Volunteer Info

Current Volunteers

Click here for information and paperwork.

Steps to Becoming a Volunteer

1. Complete DONA Birth or Post Partum Doula Training (see  Center for the Childbearing Year, www.center4cby.com/what-is-a-doula.html). If you have already completed doula training through another organization, simply provide evidence that this is the case.
2. Sign up for and attend the Volunteer Orientation - pre-registration is required. Once you have completed this free training, you will be registered as a volunteer in the program and will be eligible to receive client referrals.
3. Register for and attend the Outreach Worker Training within 6 months after becoming a volunteer with the program.

Volunteer Orientation Schedule for 2010

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION, Part I

Part I Orientations are held from 6:30-9:30 pm at Doulas Care, 2500 Packard, Suite 101, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 - Call or email to register for one of the following dates.

Dates for 2010 are: Thurs., July 8; Tues., Aug 24; Tues., Dec 7

This free three-hour training will introduce you to the Doulas Care Program and prepare you to begin to receive client referrals. You will meet the staff who administer the program, as well as other volunteer doulas. You will learn how the referral process works, how to use program forms with your clients, how to access community resources, how to screen for depression, and the overall policies and procedures for volunteers. Beverages and snacks are provided. You will also receive a personalized nametag, and Orientation Manual for attending this training.

OUTREACH WORKER TRAINING, Part II

Saturday, 8:30am-5pm

2010 date to be announced soon

This full-day free training focuses on issues of risk and other challenges of working as a volunteer for Doulas Care. Volunteers must attend this training at the earliest opportunity after completing the initial orientation session. We will cover: the doula’s role regarding medical and social risks, domestic violence awareness, values clarification, cultural competency and the needs of unique groups, establishing boundaries with clients, postpartum depression, and more. Breakfast and lunch are provided.

Scholarship Program for Aspiring Doulas

A limited number of Birth Doula and Postpartum Doula Training scholarships are available to qualified candidates interested in serving as volunteer doulas with the Doulas Care Program. Scholarships cover the full cost of training, including the prerequisite classes and the two-part Volunteer Orientation training. You must be available for all dates in the package to be eligible. Scholarships for doula training are provided as a means of ensuring that the Doulas Care Program stays community-based. Women who have a passion for working with mothers during the childbearing year are recruited from targeted communities served by Doulas Care. Women who receive scholarships are trained and then engaged as a skilled support person for other women in their community.

In exchange for training, scholarship recipients provide free birth services for a minimum of five pregnant women or 50 hours of free postpartum care within 18 months after training. An effort is made in the recruitment process to attract low-income women seeking career opportunities as well as women who may already be serving informally as untrained doulas to women in their communities. Through the scholarship program we are making more doulas available and ensuring that cost of training will not be a prohibitive factor to anyone who has it in her heart to do this work. The scholarship program offered by Doulas Care in collaboration with The Center for the Childbearing Yearwhich provides the DONA approved Doula training, is grant and donor funded to support our efforts to ensure we can provide a doula to every woman who wants one, regardless of ability to pay.

If awarded a scholarship, you will be asked to sign a contract that summarizes your agreement to provide free doula services to low-income families as outlined below. We ask that all applicants give serious consideration to their ability to follow through on this commitment in a timely manner.

If you have questions about your eligibility for a scholarship or about the application process, you can address all questions to Marylee Scherdt, Director of Doulas Care, 734-332-8070 or email Doulas Care.

Click here here for training dates, applicant criteria, and scholarship application materials.

Volunteer Info

• Doula Scholarships
• Current Forms