A "doula" is a person who provides continuous one-to-one support to women during labor and delivery. A doula understands the course of normal birth and provides emotional and physical support to the mother and her family.
Carla Stange and Marilyn Lemos have developed an on-line doula training course which will include a hands-on training period in Mendocino.

to honor the birthing rights of all women.
• Honor the instinctive and intuitive nature of the doula role:
• Enhance the doula's understanding and recognition of birth as a key life experience;
• Enhance the doula’s purpose to support women in the physical, emotional, and social needs during pregnancy, birth and postpartum;
• Teach doulas to support women in birth thereby decreasing the amount and frequency of interventions and unnecessary procedures used in hospitals;
• Protect the goals and desires of the birthing woman. |