Great Starts has been offering workshops to train childbirth educators for over 30 years.

The purpose of the Great Starts Basic Teacher Education Workshop is to increase your knowledge and confidence so you feel prepared to begin teaching birth preparation and parenting classes. The workshop is designed for nurses (working in public health, hospital maternity units, clinics and doctor's offices), midwives, labor support persons, physical therapists, maternal-child health care professionals and anyone with a solid working knowledge of the birth process who would like to learn how to share that knowledge with expectant families.

Here's what one of our students said about the program:

Susan Freeman, RN from Astoria, OR. "I had observed several classes and came away feeling that they were not taught as effectively as they could have been, but not really knowing why or where to begin.  Your class gave me a great framework from which to begin planning and arranging classes."

"The most important thing I learned was how to convey my knowledge in a condensed form, in a way that class members can understand and remember."

• Physiologic (normal and healthy) childbirth

• Conditioning exercises for pregnancy and post partum

• Relaxation techniques, breathing patterns and other coping skills for labor and birth

• Variations, complications and interventions for labor and birth, including Cesarean birth and VBAC

• Dealing with unexpected outcomes

• Pain in childbirth and use of medications

• Development of a birth plan

• Postpartum issues and planning

• Facilitating the teaching/learning process

• Planning a childbirth class series

• Group dynamics

• Development and use of audio-visual aids

• Use of role play, brainstorming, and other creative teaching strategies

For more details on our training, see: Course objectives. Schedule for 4- day workshops in Seattle. Schedule for 3-day workshops in other locations.

Participants taking the Great Starts Workshop receive a copy of the Great Starts book, Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn, and an extensive course syllabus including information on teaching techniques and study guides. The study guides are to be completed outside of class and may be read by the participant's supervisor or supervising teacher.

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WHAT: 24 hours of class content. Workshop enrollment is limited to 12 participants to allow for individualized instruction and feedback.

WHEN: two to three times each year.

WHERE: Great Starts Birth & Family Education Office 2517 Eastlake Ave E, Suite 102, Seattle, WA 98102
Workshop can be offered "off-site" in other cities if you have seven or more interested participants. Contact: Janelle Durham, Great Starts Education Director, for arrangements.

COST: $450.00
Discounts available for Public Health nurses employed by Public Health - Seattle/King County.

CONTACT HOURS: 24 continuing education units from the International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA).

This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the Washington State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.   

Please contact Janelle Durham at Great Starts for more information about contact hours. Students can go on to certify with Great Starts, or with ICEA, if desired.

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All instructors for the Great Starts Basic Teacher Education Workshop currently teach childbirth preparation courses and other childbearing-related classes.

Off-site classes (those held somewhere other than Seattle) are taught by Janelle Durham, MSW. Janelle is a doula and childbirth educator.  She has participated in other trainings offered by Lamaze, ICEA, CAPPA, ALACE, Birthing from Within, and more, and brings the best ideas of all these trainings to our workshop. More on Janelle's training and experience here. Janelle is also the author of a website full of resources for new childbirth educators.

For classes at the Great Starts office in Seattle, Janelle is the lead instructor, and we have additional guest speakers.

•  Penny Simkin, PT, Great Starts Childbirth Educator, Author, International Lecturer

•  Janet Whalley, RN, BSN, IBCLC, author, Childbirth Educator

•  Specially Selected Great Starts Childbirth Educators

For frequently asked questions about the Basic Teacher Education Workshop, click here.

Download and complete this application. Application deadline is typically one month prior to the workshop. If it is less than one month till the training, please contact us to see if there is still space available.

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