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Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training

Nona® Birth Coherence™ Doula Training and Certification

A nervous system–informed, mind-body approach to birth support grounded in the Birth Coherence™ framework

The Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training prepares birth professionals to support labor and birth through nervous system literacy, embodied presence, and relational attunement. This training is designed for doulas who want to deepen their ability to recognize, respond to, and support the physiological, environmental, and emotional processes that shape birth.

Grounded in the Birth Coherence™ framework, this training integrates contemporary neuroscience, birth physiology, trauma-informed care, and embodied learning. Our emphasis is on supporting regulation, adaptability, and resilience for birthing people and their support systems.

This training is offered in an asynchronous format, allowing participants to engage with the material at their own pace, while being supported through an active professional community and regular live Q&A sessions.

Nervous System Guided Doula Support

Birth is shaped by changing physiology, environment, relationships, and nervous system state. This training prepares doulas to work skillfully within that complexity. Participants learn to observe and interpret coping behaviors, shifts in nervous system activation, and relational dynamics as meaningful information that guides support.

The curriculum centers on how doulas can provide grounded, responsive support during labor by understanding when to offer presence, when to encourage rest, when to support rhythm and movement, and how to help create conditions for safety and regulation. This approach supports both physiologic birth and compassionate care when birth unfolds differently than expected. 

The Birth Coherence™ Framework

All Nona professional trainings are grounded in the Nona Birth Coherence™ framework, which brings together nervous system science, birth physiology, emotional experience, and relational context. Birth Coherence™ offers a lens for understanding the underlying physiology of labor progression, the emergence of coping behaviors, and how support and environment can either facilitate or disrupt labor.

Within this doula training, Birth Coherence™ provides the organizing structure for learning how to provide labor support, navigate systems, and communicate effectively through the lens of attunement and adaptability. This framework supports doulas in recognizing when clients feel safe, identifying stress signals, recovering from stress responses, and adapting support accordingly.

Models and Frameworks Included in This Training

This training includes original Nona models and teaching frameworks that support practical application in the birth room. These include BirthSpeak™, which offers specific communication strategies to support labor progress; Rhythm, Receive, Rest™, which provides a loosely structured strategy for moving through contractions; and Recognize, Respond, Regulate™, which guides moment-to-moment decision-making in support roles based on understanding nervous system cues in labor.

These models are taught as ways of organizing attention, communication, and support in alignment with physiology and nervous system function.

How This Training Is Structured

The Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training is delivered asynchronously through recorded lectures, guided reflections, and integrated learning modules. Participants can move through the content at their own pace, allowing time for integration and reflection.

In addition to the self-paced curriculum, participants have access to a growing professional community and regular live Q&A sessions. These live sessions provide space for case discussion, integration of concepts, and questions that arise from doing the work. 

Who This Training Is For

This training is designed for doulas and birth professionals who want to deepen their understanding of nervous system–informed birth support. It is appropriate for both newer doulas seeking a strong conceptual foundation and experienced doulas who want language and frameworks to articulate what they already notice intuitively in birth spaces.

The training is also relevant for professionals working adjacent to birth support, including childbirth educators, perinatal mental health professionals, and others who want to integrate nervous system awareness and embodied support into their work with birthing families.

What You Will Gain From This Training

Along with all the foundational doula skills and knowledge, participants will gain a cohesive framework for understanding labor and birth through the lens of nervous system regulation and relational safety. Graduates develop greater confidence in reading coping behaviors, supporting labor progress, and adapting support as circumstances change.

The training supports doulas in refining their presence, communication, and capacity to stay grounded in complex or emotionally charged situations. Rather than adding more techniques, it helps doulas clarify when and why to offer specific forms of support and when less intervention is more supportive.

Community, Mentorship, and Ongoing Learning

Birth support is relational work, and professional development benefits from shared reflection and dialogue. This training includes access to a professional learning community and regular live Q&A sessions, where participants can ask questions, explore case examples, and integrate the Birth Coherence™ framework into their evolving practice.

These ongoing touchpoints support learning over time and help prevent isolation in doula work, especially for those practicing independently.

Certification and Professional Scope

Completion of the Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training confirms professional preparation in nervous system–informed birth support grounded in the Birth Coherence™ framework. Certification is issued through Nona Birth Education and reflects competency in applying the models and principles taught within the training.

This training is designed to complement, not replace, other doula certifications or credentialing pathways, and supports doulas in deepening their scope, clarity, and confidence in practice.

What you will Learn

Certification and Professional Identification

Certification confirms that participants have completed the training and demonstrated competence through engagement, required readings, assignments, and assessments, along with:

  • Attendance at 3 births with evaluations
  • Observe a local childbirth education course
  • Observe a local breastfeeding education course

What Certification Means

Upon successful completion of requirements, certified doulas may:

  • Describe their training as certification of completion in the Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training

  • Reference their education as grounded in the Birth Coherence™ framework

  • Identify as a Certified Nona Birth Doula
  • Certification is good for 2 years

Training includes 2 years of professional membership with ongoing community support, live Q&A, and mentoring.

 

Professional Membership and Use of the Nona® Name

Use of the Nona® Certified Birth Doula title and branded offerings is reserved for doulas who have passed certification assessments and hold active professional membership in good standing with Nona Birth Education.

Professional members in good standing may:

  • Identify publicly as a Nona Certified Birth Doula

  • Be listed on the Nona Birth Education website

  • Participate in ongoing mentoring, peer support, and professional community

  • Receive ongoing community support, mentoring, and continuing education

Professional membership reflects ongoing engagement, ethical alignment, and continued competency, rather than training completion alone.

*This training includes 2 years of professional membership with the option to renew with recertification.

Tuition

Tuition for the Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training is $1,600.

This includes full access to the asynchronous training curriculum, all Nona models and frameworks, and participation in the professional learning community. Tuition also includes access to regular live Q&A sessions, where concepts are integrated through discussion, case examples, and shared reflection.

The training is designed to support learning over time, allowing you to engage with the material at your own pace while staying connected to an ongoing professional community.

Join the Waitlist

Enrollment for the Nona Birth Coherence™ Doula Training opens periodically.

Joining the waitlist allows you to:

  • Be notified when enrollment opens

  • Receive details about training dates and live Q&A sessions

  • Learn more about how this training may fit into your professional path

If you feel drawn to a nervous system–informed, relational approach to birth support and want to explore this work further, you’re welcome to add your name to the waitlist.

Join the Waitlist

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