Chapter 8 | Midwifery - Helping Birthing People and Families Thrive

Bastyr is committed to bettering all communities' health and wellness holistically and through focused care. We especially want to care for those marginalized, overlooked, and treated unjustly by traditional systems.

Our Midwifery and Maternal-Child Health Systems Programs are deeply rooted in social justice, and we’re always looking for ways to equip our graduates to be champions of change and innovation in their fields.

We pioneer programs that address community needs directly, never afraid to shy away from the hard questions and necessary steps to bring justice to every neighborhood.

Improve the birthing stories for your community and beyond—join Bastyr today to start your journey of making a difference for families and help transform perinatal and postpartum care.

Choose Your Path to Impact: Midwifery or Maternal-Child Health

Knowing which path of advocacy and effectiveness to choose can be daunting. We’ve given some guidance on selecting the best path for you below, but you can always chat with an advisor to work through your goals and needs.

Who Should Go Into Midwifery?

Midwifery is best suited for those interested in having their primary focus be on providing direct care to support healthy outcomes for pregnant and birthing individuals, families starting the process of trying to conceive, and babies entering the world. If you’re interested in working with individual clients in a hands-on, clinical environment and delivering babies (and developing the expertise and confidence to do so in homes or freestanding birth centers) then midwifery could be your perfect career path.

Who Should Go Into Maternal-Child Health?

Maternal-Child Health Systems is the best fit for those who want to be more involved in advocating at the systems level for better health outcomes for birthing people and communities. Currently practicing or former community and public health workers, midwives or doulas often find the maternal-child health systems degree appealing if they are seeking to shift more into leadership or management roles. Many want to work as advocates, or educators or conduct and lead research after becoming frustrated with the quality of care in the traditional healthcare system and how it fails clients and communities.