Why I built this
I have attended more than 1,500 births and trained more than 10,000 doulas. I am a DONA International approved birth doula trainer, a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, a Certified Lactation Counselor, and a professor of public health. I was the lead educator for DONA's Train the Trainer program, and I have written on childbirth education and doula support for thirty years, including a chapter in the fifth edition of Simkin's Labor Progress Handbook.
The reason I built the Doula Mentoring Collective is simpler than any of that.
I kept watching good doulas leave. Not because they were bad at birth work. Because nobody had taught them the other half of the job: what to charge, how to find clients, what to put in writing, what to do in a slow season, how to keep going when you are the only doula you know.
I ran a mentoring program for years and heard the same conversation over and over. A doula who was close to quitting, who needed one person to sit across from them and say here is what to do, here is why, and here is what I would do if I were you.
That is what this is. On a schedule, with the recordings kept, and at a price a working doula can actually pay.
What I bring is direct experience and an unwillingness to pretend the business side is easy. I will tell you what I would do in your shoes, show you the templates I have built, and stay honest about what works and what does not.
Robin Elise Weiss, PhD, MPH, MSHPE, CPH, LCCE, CLC, AdvCD(DONA), PMH-C
- DONA International approved birth doula trainer, BDT(DONA)
- Advanced Certified Birth Doula, AdvCD(DONA), one of the first twenty in the world
- Lead educator for DONA's Train the Trainer program
- More than 1,500 births attended
- More than 10,000 doulas trained
- Professor of public health; PhD in Public Health Sciences
- Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator and Fellow of the Academy of Certified Childbirth Educators
- Certified Lactation Counselor and Perinatal Mental Health Certified
Certifications and affiliations
