Meet the Team
Hello! We are Katie (left), Martha (middle), and Jess (right), and we are the crew leading Doula Training Center.
We intimately know the journey it takes to become a doula, the struggles to run a business, and the many reasons to celebrate this work. Our journey to become seasoned doulas was not straightforward, but with our collective experiences and knowledge, we hope to change the trajectory for aspiring doulas.
We understand the barriers doulas face going through this state designation, and we actively work to simplify the pathway forward. While we believe our training is enough to equip our students, we offer ongoing mentorship support post-training to guide and navigate situations that may come up.
Doula Training Center (DTC) was launched in October 2021 in response to the demand for comprehensive, quality doula trainings that is responsive to cultural and trauma-informed practices. Using Oregon-specific research, we developed an evidence-based curriculum that capacitates doulas as eligible for the Traditional Health Worker (THW) registry in Oregon. We are proud to announce that DTC’s curriculum was approved by the Oregon Health Authority in 2023.
Katie Minich, Program Director
THW Doula, BS Anthropology/Sociology, MA student Applied Anthropology
Katie is a Traditional Health Worker Doula, doula trainer and mentor based in Klamath Falls, Oregon. She trained as a doula at the Florida School of Traditional Midwifery and has served families in Oregon for the past decade. Katie’s experiences in giving birth to three children in and out of hospital and serving birthing people as their doula led her to study birth and birthwork in more depth. She studied medical anthropology and the sociology of healthcare at Southern Oregon University, receiving a BS in sociology and anthropology in 2022. Katie then went on to graduate school at Oregon State University, focusing on rural sociology, applied medical anthropology and teaching. She received her MS in applied anthropology in 2025 with a minor in interdisciplinary studies and a certificate in college and university teaching.
Katie has taught in different settings to all kinds of students over the past fifteen years. She trained with Deva Parnell at Discovery Yoga, receiving her 200-hour certification in 2011. She currently teaches restorative and prenatal yoga at Bliss Yoga and Wellness in Klamath. Katie was a teaching assistant at OSU for six terms and is now an adjunct faculty at Oregon Institute of Technology, where she teaches medical anthropology and various sociology courses.
All of these experiences contributed to her three research studies, Listening to Doulas in Oregon, which explore the experiences and needs of the doula workforce. As a co-founder, instructor and Program Director for DTC, developing comprehensive curricula and providing individualized mentorship for doula students is Katie’s passion. She believes that birthwork is an essential part of reproductive justice in the US and that all birthing people should have access to safe, equitable perinatal care.
In her spare time, Katie loves to spend time with her husband and three children. She enjoys spending time in nature, foraging, gardening, making art/creative activities, as well as being an avid reader and writer.
Jess Daggett, Curriculum Director
THW Doula, Childbirth Educator, CLC
Jess has worked in Maternal Health Care since 2011. Starting as a Maternal Health Case Manager and Care Coordinator with a regional CCO and moving into her current role as Perinatal Health Educator and Doula. Originally trained and certified through Aviva College as a Perinatal Health Educator in 2013, Jess received her certifications in Labor and Postpartum Doula support, Childbirth Education, and Lactation Education. She has been supporting families in birth for nearly 15 years and taught Childbirth Education for 12 of those years. Jess has had the privilege of working with and supporting more than 600 families via birth support and/or education opportunities. In 2020, she obtained her THW designation and in 2021 also received credentials as an ALPP Certified Lactation Counselor.
Jess also has a special focus in supporting families through Bereavement and Loss as a StillBirthday Certified Doula and is currently working toward certification as a Grief Coach to expand her support offerings in this capacity. She facilitates an annual community event and regular ongoing meetings, as well as acting as the bereavement contact for multiple clinics/providers in the area.
Jess volunteers as a Community Educator for Pregnancy Care Centers and Clinics to bring education to families seeking support through their programming, as well as supporting the work of the Southern Oregon Perinatal Task Force to bring education and resources to families in the community.
In addition to her work in the Perinatal field, Jess is a dance and music instructor.
In her “spare time”, Jess homeschools four of her six children and they enjoy community arts, baseball, exploring the beautiful outdoors of the PNW, and participating with their church community.
Martha Rivera, Administrative Director
THW Doula
A granddaughter of a midwife, and daughter of immigrant parents, Martha has been certified as a Traditional Health Worker Doula since 2017; is bilingual in Spanish and English and of Mexica descent. Martha trained as a birth doula in 2013, though her experience in the perinatal field extends back to 2008 where she began working at Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) as a Maternity Care Manager serving over 600 families in her seven year tenure. Through personalized one-on-one care management, collaborative wrap-around services, and perinatal support groups, including being a co-facilitator for CenteringPregnancy prenatal care, Martha’s role supported families from diverse cultures, languages, socioeconomic status, and their unique experiences which included houselessness, substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and medically high risk patients.
From 2014-2016, Martha led a county-wide preconception health campaign in conjunction with Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health, implementing a universal pregnancy intention screen, One Key Question (OKQ) in various settings such as education, medical, and dental. These efforts led the Coordinated Care Organization to add the OKQ as a metric in health settings. During this time, Martha directed the Perinatal Task Force for Jackson (and Josephine) County, advocated for reproductive health access, and provided administrative support to Jackson County’s first Regional Health Equity Coalition: SO Health-E. As administrative support, Martha co-organized various cultural competency and health literacy trainings directed towards education, law enforcement, and Human Resources sectors as well as prepared materials for various committees and community-wide conversations and events relating to health equity.
As a doula, she has worked independently with clients, as a hospital doula, and grass-roots doula hub director. Martha’s background includes supervision in clinical and non-clinical settings; working with various sectors for better systems integration of services, and administrative management in policies and procedures, doula contracting and billing, community engagement for collective impact, and strategy development. As a consultant, Martha offers workshops and one-on-one assistance to guide CCOs and other doulas through the THW designation, contracting and credentialed; and integration of services.
Martha has served on the THW Commission and in the Systems Integration subcommittee for 4 years and works part-time as the Executive Director and program development for the Oregon Doula Association.
Outside of her professional life, Martha enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering at her church, fixing cars, and crafting.