CAPPA Labor Doula Trainer

Amanda Dodson has been supporting families since 2008, after completing her doula training while living in California with her husband during his service in the USMC. Throughout her career, Amanda has focused on advocating for military families around the globe. In 2011, their relocation took them back to Okinawa, Japan, where she dedicated herself to understanding birth and doula support both on and off military bases. After returning to the U.S. in 2017 and with her husband’s retirement from the USMC, Amanda fulfilled her goal of becoming a labor doula trainer. Recognizing the need for accessible resources and training for the military community, she aims to ensure that families at overseas and stateside duty stations receive the support they need during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Amanda is committed to increasing the presence of doulas in these areas and exploring participation in the Tricare Demonstration. (Please note that Amanda does not represent or work for any DoD government program or Tricare.)

CAPPA Postpartum Doula Trainer

Abby has worked in pregnancy and family health for over 20 years. She’s accumulated hundreds of hours training professionals and supporting families. Her trainings are engaging and informative. Her best work comes from group facilitation and providing a personal and professional look at this important content.

CAPPA Childbirth Education Trainer

Debbie began learning about birth in 1996 after the birth of her first baby and has been serving Houston area families since 1999. She is the Senior Program Advisor for CAPPA’s Labor Doula training programs and is on CAPPA faculty for both labor doulas and childbirth educators. Debbie has been privileged to attend several hundred births in homes, birth centers, hospitals and, on one memorable occasion, a grocery store parking lot! She believes that it is the most precious and sacred of honors to be invited to care for a family during their childbearing season and is very proud to have the opportunity to speak into the work of the next generation of birth professionals. Her work has taken her places she never expected to go, including becoming a talk-radio guest-host (listen at wholemothershow.com). She also portrayed Jillian in all the Houston productions of Karen Brody's play, Birth, but only with the fingerprints of her beloved midwife/friend all over her back. They say the birth sounds she made there, on a stage in front of hundreds of people, sounded real. She profoundly hopes so. Debbie designed and developed the curriculum for an innovative, interactive childbirth class and began offering classes that even dads report enjoying! Her minor in training and development and experience as an American Sign Language interpreting mentorship program manager perfectly prepared her for mentoring doulas and childbirth educators. She believes that we learn best when we are laughing, so her training is designed to be enjoyable and memorable. It should be noted that there have also been tears in training, when groups dive deep into the emotional side of birth work. Debbie is most proud to be the mother of two amazing formerly breastfed and homeschooled adults, the youngest of whom has been on a 25+ year nursing strike. When she is not working on her feelings about that, Debbie enjoys travel, movies, reading, and game nights, even when she loses.