Professional care disciplines
ICPCAS accredits programs across the lifespan of care, from preconception to the end of life. Each discipline has its own requirements for hours, practicum, instructors and assessment, and its own published scope of practice. This page is the map.
Where each discipline sits
Ten disciplines are open for accreditation in the Perinatal Care Division. Two planned divisions extend the same standards to midlife and the end of life.
Three divisions, one standard
Perinatal Care
Open. Ten disciplines from fertility coaching through infant sleep. Standards edition 2027.1 in force; applications accepted.
Midlife Care
In development. Menopause coach discipline requirements drafted by a working group; public comment expected 2027. Register interest to be notified.
End-of-Life Care
In development. End-of-life doula discipline requirements in drafting with hospice, palliative and doula practitioners; public comment expected 2027.
Requirements and scope, discipline by discipline
Minimums are floors, not targets. Hours are instructional contact hours unless marked practicum. "Within scope" and "outside scope" lists are excerpts; the full scope statement for each discipline is in the Discipline Requirements document.
Birth doula
- Min. hours
- 40 instructional + 16 practicum
- Practicum
- 3 attended births, supervised or verified
- Lead instructor
- Credentialed doula, 3+ yrs, 30+ births
- Assessment
- Written + observed comfort-measures skills
- ✓Continuous emotional, physical and informational support
- ✓Comfort measures, positioning, breathing
- ✓Help clients articulate preferences to clinical staff
- –Clinical assessment, vaginal exams, fetal monitoring
- –Medical advice or interpretation of results
- –Speaking for the client against the client's wishes
Postpartum doula
- Min. hours
- 40 instructional + 20 practicum
- Practicum
- 40 hours in-home, logged and evaluated
- Lead instructor
- Credentialed postpartum doula, 3+ yrs
- Assessment
- Written + skills demonstration (newborn care, feeding support, household)
- ✓Newborn care education and modeling
- ✓Feeding support within scope; referral for complications
- ✓Recovery, rest and household support; mood screening awareness
- –Diagnosis of postpartum mood disorders
- –Medication advice; wound or incision assessment
- –Night-nurse-style clinical care
Newborn care specialist
- Min. hours
- 80 instructional + 40 practicum
- Practicum
- 40 supervised hours with newborns; CPR current
- Lead instructor
- NCS or nurse/midwife with newborn specialty, 3+ yrs
- Assessment
- Written + observed skills (feeding, sleep safety, soothing, hygiene)
- ✓Overnight and daytime newborn care in the family home
- ✓Safe-sleep practice, feeding schedules, soothing
- ✓Parent education and routine-building
- –Medical assessment or treatment of the infant
- –Prescribing or adjusting formula for medical reasons
- –Sleep training against pediatric guidance
Lactation educator / counselor
- Min. hours
- 45 instructional (educator) · 90 + 30 practicum (counselor)
- Practicum
- Counselor: 30 supervised consultations
- Lead instructor
- IBCLC or equivalent, 3+ yrs
- Assessment
- Written + observed counseling (counselor level)
- ✓Education on normal lactation and common challenges
- ✓Positioning, latch and supply support within scope
- ✓Referral to IBCLC/clinical care for complex cases
- –Diagnosis of infant oral anatomy conditions
- –Management of mastitis, abscess or medication questions
- –Use of the title IBCLC or 'consultant' without that credential
Childbirth educator
- Min. hours
- 24 instructional (foundational) · 45 (comprehensive)
- Practicum
- Observe 2 series; teach 1 under evaluation
- Lead instructor
- Credentialed educator, 3+ yrs teaching
- Assessment
- Written + evaluated teaching demonstration
- ✓Evidence-based education on labor, birth, interventions and postpartum
- ✓Decision-making and communication skills for families
- ✓Comfort techniques instruction
- –Individual clinical advice
- –Recommending against a clinician's plan of care
- –Claims of guaranteed outcomes
Perinatal mental health support
- Min. hours
- 40 instructional + 12 practicum
- Practicum
- Supervised peer-support or group facilitation
- Lead instructor
- Licensed mental health professional with perinatal specialty
- Assessment
- Written + role-play with observed referral decisions
- ✓Psychoeducation and peer support
- ✓Screening awareness and warm referral
- ✓Facilitating support groups
- –Diagnosis, treatment or therapy
- –Crisis management beyond immediate safety and referral
- –Advice on psychiatric medication
Pregnancy & postpartum fitness
- Min. hours
- 30 instructional + 10 practicum
- Practicum
- Observed instruction with pre/postnatal clients
- Lead instructor
- Certified fitness professional with pre/postnatal specialty, 3+ yrs
- Assessment
- Written + observed session design and modification
- ✓Exercise programming adapted to pregnancy and recovery
- ✓Pelvic-floor and core awareness education
- ✓Recognizing contraindications and stopping
- –Clearance to exercise (clinician's role)
- –Pelvic-floor assessment or treatment
- –Nutrition prescription
Fertility & preconception coaching
- Min. hours
- 30 instructional
- Practicum
- 6 observed coaching sessions
- Lead instructor
- Credentialed coach or clinician with fertility education experience
- Assessment
- Written + observed session
- ✓Cycle literacy, lifestyle and preparation education
- ✓Navigating clinical fertility care as a client
- ✓Emotional support through treatment
- –Interpretation of test results
- –Recommending or adjusting medications or supplements as treatment
- –Promising conception outcomes
Infant sleep consultant
- Min. hours
- 40 instructional + 10 practicum
- Practicum
- 5 supervised family consultations
- Lead instructor
- Credentialed sleep consultant, 3+ yrs
- Assessment
- Written + case analysis with safe-sleep audit
- ✓Age-appropriate sleep education consistent with safe-sleep guidance
- ✓Routine and environment planning with families
- ✓Recognizing when to refer (reflux, breathing, feeding issues)
- –Diagnosis of sleep or medical disorders
- –Methods contrary to current safe-sleep guidance
- –Advice to alter feeding for sleep without clinical input
Bereavement & loss doula
- Min. hours
- 30 instructional + 10 practicum
- Practicum
- Supervised support or hospital bereavement placement
- Lead instructor
- Credentialed bereavement professional or doula with loss specialty
- Assessment
- Written + reflective case review
- ✓Presence and practical support during and after loss
- ✓Memory-making, ritual and navigating hospital processes
- ✓Referral to grief counseling and clinical care
- –Grief therapy or counseling
- –Clinical care during miscarriage, stillbirth or termination
- –Spiritual direction not requested by the family
Menopause coach
- Min. hours
- In development
- Practicum
- In development
- Lead instructor
- In development
- Assessment
- In development
- ✓Lifestyle, symptom-awareness and self-advocacy education
- ✓Support navigating clinical menopause care
- –Hormone therapy advice; diagnosis; prescription
End-of-life doula
- Min. hours
- In development
- Practicum
- In development
- Lead instructor
- In development
- Assessment
- In development
- ✓Non-medical presence, planning and legacy work
- ✓Support for families through dying, death and after
- –Clinical or hospice nursing care; medication; legal advice
What each discipline does, and refers
The matrix is what employers and health systems ask for first. The last three columns are the same for every discipline: clinical assessment, diagnosis and medication advice are never within the scope of a non-clinical care practitioner.
| Discipline | Emotional & informational support | Education & coaching | Physical comfort measures | Feeding support | Household & newborn care | Exercise programming | Screening awareness & referral | Clinical assessment | Diagnosis or treatment | Medication advice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth doula | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Postpartum doula | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Newborn care specialist | ✓ | ✓ | – | ◐ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Lactation educator / counselor | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Childbirth educator | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Perinatal mental health support | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Pregnancy & postpartum fitness | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Fertility & preconception coaching | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Infant sleep consultant | ✓ | ✓ | – | ◐ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Bereavement & loss doula | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – |
Why scope is the first thing we check
Every discipline ICPCAS accredits works alongside clinical care, often in the same room. The value of a non-clinical practitioner depends on everyone, including the practitioner, knowing exactly where the role ends. A doula who recognizes a hemorrhage and calls for help is doing the job; a doula who assesses it is not.
So every program must publish a scope statement for its graduates, teach it as a discrete unit, assess it, and never market around it. Reviewers test scope knowledge in student interviews, and a program whose marketing implies clinical competence receives a finding under Standard 6 regardless of what it teaches.
How a discipline enters the standards
- Petition. Any organization, practitioner group or Commissioner may petition for a new discipline with evidence of an established role, a body of practice and demand for accreditation.
- Working group. The Standards Committee convenes practitioners, educators, employers, a clinician from the adjacent field and a public member to draft discipline requirements.
- Public comment and pilot. Sixty days of comment, then pilot reviews with volunteer programs before adoption.
- Adoption. The Board adopts; the discipline opens for Candidate and full applications on a published date.
About the disciplines
Our program covers two disciplines in one certificate. Which requirements apply?
Both. A combined birth and postpartum doula program must meet the hour, practicum and assessment minimums of each discipline, though overlapping content (ethics, scope, communication) may be taught once. The certificate names both disciplines.
Where do the hour minimums come from?
From a survey of established programs and credentialing bodies in each discipline, adjusted upward where the role carries higher risk (newborn care, lactation counseling) and set at the level where competent practice is realistically achievable. The rationale for each minimum is published with the discipline requirements.
Why does the matrix show feeding support as partial for doulas and newborn care specialists?
Because the roles differ. A postpartum doula or newborn care specialist supports normal feeding and recognizes when to refer; a lactation counselor is trained to work through common challenges; neither diagnoses. The discipline profile defines the level, and programs must teach exactly that level.
Can a program use a discipline's title we do not list?
Programs may use their own titles, but the certificate and marketing must map to an ICPCAS discipline, and must not use clinical titles (nurse, midwife, consultant where that implies IBCLC, therapist) that the program does not confer.
When will menopause coach and end-of-life doula programs be able to apply?
Discipline requirements for both are in drafting with practitioner working groups, with public comment expected in 2027. Programs may register interest now and will be invited to apply for Candidate status when the requirements are adopted.
What if a discipline standard conflicts with our country's rules?
Local law governs. Where a jurisdiction restricts an activity that an ICPCAS discipline includes, programs there teach to the narrower scope and say so on the certificate; reviewers apply the local scope. ICPCAS never requires a program to teach anything unlawful where it operates.