Doula Training: Why Weekend Courses Are Not Enough

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The weekend doula trainings have got to go. There, we said it. Read our OPEN LETTER HERE: https://bebomia.com/weekendopenletter/

In this video, we talk honestly about why weekend doula training became so common and why it does not meet the reality of what doulas are actually being asked to do in the world today. Compressing education into two days leaves no real space for reflection, practice, or integration, and educational research consistently shows that spaced learning leads to stronger skill development, better judgment, and long term confidence.

Doula work requires trauma informed care, emotional regulation, evidence based decision making, adaptability, and the ability to respond to complex systems like hospitals that are not always safe or equitable. Those skills take time. We fight for practice based care every single day, so it makes no sense to accept practice based doula education.

Two days is not enough. If a hospital rushed your birth, we would call that harm. When a training rushes your education, that is harm too.

This matters even more for doulas from equity seeking communities who often come into this work to serve their own people. They carry lived experience, fire, and purpose, yet are too often offered the shortest, cheapest, fastest path and quietly expected to accept less. Short trainings leave doulas feeling unprepared and unsupported, and when systems fail them, they blame themselves instead of the structure that failed to prepare them.

This does not mean weekend courses are useless. It means they are not enough on their own and they need to be marketed honestly as an introduction, not a full preparation. Without that clarity, new doulas spend time, money, and emotional energy trying to figure out what they do not know while already supporting real clients.

📍 In this video, you will learn:
✅ Why weekend doula trainings became popular
✅ What research says about rushed learning
✅ Why doula skills require time and integration
✅ How short trainings impact confidence and burnout
✅ What needs to change in doula education

👉 Next video: If weekend training is not enough, what actually makes doula training comprehensive.