microcredential

Indigenous Birthworker— Postpartum Micro-credential course

OSHKI-WENJACK’s Indigenous Birthworker—Postpartum Micro-Credential Course offers flexible online learning, enabling participants to stay in their community while learning. The curriculum delves into the crucial role of Indigenous Birthworkers, covering topics like pregnancy philosophies, prenatal support, and mental health. Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language training is integrated to enhance communication within Indigenous communities.

How to apply

Your Career Path

In this course, participants will delve into Indigenous philosophies surrounding birth, newborns, and the postpartum period. They will gain insights into the post-birth experience, the potential trajectory of recovery, and the complications that may arise during this phase. Emphasis will be placed on strategies to support the parent after childbirth, fostering parent-infant bonding, and mastering infant care and feeding techniques, particularly focusing on breast/chestfeeding. Furthermore, participants will explore postpartum mental health considerations and learn approaches to bolster the health and well-being of the birthing parent. Practical guidance on initiating a Birthworker business will also be provided. Integral to the course is Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) language training, aligned with the course content to facilitate effective communication with the birthing parent and their family.

Curriculum

You will walk through a variety of units, each with different lesson styles, resources, and places to upload your assignments and certification expectations. This Indigenous Birthworker–Postpartum course will prepare learners at the community level with the knowledge and skills to provide culturally appropriate education and support to Indigenous persons and families during the postpartum period.

Unit 1: Postpartum Welcoming Baby and Recovery
Unit 2: Postpartum Breastfeeding / Optimal Infant Feeding
Unit 3: Postpartum Complications
Unit 4: Ojibwe Language for Postpartum
Unit 5: Starting Your Birthworker Business

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Program Information

Program Length: 45 hours
Start Date: Continuous Intake, start anytime^*
Tuition Fees: $600 • Textbooks Fee: $26 approx. (order separately)

*start dates are subject to change

Other Indigenous Birthworker Micro-Credential Courses at Oshki-Wenjack:

Indigenous Birthworker—Pregnancy
Indigenous Birthworker—Labour
Indigenous Lactation Support

Required Texts

The required texts for this course are used by all three Birthworker micro-credential courses (Pregnancy, Labour, and Postpartum). We recommend purchasing both texts prior to beginning your first (Pregnancy) course to give yourself time to familiarize yourself with both texts as you move through your course work, even if we do not engage directly with both of the texts in each of the three courses.

Required texts for the Indigenous Birthworker—Pregnancy Course are:

Tait Neufeld, H., & Cidro, J. (Eds.). (2017). Indigenous experiences of pregnancy and birth. Demeter Press. ISBN 978-1-77258-135-5

Simkin, P., & Rohs, K. (2018). The birth partner: A complete guide to childbirth for dads, partners, doulas, and other labor companions (5th ed.). Harvard Common Press. ISBN 978-1558329102

In this course, you will notice gender neutrality language and inclusive language are often used, but at other times discussion around birth and pregnancy remains gendered. As many of our teachings and readings utilize gendered terms, there are areas we use them as well for ease of reading. Whenever possible, we commit to using gender neutral and inclusive language throughout the Birthworker courses. Using gender inclusive language means using umbrella terms when talking to everyone and the terms specific people identify with when speaking to them individually.

As we move through our course, we will devote some time to learning Ojibwe terms, phrases, and questions. The intent of this course is not for you to become a fluent Ojibwe speaker, rather, it is to help you learn useful and relevant phrases and terms to better support future clients. Some units will have a small language section embedded within that unit, while others may not. Additionally, each of our Birthworker courses will have a unit devoted entirely to Ojibwe language components.