Friday, July 25, 2008

CAPPA's Story

In 1998, with nothing but determination and a dream, Donna Johnson and Tracy Wilson Peters created CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association), the childbirth educator and labor doula certifying organization. If you asked them if they knew it would become the fastest growing certifying organization available, they would tell you they “are pleasantly surprised”.

Donna and Tracy know that all success stories begin with a dream. Their dream grew even larger when training programs such as antepartum doula, postpartum doula, and lactation educator were implemented. Continuing the momentum, CAPPA added the Teen Support and Adoption Support advanced programs. CAPPA now also offers Comfort Measures for the Childbirth Professional, a complementary training class for all CAPPA certifications. Each of these programs offers a unique hands-on training experience and various avenues of certification. They provide members with a well-balanced knowledge base and continuing education units to keep them informed of new research, techniques and resources. CAPPA is comprised of executive directors, advisors, program directors, regional representatives and its highly-valued members. CAPPA also consists of three divisions: The parent company CAPPA, CAPPA Canada and Operation Special Delivery (OSD).

On January 1st, 2005, CAPPA began overseeing Operation Special Delivery. Founded after the events of September 11th, 2001, CAPPA/OSD continues to maintain the integrity of its program and of the doula profession by serving military families during labor and delivery. CAPPA/OSD is a non-profit international organization supporting all branches of the military, including Reservists and the National Guard.

Success is certainly a word the leadership board is familiar with as they fostered CAPPA into an international organization. CAPPA is training and certifying in related women’s health care fields nationally and internationally in the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, England, Germany, Italy, Indonesia, India, Hawaii, The Netherlands, New Zealand, France, Israel, Peru, Ghana and Japan. CAPPA, Donna and Tracy have been featured in numerous newspaper articles, women’s magazines, and online news sources including The Atlanta Journal, Childbirth Education Connection Magazine, Medical News Today and many more.

Benefits of CAPPA membership include:
Annual free conference for members
Seven training programs
National and international training and certification
Continuing education units/Contact hours
Business marketing plan
College recognized courses
Online Quarterly publication

CAPPA understands the importance of being readily available to its members. There are many ways to remain in touch with CAPPA in addition to our website www.cappa.net, our email info@cappa.net and phone 888-My-CAPPA; including: CAPPA MySpace, CAPPA Info Group, CAPPA Blog, Ask the Pros and the CAPPA Quarterly.
CAPPA certified professionals aim to empower, connect and advocate for families in the childbearing year. CAPPA seeks to forge positive and productive relationships between organizations that support healthy, informed family choices. The organization consists of a leadership board, regional representatives, trainers, mentors, advisors and its membership. CAPPA is the most comprehensive pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum organization available. CAPPA insures excellence in the certifying field, and enables its members to provide timely information and support that encourages and strengthens families.

www.cappa.net

No comments: