Join other BIPC students in gaining instruction and experience in providing safe, culturally competent care to birthing people in out-of-hospital settings.
Students will learn under the guidance of BIPOC Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Professional Midwives with a combined 30 plus years of clinical experience caring for birthing people and babies in the home, hospital, and birth center settings.
This is an opportunity for active and aspiring birth assistants and midwifery students to learn and practice essential skills for assisting a midwife during the late pregnancy, birth, and postpartum periods. Students will also form connections and bonds with fellow birth workers, which are crucial to being successful in this industry.
Many aspiring birth workers of color never realize their full potential in this important work because of a lack of mentorship and training opportunities. Mocha Midwifery Collective is doing its part to change that by providing bi-annual educational and networking opportunities to interested BIPOC individuals!
There are other birth assistant trainings, but none of which are staffed by a uniquely diverse group of highly educated, experienced, and politically active Black midwives who understand your journey.
About the Training
The Spring 2024 Midwife Assistant Training will be held in TBD in a well-appointed location on the beach with both private and shared accommodations. The venue is accessible from all surrounding states and via air travel.
Students will learn everything from how to communicate with expectant families in a caring and professional way to direct clinical skills such as monitoring vital signs, preparing medications for administration, and assisting in obstetric emergencies. This educational experience will also include advanced birth assistant skills such as cervical checks and what to do if you make it to the birth before the midwife.
The instructors will utilize a combination of lecturing, story-telling, watching videos, group interaction, and hands-on practice. This is not meant to be a one-time learning experience, but the beginning of building a career-long network of professional, passionate BIPOC birth workers.
About the Instructors
The Mocha Midwifery Collective is a group of Certified Nurse Midwives and Certified Professional Midwives, most of which own their own home birth practices along the East Coast. The instructors include Nichole Wardlaw of Jamii Birth and Wellness Services, Tina M. Braimah of Sankofa Birth and Women’s Care, and other guest midwives.
All of our instructors have encountered the individual and systemic racism that students of color endure and have been able to overcome those obstacles to become successful midwives in their communities. Some have held or currently hold faculty positions in midwifery schools. All have experience precepting CNM students, CPM students, and maternity care nurses in some capacity. Each instructor is passionate about increasing black women’s access to community-based midwifery-led care and increasing the number of BIPOC Midwives to meet that need.
Basic Life Support CPR and Neonatal Resuscitation
Most community midwives require their birth assistants to have taken CPR and NRP as prerequisites for working with them. Based on the feedback of past attendees, we have added these as optional components of our training. Both classes will take place on TBD and are available for an additional fee. Those participants who already have CPR, would still be required to pay the entire fee as it has already been discounted.
Payment and Fees
Lodging and meals are included in the event fee. Early bird fees, as well as payment plans, are available. The full fee for the training weekend is $1500. The Early Bird Fee is $1400, which is due by TBD.
In the event that a participant is unable to attend the event, they must notify the Mocha Midwifery Collective via email before TBD. Upon which they MAY be eligible for a refund of fees paid minus the deposit and any associated fees (ie Eventbrite, Paypal, Venmo or Cashapp) if we are able to find a student to replace them.
COVID Policies
COVID Tests are not required for this training, but we ask that you take necessary precautions and do not attend if you are sick. Participants have the OPTION of wearing a mask throughout the weekend.