Kim James BDT(DONA), ICCE, LCCE, CLE, NA-C

Throughout her 25-year career, Kim James has made significant contributions to childbirth education and advancing the work of doulas through her work as a birth and parenting educator at Parent Trust for Washington Children, adjunct faculty and DONA-approved trainer at the Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations at Bastyr University and as a certified doula with the Swedish Doula Program at the Swedish Medical Centers in Seattle Washington. Kim has also held multiple volunteer roles in the organizations through which she is certified.

Session

Getting Into Active Labor: Reaffirming the Doula’s Role During this Critical Physiologic Phase

In this session we’ll examine case studies, review the recommendations in the latest version of the Birth Partner and our DONA International training manual to recommit ourselves to supporting the often-overlooked physiological phase of labor: “Getting into Active Labor”. We’ll also explore how the alarming trend of doulas delaying and denying support until medically active labor started, and how we can reverse this trend to prevent client harm. You’ll leave this session with new tools, language, graphics and ideas for how to better support your clients during the “Getting into Active Labor” phase. This session qualifies for 1.5 (DONA/CA-BRN) contact hours.

Session

Training Experienced Doulas: Increasing the Pleasure and Avoiding the Pitfalls (Trainers Track)

With the introduction of 3^rd party payments for doula support, significantly more experienced doulas are seeking certification for the first time. Seasoned doulas bring a different dynamic to the doula training and navigating the needs of the seasoned doula and the new doula can be challenging. We’ll examine the typical needs and motivations of the seasoned doula and how to incorporate the seasoned doula’s experience to enrich and enliven the training environment for everyone’s benefit. This session is for DONA trainers only.