Welcome to the Madriella Program
Madriella is a short adult continuing education course and mutual support network designed to teach women how to provide comfort and support measures to other women during pregnancy and childbirth.

Why we are different
Unlike other Doula certification programs Madriella has never been about making money in a birth industry career – it’s about women helping women through the most challenging and rewarding time in their lives.

We are trying to foster a paradigm shift in our culture, to make Doula training as common as CPR/First Aid courses are. While this might earn some enmity from organizations that are making a lot of money offering very expensive Doula certifications we believe it is the right thing to do.

The Madriella Mission Statement
We believe that birth is a sacred event, and that motherhood is an anointed institution.

We believe that all women need and deserve the support of other women during pregnancy and birth.

We believe that the knowledge of labor support is the heritage of all women and should be shared.

We believe that financial blessings are a result of the sharing of knowledge and that our members deserve to benefit from it.

The History of Madriella
The Madriella program began in 2006 as a continuing education class for massage therapists at Golden State Massage School (GSMS) in Turlock, California.

In 2008 GSMS was absorbed by the Somatic Arts and Sciences Institute, the nation’s largest provider of continuing education for massage therapists online. Madriella is now owned by the Somatic Arts and Sciences Institute.

The Online Doula Certification Course
You may be wondering how we teach women to be birth assistants with an online course? The “hands on” part of being a Doula is actually very simple. It involves safe massage procedures and coaching in positioning. Our online program shows you how to do all of those things, and they are tried and true methods that are safe for the mother.

You will demonstrate physical competency in these skills by practicing them at home with a volunteer model, taking pictures, and then having the pictures uploaded to our website as directed in an assignment.

Nothing we teach you will ever endanger a mother or her baby, it is all very natural and easy to do. You will learn these simple hands-on techniques by watching short video clips of them being practiced.

The majority of the program deals with information-birth physiology, how to write a birth plan, how to present options, provide emotional support, plan for the birthing event, and how to provide postpartum care.