Your midwifery team at Tempe Birth Center believes in and supports the apprenticeship model for training future midwives. We believe that midwifery is an ancient art and “calling,” not just another professional career choice. Classroom learning with intermittent clinical experience would not equip a student properly for relating to clients with individual and unique needs. Apprenticeship is the absolute best model for teaching future midwives continuity of care for clients. Students see clients through birth and postpartum care from the beginning of their pregnancies. They learn to care about the individual, recognizing first-hand that what might be the “right” answer for one woman may not be for another.

We are very careful and selective about the students we choose to participate in our apprenticeship program. It is vital to us that our students share our values and are compatible with our personalities. For this reason, we hope that if you have hired us, you also will like our apprentices. Even though we are careful, we recognize that not every client will always be comfortable with every student, which is why we want you to know that you always come first. We encourage you to fill out occasional student evaluation forms, which help the student and our midwifery team know how they are doing and if there are aspects of their skills and/or training that need improvement.

Students are always supervised and only allowed to perform midwifery skills they have been taught. We also only allow the students to interact with clients who are comfortable with them. If at any time you do not feel comfortable with our students, please let us know. It is very important that your needs are met first and that you feel at ease with our entire staff.