Friday, October 12, 2018

Bereavement Doula Training comparisons

I thought since I had posted about bereavement month; we would take a closer look at the various bereavement doula trainings that are out there.

Where I was trained through: Chantal Lockey's Program:
http://www.foundationforinfantloss.co.uk/
This is titled Foundation for Infant Loss -- This program is great even though UK based. It has wonderful information in it.


Courses list (Alphabetical order)

Amy Glenn Wright has a training program available seasonally (January and July): http://www.birthbreathanddeath.com/institute/pregnancy-loss/
This one is a timed online course and you have to keep up with it - she offers it about two times a year like in July and January - so it is not easy to get into this one - like if you want to study in May you are out of luck - so really have to consider if you can meet during the times the class meets online or not.

Baby Loss Advisors
This link has the certification requirements: http://www.babylossfamilyadvisors.org/certification.html
This is another online training course.

Resolve Through Sharing Bereavement Training -- in person only website link is here;
http://www.gundersenhealth.org/resolve-through-sharing/bereavement-training/
I don't know that much about these in person workshops.

Baby Loss Advisors
This link has the certification requirements: http://www.babylossfamilyadvisors.org/certification.html
This is another online training course.

Mother Love Pregnancy Loss is a program that has had training for bereavement - http://motherloveloss.weebly.com 

Certified Sorrowful Doula -- Our Lady of Sorrows Bereavement Training:
This one is based on Our Lady's sorrows and also Alan Wolfet's book. It is a great course and many students have liked this class. 

http://www.catholicdoula.com/our-lady-of-sorrows-bereavement.html

OK, I just updated this to give some updated info. However, some of these may now have online programs that were in person - so check and ask. 





Thursday, October 11, 2018

Miscarriage Remembrance month

Miscarriage Remembrance month 

The month of October has been dubbed "Miscarriage remembrance month". I don't know who started it, but I think it is nice to have a time to remember our losses as mothers. The day of October 15th is also a special day during this month dedicated to this theme. 

What not to say to someone who just miscarried: "You can have another one." That is just plain rude. Respect this mother's loss. The best thing is to give her a hug, tell her "Sorry for your loss, I'll be praying for you or other kind words." Say it from the heart; that's what important. 

Sometimes a mother isn't sure if she had a miscarriage or not, but it just felt like that 'cycle' was off and not right or something. Verifying by a test didn't confirm (but some of those tests at the store are not going to show real low doses of Human Growth Hormone anyway). The mother may have just felt more crampy; didn't seem that this was the right "timing" for the cycle, etc. Whatever the symptoms, she can go to her doctor to find out more info. He may or may not be able to confirm the miscarriage, but he can do hormonal tests to see what might be off balance. Both estrogen and progesterone levels need to be right; if something is off balance esp. progesterone a miscarriage can happen because of hormonal imbalances. There are of course many other possible causes. A chromosomal disorder could also cause a miscarriage. 

If a mother goes to the doctor, she may hear the terms "spontaneous abortion". This is just another term for miscarriage; not to mean the willful act of killing the fetus at any stage of pregnancy (abortion on demand). Anyway, if the mother was further along in a pregnancy; she may want to make sure that the placenta and any other things were miscarried properly. (also called "products of conception"). If there is retained placenta, then the doctor may want to order a D and C procedure in order to get the placenta out, etc. (Dilation and curettage procedure will clean out the uterus of anything that may remain -- also sometimes done if the baby was confirmed dead and does not miscarry on its own). This procedure can cause pain for the mother and she will need time to recover. 

If you hear of a mother having a D &C, offer to help her out for a week doing tasks, or just brining meals, etc. I am sure she will totally appreciate this help. She may have other children; offer to babysit for a day or something as another option of helping. 

Bereavement doulas -- what's that? 
A bereavement doula helps mothers during their time of loss. She will come to the hospital if a hospital procedure (like D & C) is being done. If the mother is having an induction because of stillbirth, the bereavement doula can come in and help the mother during this time just like a regular doula. The only difference is that this doula is trained in bereavement issues and knows how to support this better than a regular doula. 

Remembering the child or naming the child:
If the baby was an early loss and no "body" to bury, the child can still be remembered by naming the child a special name. This can be a girl or boy name or gender neutral. It doesn't matter. The child is loved. 
Burying the baby or stillborn: Check with funeral homes to see if there is discount for stillbirth, etc. Check with your local parishes to see if there is any ministry that helps with parents during this time of loss. 
Remember your baby is "in the arms of God" and we should trust God the soul of our beloved babies that have been lost. 

Resources for mothers. I am including a short resource list for mothers. You can also learn about the bereavement course that I help work with. 

First of all Bereavement book giveaway -- go to www.catholicdoula.com and enter the giveaway on front page (second tab) fill out form. Catholic Doula is giving away "Anchored", "Empty Arms" and "How children Grieve." 

Second of all: If you find bereavement doula training an idea that you may want to pursue, we recommend Catholic Doula's "Certified Sorrowful Doula" training: http://www.catholicdoula.com/our-lady-of-sorrows-bereavement.html

Need a bereavement doula? Please ask above for more info on this as well. We are currently re-constructing our site: http://findacatholicdoula.weebly.com

More bereavement resources: www.pregnancylossnetwork.com

Photography for stillbirth, etc: https://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

Friday, November 13, 2015

B.L.O.O.M. (BLOOM) Program Training by Catholic Doula

What is B.L.O.O.M.? -- "Sponsored by Catholic Doula Program: www.catholicdoula.com "
Bettering Lives of Outstanding Moms is a new pregnancy and postpartum outreach for mothers. BLOOM our acronym is becoming a new trend to help mothers in pregnancy to postpartum phase.
There is two versions of B.L.O.O.M. The Pregnancy support group program is tied into the Catholic Doula Program’s birth doula program if a person opts-in to do this with the training. There is also a B.L.O.O.M. Postpartum program that is tied into Catholic Postpartum program and this focuses more on postpartum issues.
The in person workshop training for B.L.O.O.M. will be held on December 11, 2015 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Frisco, TX and will be held from 11:30 Am to 4:00 PM. Since it is just a partial day workshop, we will be focusing on the BLOOM Pregnancy training only in this workshop. You will still need to do a few assignments, etc. after the workshop (unless you are already a trained leader such as La Leche League–then we will consider waiving some of this). Cost of this workshop is $50 a person (or $75 if you order early and want a book included). We must have 3 registered by December 4, 2015 in order to keep the room for our class. Please go to http://bloomprogram.weebly.com and follow the links about the workshop. You can also find it on Eventbrite.com. Please register early. God Bless.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Welcome to our new blog!

Welcome to Catholic Doula Program Blog. 

We are starting this blog to hear from our students and graduates and to post interesting articles for those who do not do facebook! Plus, we would like to connect with other doulas that are Catholic even if they have gone through other training programs--welcome!

Bereavement Doula Training comparisons

I thought since I had posted about bereavement month; we would take a closer look at the various bereavement doula trainings that are out th...