The Student Midwife pathway is for those pursuing certification as a Certified Professional Midwife through the North American Registry of Midwives Portfolio Evaluation Process (PEP). During the PEP process, students obtain their knowledge, skills and experience through classes like these or self-study, coupled with apprenticeship with a NARM Qualified Preceptor (QP). All the midwives in our school are QPs. Some of our students get clinicals with us, and some fine a QP midwife outside our school. We encourage students to find a QP who lives near the student.
We have arranged our classes to follow a six-trimester plan, though students can pick and choose if they prefer. Remember, NARM requires the clinical portion of CPM training last a minimum of two years and no longer than ten years. Most of our students will get through this plan in four to seven years.
From the www.narm.org website: The Certified Professional Midwife was developed to provide competency-based certification for midwives who are primarily apprentice-trained in out of hospital birth. The CPM credential allows multiple routes of entry to the profession in order to encourage innovation in education, adaptability to evolving best practices of the profession, diversity in the pool of credentialed midwives and broad accessibility to the profession. The competency-based model for certification assures well-educated, skilled and competent providers. That is what we do! We have been teaching and precepting midwife students for over 15 years now!
Some of our students get their clinical experiences through apprenticeship with one of our midwife preceptors and some find their own clinical preceptor(s). Either way, we can help midwife students through their knowledge requirements and skills training. At Holistic Birth Institute, we assist our students in filling out forms to submit to NARM in the PEP process. We all went through the PEP process, and though the process changes through the years, it still retains the strong foundation of knowledge, skills and experience requirements for becoming a Certified Professional Midwife.
Our plan is tailor-made for PEP Students! Our graduates submit official paperwork to NARM and then sit for the NARM Exam, which is the national board exam for Certified Professional Midwives. If the applicant passes the exam, NARM is the one who grants them the accomplishment of becoming a Certified Professional Midwife. Please read all about it on the narm website.
Here is the plan of study we recommend, but remember it is flexible. You can follow the recommended timing or go slower or faster. Core classes are sequential and must be taken in order (exceptions made in rare cases). Non-core classes can be taken out-of-order, whatever works for you! We offer core classes twice a year, starting in January and September. Registration for these classes will open one month before the first lesson.
We do skills check-offs at the in-person skills days and test days. If you need private skills check-off, we can schedule a check-off for you. We charge $20 per hour per QP to meet with you and check skills. You will have to demonstrate skills to the QP satisfaction to get checked off. Paying the fee does not guarantee you will be checked off. Come prepared!
