cutting edge information to help birthing parents make decisions right for them. Finding a place where they can feel safe and be respected is essential to having a positive birth experience.
I will never forget the birth of my first child in 1984. Because of the Birthworks education program, I knew what questions to ask when choosing a doctor. My first birth experience was in a birthing center, it was quiet, I was allowed to follow my birth plan and I had a drug free natural labor and delivery. I remember holding my daughter for the first time and saying to my husband that I wanted more children. I had 3 more, all natural. My daughters grew up hearing my birth stories, and when they became pregnant also went to Birthworks for education. Not only for birthing, but also for learning how to care for the baby after birth. They have learned about nursing, kangarooing, and the importance of mom and dad holding the baby skin to skin. The dads are not left out. Watching my sons-in-laws bond with their babies is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to Birthworks, my daughters have all had beautiful natural birthing experiences and my grandkids are some of the happiest babies .
Birthworks is such an amazing organisation and I was so happy to come across it on my search to become a Doula and Childbirth educator. I found an organisation that alined with my values and so passionate about supporting couples to have a positive pregnancy and birthing experience whatever that may look like. Birthworks is committed to provide holistic, compassionate, non judgmental support to pregnant and birthing couples. Cathy was so supportive the whole way through my training and I am so grateful to have met her. Her knowledge about pregnancy and birth is endless and she was so encouraging and always seems to say the right thing. The resources provided to study are very comprehensive. I live in New Zealand so am very happy to be able to share the Birthworks approach with couples in NZ. Thank you Birthworks for your support and dedication. You are amazing!! I am proud to be part of this family.
I took the Kangaroula training with Nils and Jill's Bergaman on a scholarship. This is the missing piece to every doula training: How to advocate not only for mom but baby too. They go through mind blowing research that changes your perspective on how important it is to keep mom and baby together and how it's impacting a baby's long term health. Thank you Nils and Jil for spreading the information!
I really enjoyed the Kangaroula training I did through BWI. Learning from Dr. Nils Bergman and Jill was an absolute treat. I appreciated the didactic and experiential ways of teaching/learning. At first I was worried that the training would t be as enriching being that it was online, but this did not end up being the case at all. I enjoyed the review of research to set the stage for understanding why Kangaroula care is so important. The training was full of information that I was able to apply to my career as a therapist and doula.
BirthWorks philosophy goes to the heart of birth. The Human Values approach to birth is unique to BirthWorks International. When Human Values are put into practice, the result is empowerment and transformation. How amazing that believing in the simple Truth - that women are born with the knowledge about how to give birth - has such an impact. One who believes in this Truth can say, "Now I believe my body is wise and I can have trust and faith in it to guide me through birth." Learning how to integrate the mind, body, and spirit is powerful, and increases confidence and decreases fear in birth and in life. The training is comprehensive and evidence-based. Putting the "Four Principles of Optimal Pelvic Positioning" into practice encourages an easier labor and birth. Learning about physical and behavioral characteristics of hormones, breastfeeding, relationships with our mothers, primal health where nurture science of mother/baby skin-to-skin contact is the new neuroscience, grieving and healing, nutrition and more - become immersed in the BirthWorks Experience and feel an inner joy that goes to the core of who you really are.
BirthWorks is an amazing organization to certify through as a doula and/or birth educator. For expecting parents, they are on the forefront of the research, providing evidence-based information to birthing families. They support a holistic approach to birth that leaves women feeling empowered and more in tune with their ability to give birth.
Birthworks strengthened my partnership with my husband during our 2nd and 3rd births, and empowered me to speak up for what I wanted from my practioners and support people. I learned so much about myself through the program, and it's still relevant years later.
BirthWorks changed my life! There is no other way to state it. My first encounter with BW was in 1987 during my second pregnancy. I had a c-section in 1983 and knew that I wanted a different childbirth education experience than I had the first time. I wanted something that aligned with my beliefs and instincts that birth is a normal, natural and transformative experience - not a potential medical crisis that needed to occur in the hospital with the highest level NICU. I wanted to experience a different birth, hopefully a VBAC, and knew that I needed knowledge, confidence, and support. I learned about what was then called the Cesarean Prevention Movement (CPM) which later became the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). I found a local BW instructor who prepared my husband and me in every way - intellectually, emotionally, and physically. After my beautiful VBAC in 1987 I felt in my heart that I wanted to share BW with others and in 1990 became a BW Certified Childbirth Educator. A proud accomplishment as a busy mother of two! Being a BW CCE was immensely gratifying. I loved the women and couples in my classes. I loved seeing their growth, their letting go of beliefs, fears, and grief that might interfere with their natural abilities and instincts about giving birth. I loved having them in my home so that my young children could grow up seeing pregnancy as normal and healthy and could casually pass by the TV screen while a video was playing of a woman birthing with joy and passion in whatever position and in whatever place she needed, rather than with panic and crisis as birth is typically depicted in movies and television. My work with BW expanded when I became a Trainer and led Teacher Training Workshops around the country. I also contributed to the creation of the Doula Training Program. Having said all of this...the greatest takeaways that I have from being a part of BirthWorks are the changes I experienced within myself. I am a champion of birthing peoples' rights to seek a birth experience that they own and that is not controlled by others. I know that each and every birth is a miracle and that there is no one type of birth that is "better" than others. I am a less judgmental person having learned that we are all doing our best in every moment and that we can forgive ourselves and others for things that happened in the past in order to move forward with positivity and faith. All these years later, seeing pregnant and breastfeeding women still thrills me every time. They are all beautiful and powerful and I wish them the same love that I was surrounded by through BirthWorks.
Birthworks is incredible. It's focus and intent is to help women have a positive birth experience, regardless of actual outcomes. By helping women learn to trust their instincts and trust their bodies and the wonderful instinctual process that is involved in growing a baby and then delivering it, women are empowered to fully immerse themselves in the laboring process.
Birthworks also provides true and full informed consent regarding possible interventions in labor. Because of this, women can have a positive birth experience even if that means a cesarean section. They know enough to ask the right questions and are an integral part of the decision making when a labor goes awry. They don't feel robbed of their labor experience. That said, Birthworks' emphasis on the instinctive nature of labor, trusting that process, really helps to avoid unnecessary cesarean sections.
We live with our birth experiences all our lives. It is wonderful to feel positive about such a meaningful event.
As a mother of four children, and grandmother of eight grandchildren, I have been involved in the natural childbirth movement for over fifty years. I have seen many types of childbirth classes come and go. Each has, perhaps, contributed in its own way to our knowledge of birthing, but none has offered the kind of comprehensive, holistic and empowering preparation for birth as BirthWorks. The BirthWorks program is transformative.
My personal relationship with BirthWorks goes all the way back to its beginning, when I was expecting my fourth child after a previous cesarean section. After meeting Cathy Daub at a conference, and learning about the possibility of vaginal birth after cesarean, I gained the confidence to have my own successful VBAC.
This experience, and the knowledge which made it possible, was so inspiring that I went on to take BirthWorks’ very first pilot program for training childbirth educators, and eventually became a certified BirthWorks childbirth educator.
I am happy to say that over the years, I have been able to pass this knowledge on to my growing family. I am confident the core teaching of BirthWorks, that our bodies know how to give birth, played a decisive role in the beautiful births of each of my eight grandchildren, most of whose births I attended.
BirthWorks childbirth preparation is different in that it is dynamic and meant to be an experience that engages one’s whole being, body, mind and soul. Cathy Daub and the other dedicated contributors to the body of BirthWorks knowledge, are true visionaries who have pioneered childbirth education to a whole new level, and who continue to incorporate cutting edge information as it is gained.
I am proud to have been a part of BirthWorks for so many years, and I wholeheartedly recommend BirthWorks to prospective parents who are seeking a deeper, more fulfilling way of bringing a child into the world.
The philosophy of BirthWorks provides the optimal balance of evidence-based practice and centering the birthing person. There is no checklist or cookie cutter approach to its childbirth educator certification, but rather a thoughtful process that brings out the strengths of the educator and makes for a transformational process. The BirthWorks approach is unlike any other and gave me a foundational understanding of how to best help families. I am so grateful for this program.
The vision and values of BirthWorks International resonate with me and fundamentally transformed my personal and professional relationship with maternity and the perinatal period. The Birthworks events I have attended have positively impacted my approach in supporting women in their own prenatal care and deliveries in my work doing Family Medicine with Obstetrics. It also prepared me for the births of my own two daughters. My experience in medical school focused on problems that could occur within prenatal care and childbirth in order to prevent or treat them. Birthworks was a valuable addition to my knowledge by expanding it to recognize the innate ability and empowering role birth has in women’s lives. I appreciate the pelvic positioning, perinatal, and postpartum work done as well and recommend Birthworks wholeheartedly.
My heart is filled with ecstatic joy when I partner with this company. My wisdom comes from the knowledge I have obtained from these beautiful, life giving, and inspiring people. They are truly dedicated to serving individuals wanting to grow in their capacity to understand and give families all the tools they need to make the best educated decisions for their families.
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