Become a professional, trained birth doula with Birthing From Within. Hosted by Blooma and taught by highly experienced and credible experts, this program is designed to lay the groundwork for becoming a fully-certified doula. Your journey to becoming a trusted birth companion begins here, April 23rd – 27th, 2026.
Bring heart and soul into childbirth preparation and support in this five day in-person doula training, hosted at Blooma and facilitated by Birthing From Within. This training combines a unique embodied Birthing from Within retreat and dynamic hands-on and interactive learning to bring you a workshop experience like no other.
Birthing From Within’s training focuses on honoring the knowledge and lived experience of the mentor and the parent, and challenging trainees to shift their lens towards self-compassion, flexibility, and resilience. The weekend will dive deeply into childbirth preparation and support, tapping into ancient inner knowing in conjunction with evidence-based modern knowing, and teach you to provide meaningful guidance to those in their childbearing years. Enjoy a space created for intentional self-exploration, skill development, and new learning about birth with storytelling, art, ritual, dialogue, and community connection.
Begin your journey with online self-paced learning, attend four full days and one half day (35 hours) of in-person training, and conclude with continued self-paced modules.
In-person and online learning topics include a combination of foundational, professional, and practical skills, birth justice, and exclusive Birthing from Within processes and frameworks.
The certification process includes the following:
-Be a current member with Birthing from Within. Annual membership is required in order to become certified, as well as to maintain lifetime certification.
-Complete the Doula from Within training. This includes:
—Attending the in-person workshop in full.
—Finishing the online pre- and post- event learning modules.
—Completing the Reading List and the accompanying documentation.
—Attend a minimum of 4 births after completing your in-person workshop and submit the following documentation for each birth.
—Client confidentiality release form.
—Prenatal visit documentation, covering required objectives.
—Evaluations from client and care provider.*
—Postpartum visit documentation, covering required objectives.
—Personal reflection prompts.
-Submit your Community Resource List.
-Pay the $150 Certification Fee.
-Schedule and complete a one hour final evaluation meeting with a BfW trainer.
-This application and all required documentation must be submitted within 2 years of completing your in-person training. Please allow 2-4 weeks for processing and review.
The workshop will be held in-person at Blooma. The address is 5315 Lyndale Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55419.
The workshop schedule is the following:
-Thursday, April 24th from 4-8pm
-Friday, April 25th from 9:30am – 5:30pm
-Saturday, April 26th from 9:30am – 5:30pm
-Sunday, April 27th from 9:30am – 5:30pm
-Monday, April 28th from 9:30am – 5:30pm
Snacks, water, and tea will be included in each full day session. There will be a lunch break where you can bring your own lunch or pop out to a local restaurant or grocery store nearby.
Please plan to bring a notebook, pen, and chalk (not oil) pastels. We are a shoe-free studio, so please plan to bring any other items you need to feel comfortable – slippers, comfortable layers, additional snacks, etc.
Yes. Blooma’s mission has always been and remains the empowerment of all people; in 2007, we started our work in the Twin Cities to support and uplift all types of families and all types of birth choices. We acknowledge the beautiful linguistic, racial & cultural diversity in the Twin Cities; we also acknowledge the gaps in accessibility to healthcare & wellness services that lead to health disparities that primarily affect women of color.
We’re deeply committed to the work of closing the care gaps in maternal health. If you are interested in applying for financial assistance please fill out an application.
A full refund is available for cancellations 3 months or more in advance. Blooma will not offer refunds with less than 3 months notice. If you will be unable to attend this training for any reason, please contact us as soon as possible.
Completion of the training does not guarantee a job, however, we are often hiring at Blooma and looking for passionate, experienced, dedicated individuals. At the completion of your training, certification and a minimum of 12 births attended, if you are interested in working at Blooma, you can email terra@blooma.com for more information.
For Christy, Birthing From Within is about remembering that becoming a parent is an ancient rite of passage. Birthing From Within offers a precious gift to parents: time and space to slow down, be, and listen within, while being witnessed and unconditionally supported. She was drawn to birthwork because of the transformative potential of the childbearing year. When she read Birthing From Within during her second pregnancy, she felt for the first time that she was not alone in this knowledge. Birthing From Within also connected with her love of art, and ignited a new passion: storytelling.
In addition to being a Birthing From Within facilitator, Christy is a bilingual (Spanish/English) birth doula, Intentional Creativity teacher, and director of a community-based nonprofit that supports expectant parents and incarcerated women in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I am honored to be one of Birthing From Within’s co-owners and stewards, alongside Lauren Vallone.
I’ve been a member of the BfW community since 2004 and have served as an advisor to new mentors for over a decade. After reading the book Birthing from Within at my first doula training in 2003, I felt called to join the mission of changing the conversation about birth in my culture, and finding ways to honor and celebrate birth as a rite of passage. Over the next twelve years, I had an opportunity to study with and learn from Pam England, Britta Bushnell, Virginia Bobro, and a variety of other wise mentors. The BfW methods and philosophy are not just something I practice with parents in preparation for birth — they inform and guide my life personally and allow me to stay curious as a lifelong learner.
As a birth and postpartum doula and childbirth educator, I have served hundreds of families over the past twenty years, and witnessed the capacity that birth has to be a transformational experience for everyone involved. In 2018, I became a trainer with BfW and now work primarily supporting other birth professionals through the lens of birth as a heroic journey. In 2021, I became a steward and co-owner of Birthing from Within, alongside Lauren Vallone. I also work as a doula consultant to help establish equitable community doula programs in hospital systems. This work fuels my passion for the intersection of birth and social justice work and my desire to be an agent of change in the world.
In addition to my passion for birthwork, I have a deep love for and fascination with the natural world. I feel most at peace on a still lake in a kayak with my little dog, Lula Bell, or getting my hands dirty in the garden and tuning into the cycles and rhythms of the earth. I am excited to offer you guidance with the ancient maps for modern birth. I look forward to walking alongside you on your journey, and watching you grow as a mentor.
