As a trained Perinatal Community Health Worker, you will have the rare and incredible privilege to accompany a woman on the most sacred journey of her life. Mamatoto Village Perinatal Community Health Worker Program is an example of our philosophy “birth takes a village.” The program creates a three-dimensional exchange between the Perinatal Health Worker gaining professional birth and teaching experience, Mamatoto Village benefiting from the PCHW's support in direct service delivery, and Mamatoto Village families have PCHW's available to support them from pregnancy through six months postpartum. 

 

Our rigorous 9-month didactic training program offers the skills required to be an effective Labor and Postpartum Assistant, Perinatal and Childbirth Educator, and Lactation Coach. Course topics will focus on: developing communication skills; teaching adult learners; uncovering, examining, and healing your own reproductive, self-esteem, and birth-related "issues;" understanding pre-and perinatal psychology as it relates to fetal development and normal newborn behavior; hypnosis, comfort measures, and relaxation techniques; rebozo skills; nutrition for pregnancy and breastfeeding; basic lactation management; perinatal mood disorders and assessment tools; cultural competency and cultural humility; contraception, fertility awareness, HIPPA compliance, Electronic Medical Records and starting your business. 

 

We want to help you achieve your full potential, so you in turn, can help other women achieve theirs. Trainees in the DC Mtero area who successfully complete the training, maybe invited to work with the organization for 1 full year and receive mentorship. Completion of the training does not guarantee you a job with Mamatoto Village. Selection is based off academic acheivement, flexibility of schedule, and the potential to contribute to the Birthworker Community. Weekly modules will include role-plays, hands-on skill development, learning activities, lectures, art exercises, videos, and guest speakers.

 

Training modules include: 

• The Technocratic, The Holistic, and The Perinatal Community Health Worker

• Pregnancy, Growth and Informed Choice

• The Process of Normal Physiologic Birth

• Helping Families to Create their Birth

• The Newborn and The Family

• Postpartum Recovery and The Role of the Perinatal Family Support Worker 

• STIs, Contraception Eduction, and Fertility Awareness

• When Pregnancy and Birth Does Not Go As Planned

• Lactation and Infant Nutrition

• Electronic Records, Charting, and HIPPA

 

At the completion of the training you have the choice for two pathways; Perinatal Community Health Worker or the Postpartum Family Support Worker. Postpartum Family Support Workers provide guidance to new families during the postpartum period, much like a postpartum doula, which added expertise in newborn care and breastfeeding. You have 2 years from the date of the training to complete all requirements for certifications as a Perinatal Community Health Worker (PCHW) or Postpartum Family Support Worker (PFSW). Additional opportunities exists to be trained in Placenta Encapsulation.

 

The goal of the Perinatal Community Health Worker Program is to increase the number of highly skilled and culturally competent Birthworkers of Color, to aid in decreasing infant and maternal mortality rates in the African-American and Latino/Hispanic communities; and help women and their families in these communities to experience pregnancy, birth, and motherhood in an empowering, healthy, and self-determining way. The PCHW Program is a pathway into the field of Maternal and Child Health, offering women the opportunity to obtain paid experience as a paraprofessional, and develop transferable skills in the areas of childbirth and parent education, lactation support, electronic medical records, HIPPA compliance, care coordination, and more.