DCI Annual CPD Training
25th/26th January 2025
Are you a dedicated doula, birth worker, yoga teacher, midwife, baby massage instructor or maternity nurse seeking to enhance your skills and deepen your understanding of diverse client needs during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum?
Look no further! Our CPD Weekend is designed with you in mind, bringing together a stellar lineup of expert speakers to empower and inspire you.
Email : info@doulacare.ie with any queries
Are you working in maternity services in Ireland? Are you supporting clients through pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period?
Join us for a weekend of learning, growth, and diversity!
Our CPD Weekend is designed for birth workers, doulas, midwives, or anyone supporting clients during pregnancy, birth, or postpartum.
The event will run online and we have amazing guest speakers.
You can book one or both days (with a discount offered for anyone booking the whole weekend).
WHY ATTEND?
Our talks have been chosen to help you upskill yourself and improve your knowledge. You will learn how to provide better support to your clients and gain insights into the unique challenges faced by diverse communities.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours are essential for birth workers, postnatal supporters, doulas, midwives and more to maintain their professional development and stay up-to-date with the latest research and best practices.
By attending our trainings, you will earn CPD hours while gaining valuable insights into how to provide better support to your clients.
Embrace Diversity: Explore the beauty of diverse birth and postpartum experiences and learn essential tools to provide inclusive and compassionate care to all your clients.
Boost Your Confidence: Equip yourself with the latest information and strategies to navigate the unique challenges that may arise in diverse birth and postpartum scenarios.
Professional Development: Earn CPD hours to enrich your professional portfolio, demonstrating your commitment to ongoing learning and excellence in birth or postpartum support (a Certificate of attendance will be given to all participants).
Live on Zoom: Engage in real-time with our speakers and fellow participants, fostering connection and interaction from the comfort of your own home.
Recorded Sessions: Can't make it live? No worries! Access the recorded sessions at your convenience, ensuring you don't miss out on valuable content.
Grow your network: We schedule actives that help to foster peer support networks, getting to know other professionals and connecting with similar experiences.
Invest in Your Personal Growth and your Business – Secure Your Spot Today!
WHEN?
25th Jan : 10.30-3pm
26th Jan : 10.30am-3pm
WHERE?
Join us from the comfort of your own home and experience the convenience of attending our online event via Zoom. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from top industry experts, and gain valuable insights that will help you grow your career.
All our Speakers will be offering the chance to ask questions at the end of their talk to those attending the event live.
For those of you who cannot make the day in person, don’t worry, you can still book in and we will send you on the recording so you can watch in your own time.
WHO?
Our goal for the weekend is to help you build confidence in your knowledge and connection with your peers , and we have invited industry experts to share their knowledge and experience on supporting clients from different backgrounds.
All talks will be recorded and sent to anyone who would like to attend but cannot make it on the live Zoom training.
SPEAKER 1:
Helen Ball
Saturday 27th January
Infant sleep—what Doula's need to know
In this talk Helen will explore how and why babies sleep as they do, and how to help parents develop realistic expectations of their baby’s sleep. We will consider different perspectives for conceptualising ‘normal’ infant sleep, and how these influence parents’ concerns and anxieties. I will share resources that doulas can use to signpost parents to appropriate support and strategies when they experience difficulties with infant sleep.
About Helen:
Professor (Dr) Helen Ball is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre, & Baby Sleep Information Source (BASIS), Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK. She researches the sleep ecology and behaviour of parents and babies, infant sleep development, and the discordance between biological and cultural views on sleep. Her research is used in national and international policy and practice guidelines on infant care, and was awarded the 2018 Queen’s Anniversary Prize. Her book How Babies Sleep will be published by Penguin Random House in May 2025.
Find out more about the work Helen does here
SPEAKER 2:
NIAMH CASSIDY
Saturday 27th January 1:30PM - 3PM
Neurodiversity in Maternity Care.
In this interactive workshop Niamh will delve into the unique challenges and considerations surrounding pregnancy, labour, birth and the maternity system for Neurodivergent people.
The workshop aims to develop an understanding of how neurodivergent traits can impact people's experiences of this life stage.
The sensory sensitivities, communication styles, and executive functioning differences commonly associated with neurodivergencies such as autism and ADHD will be explored with a view to giving doulas the information and skill sets to ensure their own services are ND friendly and so they can tailor their support to meet these specific set of clients needs in the maternity system and beyond.
About Niamh: Niamh Cassidy is a childbirth educator and Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant in Private Practice and specialises in VBAC and Breastfeeding Workshops. She is also the Founder of The Pregnancy & Postnatal Entrepreneurs Collective which aims to support self employed birth and postpartum workers to grow their businesses without compromising their ethics. After going on the journey of discovery and diagnosis with her son she realised that all of their similarities were also all the 'traits' that led to his diagnosis and at the age of 40 Niamh was officially diagnosed with ADHD also.
You can find out more about Niamh and the work she does here.
SPEAKER 3:
MICHELLE MAYEFSKE
Sunday 28th January
Six Steps You Can Take to Become a More Size-Inclusive Professional
This conversation will cover practical ways birth and postpartum professionals can make their services more inclusive for all families, including those with larger bodies.
The topics covered include: addressing your own bias, what weight stigma is and how it impacts the care people receive, common experiences of plus size folks and how you can ensure you are not unintentionally contributing to systemic harm.
About Michelle: Michelle Mayefske is a certified birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator, fat activist and author. She has made it her mission to change the way people approach plus pregnancy and birth. Through her teaching and social media networks, she seeks to empower and educate plus size expecting parents-and their birth partners-so they may seek the positive birth they want and deserve. Her ongoing trainings for birth professionals are paving the way in increasing truly size inclusive care across the globe.
You can find out more about Michelle and the work she does here:
Discounted rate for members of the DoulaCare Academy or the Doula Association of Ireland or Cuidiu (please email us if you are unsure of the discount code): info@doulacare.ie
Certificate of Attendence can be provided for anyone who attends the talks.
We hope to see you there!
Please Note:
These trainings are taking place live on Zoom. If you cannot attend please let us know and we can send on the recording to you. Recordings can only be sent on to anyone who has booked in beforehand and will only be available for 7 days.
Any questions: please email: info@doulacare.ie