Sacred Transitions Doula Training Pathway

Welcome to the Sacred Transitions Doula Training Pathway

After Interspiritual Foundations, students can choose a year of the Sacred Transitions Doula Training. Graduates earn a One Spirit Sacred Transitions Doula Certificate and emerge as interspiritual doulas who bring presence, reverence, and inclusive spiritual care to communities, families, hospitals, hospice settings, and private practice.

Program Length: 9 months, starts Sept 2027

9 weekends online via Zoom + 4-day Intensive

Application Opens:
January, 2027

Sacred Transitions Doula Certificate

Sacred Transitions Doula Pathway

At its heart, this training cultivates the ability to be a grounded, compassionate witness during life’s most vulnerable and meaningful moments.

Life unfolds through a series of profound thresholds—moments when the ordinary pauses and something sacred opens. Birth. Death. Grief. Transformation.

These passages are among the most powerful experiences we encounter, yet they often unfold without the presence, care, and spiritual support they deserve.

The Sacred Transitions Doula Certification prepares students to companion individuals and families through these pivotal moments with compassion, spiritual awareness, and practical skill.

Grounded in an interspiritual approach, this program honors the many ways people understand meaning, mystery, and the sacred.

Students learn to serve people of all faiths—and those who identify with none—while creating space for dignity, presence, and deep listening.

Unlike traditional doula trainings that focus solely on birth or end-of-life care, this program recognizes the profound connection between life’s beginnings, endings, and the many transitions in between.

Students explore how to support the full arc of human experience—welcoming new life, accompanying the dying, and holding individuals and families through grief, change, and transformation.

Through spiritual formation, practical training, and experiential learning, students develop the skills needed to support people navigating the sacred thresholds of life.

Graduates emerge as interspiritual doulas who bring presence, reverence, and inclusive spiritual care to communities, families, hospitals, hospice settings, and private practice.

Sacred Transitions Doula Training Curriculum

The Sacred Transitions Doula pathway combines spiritual formation with practical caregiving skills. Students explore both the inner preparation required for this work and the tools needed to support others with competence and care.

This program reflects One Spirit’s commitment to interspiritual understanding and inclusive care. Rather than teaching a single religious framework, the training prepares doulas to support people across traditions, cultures, and belief systems.

Students learn how to hold sacred space that honors each individual’s own meaning-making—whether rooted in religion, spirituality, cultural tradition, or personal values.

The Curriculum Includes:

  • Birth and Postpartum Support
    Providing compassionate presence during pregnancy, labor, and the early postpartum period, including emotional support, grounding practices, and family-centered care.

  • End-of-Life Spiritual Companionship
    Learning how to accompany individuals and families through the dying process with dignity, presence, and spiritual sensitivity.

  • Grief and Transition Care
    Supporting people navigating loss, major life changes, and the emotional and spiritual dimensions of transition.

  • Ritual and Sacred Witnessing
    Creating meaningful rituals that honor life passages across traditions and spiritual perspectives.

  • Interspiritual Care and Inclusive Presence
    Serving people from diverse religious, spiritual, and secular backgrounds with respect and openness.

  • Holding Space at Life’s Thresholds
    Cultivating the deep listening, presence, and grounding needed to accompany others during moments of profound change.

  • Self-Care and Spiritual Grounding for Doulas
    Developing practices that sustain resilience, compassion, and spiritual balance while doing this sacred work.

Certificate

Upon graduation, students receive a Sacred Transitions Doula Certificate.

The next cohort for the Sacred Transitions Doula Training pathway (year two) starts in September 2027.

The program runs through May 2028, meeting a full weekend per month, totaling 18 educational days.

Application starts:
January 15, 2027

Application deadline:
June 30, 2027

The program year ends with a required in-person 4-day intensive in May/June in the NY area.

Elective requirements: 3 workshop credits per year, plus volunteer hours of choice.

Investment, including intensive: $5,400

Payment plans and limited scholarships are available.

Add Your Name to the Doula Training Interest List

Sacred Transitions Doula Training is one of several pathways in the One Spirit Applied Interspirituality Program

After the Interspiritual Foundations year, students choose a pathway that resonates with their inner calling and vocational focus.

Students selecting the Sacred Transitions Doula Training pathway earn a One Spirit Sacred Transitions Doula Certificate after completing assignments and graduating.

Students at One Spirit build their own educational path.

After completing the second year of the Sacred Transitions Doula Training pathway, a student might choose to add the Interfaith Seminary pathway to become an Ordained Minister.

Former graduates of OSLA Seminary or ISCC are welcome to add pathways to their Seminary ordination or ISCC certificate!

The Interspiritual Seminary ordination pathway is the former One Spirit Interfaith/Interspiritual Seminary, now offering the option to earn Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) credits.

The Spiritual Direction & Companioning pathway is the former One Spirit Interspiritual Counseling & Companioning (ISCC) program.

One Spirit also offers Sacred Transitions Doula Training as a professional pathway, earning students a Doula Certification.

The pathway Applied Interspiritual Leadership readies students for spiritual leadership in any industry, earning students a Certification in Applied Interspiritual Leadership.

The “Deeper Curriculum”

The most meaningful learning and growth happen in safe environments that also challenge us to ask important questions, reflect honestly, and go beyond our current ways.

At One Spirit, we invite you to bring your unique experiences and challenges. We will support and nurture you as we encourage your spiritual growth.

Your deep transformation, supported by your peers and our experienced faculty, allows you to serve others with love and spirituality.

The One Spirit “Deeper Curriculum” has helped many students like you reach their highest and most meaningful goals.

Interspiritual Foundations
Add Your Interest

The One Spirit Learning Experience

Classes

Interspiritual Seminary classes are taught one weekend per month by facilitating deans and expert teachers who shepherd growth and learning, deliver lectures, pose transformative questions, and lead group work.

Online Education

We value our global community and offer live video conference training to our diverse students from around the world via our online class portal.

Student Study Groups

Our Interspiritual Foundations students take part in student-led study groups.

These groups promote community, facilitate discussions among diverse group members, provide an opportunity to explore spiritual practice, and engage in ritual and ceremony.

Facilitating Deans

Each year, you'll be assigned a Facilitating Dean who is responsible for supporting your educational progress and spiritual formation through your seminary experience.

Your Dean is available to assist you with educational, personal, and spiritual concerns, and to help explore and resolve issues that may arise during your studies. In our Kaleidoscope teaching model, most deans also participate in facilitating your Seminary classes to support your sacred journey safely.

Sacred Homework

Homework assignments include essential texts, inspiring questions, personal reflection, life reviews, and the design of ceremony and ritual.

They are designed to deepen your understanding, improve your thinking, and expand your sacred experience.

Teachers & Presenters

Our faculty members are among the most experienced educational staff in Interspiritual Education. Teachers will follow your journey throughout the Seminary year, and Presenters share their profound expertise.

Year-End Intensives

Each year culminates in a four-day intensive in the NYC area. We bring our students together from around the world, which always leads to profound personal and collective transformation.

The intensives leave sacred space for certification and ordination ceremonies.

Sacred Service

Our seminary students give at least 20 hours of volunteer service each year of training, although many give much more.

Spiritual Care Team

At One Spirit, we support each other. Students may choose a graduate mentor who will be available to serve as a sounding board and spiritual friend, and a spiritual care team is available throughout the school year.

  • “Coming to One Spirit…gave me the depth of teaching, the warmth of companionship, and the inspiration of example…to develop my authentic voice.”

    — Rev. Clare N.

  • “A life changing experience of community, spirituality and love.”

    — Rev. Sandy F.

  • “One Spirit…has deepened my personal relationships, my connection with my patients, with God, and with myself.”

    — Rev. Barbara H.

Kaleidoscope Teaching Model

At One Spirit, we believe ministry formation should be as dynamic and sacred as the life it prepares you to serve.

Guided by One Spirit’s Kaleidoscope Pedagogy, learning develops through leadership that draws from diverse lived experiences, hands-on practice, and the collective wisdom of the community.

Students don’t just study ministry—they engage in presence, listening, and discernment in real time, discovering how spiritual insight transforms into compassionate action.

Qualifications for Enrollment in One Spirit’s Programs

We are committed to diversity and welcome all qualified adults to apply. All applicants are given full consideration regardless of age, gender identity, race, religion, ethnic background, national origin, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Each applicant will be assessed individually, and acceptance into the program is based on alignment with the program’s interspiritual perspective and program objectives, as well as personal engagement with a deepening spiritual maturity.

Additional Requirements

  • English fluency: All course materials are in the English language. As a result, written and spoken English fluency is required.

  • Technology: A computer or laptop with a webcam, microphone and stable internet connection are needed to participate in online classes and meetings via Zoom. You will also need them to access the online student portal (ClanEd) for course communications and learning content.

A Community of Practice for a Changing World

At One Spirit, we believe that the wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions points toward a profound truth: life is interconnected and sacred.

Our programs cultivate this awareness and translate it into real-world service, care, and community leadership.

Through shared practice, dialogue, and skill-building, students learn how to:

  • Accompany people through life’s most meaningful transitions

  • Offer spiritual care across traditions and cultures

  • Build communities of belonging and compassion

  • Bring spiritual wisdom into activism, organizations, and everyday life

  • Integrate spiritual practice with justice, service, and collective wellbeing

This is where the sacred meets the work of everyday life.