Nurturing Birth - Doula training courses

Have you ever thought about becoming a doula?

Have you been searching for the right doula course?

Nurturing Birth is here to help!

We provide Doula courses across the UK, Europe and the Middle East and online with mentoring options for new and existing doulas, as well as the international Nurturing Birth Directory to help parents find the right birth or postnatal doula. We offer additional courses to enhance doulas’ knowledge and skills as well as a strong community and support network.

Find out more about our Doula courses

Hear what our course participants have to say

Testimonials

As featured in…

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Witnessing someone becoming a parent is the ultima

Witnessing someone becoming a parent is the ultimate privilege. This deeply emotional moment, a pivotal point in a family’s life.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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As doulas we are blessed with being part of the journey to get to this moment. What comes before is support, empowerment, continuity of care and compassion. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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A doula can be present to advocate for you; help you find your voice in the birth space; signposting information in the lead up to this moment, to arm you with evidence-based knowledge to work towards the birth you desire.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Image @southwales_birthphotographer ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#doula #doulachat #doulasupport #howtobeadoula #whatisadoula #birthworkers #doulatraining #doulacourse #onlinedoulacourse #birthprep #birthplan #nurturingbirthcommunity

This has gone down in Nurturing Birth history as o

This has gone down in Nurturing Birth history as one of our favourite testimonials ever! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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When the pandemic hit, like so many people, we were sent into a bit of a spiral about how we would continue to operate as Nurturing Birth as we knew it, facilitating Doula Preparation courses at locations around the UK. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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When Sophie made the decision to switch all our learning to online platforms, we all took a leap of faith with her and held our breath while we tested the waters and adjusted to lockdown life. Thankfully our doulas took that leap of faith with us and we soon found that lots of people who had expressed an interest in our courses took the pandemic as the perfect opportunity to pursue that interest! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We talk about Oxytocin a lot in our work. It's that shy love hormone that, when flowing freely, helps the body with childbirth, recovery, feeding and bonding with baby. It retreats easily when faced with any stress hormones, and we work hard to protect it in the birth space. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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So imagine our delight when we received this testimonial after our first virtual doula course, conducted entirely via Zoom - we were over the moon! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thank you to everyone who has chosen Nurturing Birth for their doula journey, especially in this Covid impacted year. We are delighted to have you in our community and we can feel that Oxytocin travelling our way too! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#doula #doulacourse #howtobeadoula #whatisadoula #doulatraining #onlinedoulacourse #birthworkers #nurturingbirthcommunity #oxytocin #doulalove

Do you know who you want to be as a doula? Most pe

Do you know who you want to be as a doula? Most people coming onto our courses have a strong sense of why they want to be a doula – perhaps it is personal experience that has led them to want to support other families, possibly feeling a calling from a young age, maybe it’s a transition from a parallel role, or it could be a desire for a complete change in career. Whatever your reason the next step is to think about what you stand for and what is important to you as a doula ✨ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What we, at Nurturing Birth, believe is that there is no cookie-cutter method of producing doulas. The age-old phrase “there is a doula for everyone” is a good one. Individuality is so crucial in a profession which relies on chemistry and connection 💕 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Who do you want to be as a doula and what are your values? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Our values are compassion and respect. We want to provide safe spaces for people to explore what the role of the doula is and consider what the next right steps for them are. We want to encourage people to be the best possible version of themselves, to do the necessary reflective work (with support from both facilitators and mentors) so that they can go out and be with new families as they bring babies into the world. We want doulas to really think about the core qualities of doulaing, recognising crucial boundaries and interacting with other people in the birth world with care and kindness. We want doulas to be informed and educated around inclusion and diversity and we are always listening and learning from the world around us, because even though we believe we are the best we can be as doulas, there can sometimes still be room to do better and be better 💕 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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📸 @sarahstirkphotography
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#doula #doulachat #doulasupport #howtobeadoula #whatisadoula #doulacourse #doulatraining #onlinedoulacourse #virtualdoula #nurturingbirthcommunity #birthworkers

A big warm welcome to all our lovely new followers

A big warm welcome to all our lovely new followers and hello from the NB team 👋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We’re so pleased you found your way here. Chances are you’re interested in the birth world and passionate about support for people in the perinatal period - birth, bump and beyond 💕⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Whether you’re looking at ways to become a birth or postnatal doula, or looking to hire one, you’ve come to the right place! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We facilitate doula training courses, currently operating virtually via Zoom and heading back in-person in July 🎉 All course dates can be found via Linktree in our bio. We also have introductory workshops, CPD and mentoring opportunities for existing doulas - and we’re also always happy to be on the end of email and DMs for any enquiries 🤗 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If you’re looking to hire a doula to support you in your pregnancy, head to the Nurturing Birth Directory (again via Linktree) and you can search our amazing Nurturing Birth community of wonderfully passionate doulas via geographical location, so simple! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Thanks to @thenakeddoula Emma for the shout out! 💕
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#doula #doulasupport #doulacourse #doulatraining #howtobeadoula #whatisadoula #findadoula #nurturingbirthcommunity #birthdoula #postnataldoula #onlinedoulacourse #virtualdoula

Not one, not two, but three doula course options.

Not one, not two, but three doula course options. So excited to be bringing back our in-person doula courses! And we have Dreaming of being a Doula on Monday, the perfect opportunity if you want to explore the doula role before you decide on a course. #doulatraining #doulacourse #doulauk #ukdoula

At Nurturing Birth we want everyone to feel suppor

At Nurturing Birth we want everyone to feel supported. Our values are compassion and respect. Compassion means that our intention is always to create safe spaces - on our courses, in our online groups, on our workshops and in our mentoring. Respect means that we honour each person’s journey – everyone is worthy of their place in our groups and has something to bring. There is no such thing as a stupid question, even if it has been asked many times before. We want to nurture new doulas so that they gain in confidence and ability – what better reward for us when doulas go from taking tentative new steps, to flying! 🤗⠀
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If you want to come and join us, comforted in the knowledge that our ultimate aim is to provide a truly safe space for you to explore what is coming up for you around becoming a doula then do contact us (with your contact number for one of the team to call you back)⠀
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Next Monday we have our Dreaming of Being a Doula workshop, where you can spend two hours with Michelle Every (our Mentoring Co-ordinator) and two of our recent graduates asking questions and learning more about what it is to be a doula and what our courses involve.⠀
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Going forwards you have three different course options to consider – our in-person courses start up again in July (Intensive and Expansive) and our remote courses continue from this month (Expansive and Distance). ⠀
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We really hope to meet you there! 💫 ⠀
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#doula #howtobeadoula #whatisadoula #doulacourse #doulatrainingcourse #onlinedoulacourse #doulatraining #nurturingbirthcommunity #dreamingofbeingadoula

An excerpt from a recent blog about the history of

An excerpt from a recent blog about the history of home and hospital births, written by Emma Ashworth for the Nurturing Birth website. Emma is a highly valued member of the NB team, AIMS Trustee and AIMS journal editor.⠀
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"Before the NHS was founded in 1948, most women gave birth at home with midwives that they already knew and had a relationship with. As the NHS found its feet, maternity was something of a forgotten entity, with no central recommendation as to how maternity care should be run. Care was passed between GPs, hospitals and some local authority run services such as maternity clinics, so in 1956 a report was commissioned by the Government with the aim of creating a coherent policy. The then Earl of Cranbrook, John David Gathorne-Hardy, was commissioned to chair the committee which was formed to create the report, despite having no previous connections with maternity or obstetrics.⠀
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The Cranbrook Report was published in 1959 and it stated that 70% of all births should occur in hospital, and that the other 30% should be safe enough to happen at home. The decision about who was able to birth in home or at hospital was to be made by the woman’s obstetrician. The obstetric community were not happy; they wanted far more women to be classed as ‘high risk’ and to not be permitted to have a home birth, which would be with midwives rather than doctors."⠀
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You can find the rest of the blog via Linktree in our bio 💕 ⠀
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📸 @beautifulonemidwifery⠀
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#doula #doulasupport #nurturingbirthcommunity #homebirth #hospitalbirth #birthplan #birthprep #birthnotes #firsttrimester #secondtrimester #thirdtrimester #howtobeadoula #whatisadoula

Don't forget to pass on our Nurturing Birth Direct

Don't forget to pass on our Nurturing Birth Directory link to anyone looking for birth and/or postnatal support. We have lots of incredible Nurturing Birth doulas listed, covering most of the UK and some international locations 💕 ⠀
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You can find the link in our bio ⠀
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📸 @theantwerpdoula⠀
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#doula #doulasupport #doulachat #doulanearme #findadoula #whatisadoula #nurturingbirthcommunity #birthworkers #birthdoula #postnataldoula #

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