Advanced Prison Doula Training and Certification Application Form

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Ostara Initiative is offering an experiential Advanced Prison Doula Training and Certification from November 4-6 in Montgomery, Alabama. With integrated learning at the Equal Justice Initiative and the Mothers of Gynecology memorial, we will trace pathways of slavery and gender oppression to modern day pregnancy and parenting inside US prisons.

Ostara is a women-founded and women-led, hybrid, non-profit organization based in Minnesota and Alabama. We search for solutions in the soil, seed, and root of our communities, government, and institutions. Our work challenges the destructive tendencies of for-profit prisons and related businesses as well as the chasm between the carceral state and community-based support.

We exist to collectively transform systems by reimagining justice, advancing health, and reclaiming dignity in our policies and practices for all pregnant and parenting people. Our goal is to end prison birth in America.

This training will give you the tools you need to successfully care for, support, and empower pregnant and parenting people who are involved in the criminal justice system. Our trainers have decades of experience combined, both as doulas and as former birthing clients, and we take our aim to center the voices and experiences of directly impacted parents seriously.

The training and certification will cost $720, not including travel or lodging costs. There will be opportunities for full and partial scholarships, as well as the option to pay slightly more on a sliding scale to support low-income birth workers hoping to attend this training and receive certification.

Core learning will include:
- Creating culturally congruent teams
- Centering lived experience in your work
- A prison doula's "Scope of Practice "
- Understanding the prison landscape
- Pathways to incarceration
- Tracing the history of systemic oppression
- Trauma, addiction, and mental health
- Nutrition within carceral settings
- Boundaries, safety, and self care for the doula
- How children are impacted by incarceration
- Reunification and resources
- Supporting birth as a prison doula
- Supporting separation as a prison doula
- Supporting postpartum as a prison doula
- Program evaluation
- Advocacy and access
- Lactation within carceral settings
- Prenatal education within carceral settings

Ostara is seeking to teach, mentor, and certify trained or experienced birth workers who are already working with justice-impacted and marginalized populations and those who have a direct pathway to working within carceral settings, including juvenile detention, immigrant detention, community corrections, jails, and prisons. To ensure we are able to properly mentor each doula who completes the training workshop, we are only able to offer a limited number of spaces at this time. We will be saving every applicant's contact information and reaching out about future training opportunities, so if you are not selected to attend at this time, there may still be an opportunity to come.

We will be accepting applications until July 15, 2022. You will hear back about admission and scholarship awards by July 31, 2022.

Please reach out to rfreeman-cook@ostarainitiative.org with any questions about this form or the application process.

Email *

What is your name? *

Please provide your preferred phone number and mailing address for communication purposes. *

Where are you from? Where do you work? *

Are you trained as a doula? Please describe the training process and note how long have you been practicing. *

Are you certified as a birth doula? (not a requirement) *

Yes

Do you have an established pathway to work as a doula in a jail or prison? If so, please describe that connection and name the facility you plan to work in. *

Do you have experience working with incarcerated parents? If so, please describe. *

Please tell us a bit about why you're interested in this training, and why you're pursuing prison birth work. *

Please tell us about the unique dimensions of diversity you bring to this work. *

Has your life been directly impacted by the criminal legal system? If so (and if you feel comfortable), please describe. *

What inspires you? *

Do you have any unique learning needs? *

Do you have the ability to travel to Montgomery, Alabama and secure lodging? *

Would you be comfortable sharing lodging with other attendees? *

Yes

Other:

If "yes" to the previous question, can we share your contact info with other attendees to facilitate lodging together?

Yes

Clear selection

Do you intend to apply for a scholarship? *

Yes

Is your ability to attend this training dependent on whether or not you receive a scholarship? *

Do you have any questions for Ostara?

Send me a copy of my responses.

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