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…

Follow Nurturing Birth on Instagram

nurturing_birth

Well this speaks volumes doesn’t it? . It’s a

Well this speaks volumes doesn’t it?
.
It’s a bold claim, not our own words, but we certainly enjoy the message.
.
The support of doulas is known to have huge benefits for the empowerment of women in the birthspace and for positive outcomes in birth. Doulas provide signposting to evidence-based support to help families inform their choices in their birth story.
.
Nurturing Birth is continuing to provide training for new doulas and our ever-popular Doula Preparation Course has been adapted to become our Social Distancing Doula Course.
.
If you are looking to move into birth work, we would love to talk through your options for remote learning at this time.
.
Our online course gives plenty of opportunity for reflection, exploration of ideas and future hopes and amazing opportunities for bonding and sharing with like-minded people.
.
Do ping us an email if you would like to join us, we would be very happy to talk through your options for learning.
.
#doula #doulapreparation #birthworkers #socialdistancing #doulachat #doulalove #doulatraining

Adapting to remote doula support 💕⠀ .⠀ Last

Adapting to remote doula support 💕⠀
.⠀
Last week, we hosted a workshop to discuss ways in which we can facilitate access to doula support with social distancing measures in place, and we wanted to remind everyone that we have a recording of the workshop available if you missed it.⠀
.⠀
There is so much for us all to get to grips with, as we adapt to working with clients remotely. These are strange times indeed and we all understand that it can feel impossible to take a "business as usual" approach.⠀
.⠀
However, as we discussed on the workshop and as we are seeing in other businesses, it is entirely possible to continue to provide a certain kind of offering - and as we know in the birthworld, with the work of doulas there are many benefits to be felt 💕⠀
.⠀
There are so many ways that we can continue to offer support to our clients, both existing and in future. The model may look slightly different to the one we know and love but we are doing the very best with everything in our power to continue to provide valuable support and empowerment for mothers and partners at this time.⠀
.⠀
As doulas, we nurture the families we work with, and here at NB that extends further, to nurturing doulas and birth workers as they navigate their careers, not to mention this strange time of life we find ourselves in.⠀
.⠀
Do ping us an email to access the recording of the workshop - all we ask is that you pay what you think it is worth/what you can afford. We hope you understand 🤗⠀
.⠀
#doula #doulasupport #doulachat #doulathedoula #birthworkers #doulafromafar #socialdistancedoula #remotedoula

As we find ourselves in the peak of the UK's exper

As we find ourselves in the peak of the UK's experience of #COVID19, we are hearing so many questions about the effects this will have on pregnant mothers and their birth stories, with many feeling worried at the prospect of birthing without additional support or the support of their birth partner.⠀
.⠀
@rcobsgyn has this latest encouraging update on the guidelines around birth partners:⠀
.⠀
"The NHS is making arrangements to ensure that women are supported and cared for safely through pregnancy, birth and the period afterwards during this pandemic when there will be extra pressures on healthcare services.⠀
.⠀
You should be encouraged to have a birth partner present with you during labour and birth. Having a trusted birth partner present throughout labour is known to make a significant difference to the safety and well-being of women in childbirth."⠀
.⠀
It would be easy to think that doulas are unable to "come to work" to support mothers and families at this time but actually there is SO much we can do, which will hopefully reduce the amount that the amazing, but incredibly stretched, doctors and midwives need to do in terms of providing emotional, psychological and mental support.⠀
.⠀
From phone consultations, helping to create birth plans or preferences, discussing calming and comfort measures and helping to put them in place, signposting evidence-based information to help inform choices, attending birth virtually via any video calling platform... and so much more.⠀
.⠀
This is a time of crisis indeed, and women in childbirth need support like never before. So you can trust in a doula to work with you, to give you the very best version of ourselves even with social-distancing measures in place. It is our passion to support and empower women at this time - so believe us when we say, where there's a will there's a way! 💕⠀
.⠀
📷 By the very talented @badassbirthphotography⠀
.⠀
#birthprep #doula #doulachat #thirdtrimester #secondtrimester #firsttrimester #motherhood #birthplan #childbirth #birthworkers #doulalove

Following our hugely successful online workshop di

Following our hugely successful online workshop discussing the current need for doulas to adapt to remote working with their clients, we thought now would be a good time to reintroduce our new Social Distancing Doula Course which we have created to give anyone with the dream of becoming a doula, the opportunity to work with us to realise that dream through remote learning, with social-distancing measures firmly in place.⠀
.⠀
Our online offerings have been so well-received that we have introduced two further options for learning remotely to accommodate different needs around family and existing work commitments.⠀
.⠀
With options available for daytime, evening and weekend learning sessions, remote learning with group sessions, peer to peer support, mentoring and plenty of time with Sophie, owner and founder of Nurturing Birth, there really is something here for everyone, to allow you to build on that inner spark that you have inside you for working with mothers and partners during the perinatal period, supporting them and empowering them to feel they have a voice in their birth story.⠀
.⠀
Head to our website to register your interest for these courses. Spaces are limited to 12 participants per course, to allow the time, space and the quality of experience that Nurturing Birth doulas know us and our preparation courses for.⠀
.⠀
We would love for you to join us soon. Doulas are being called on now more than ever, as mothers and their partners are calling for additional support while the NHS faces further pressure from the Coronavirus adding pressure to the system.⠀
.⠀
#doula #doulachat #doulalove #doulapreparationcourse #doulatraining #socialdistancing⠀
.

Did you catch this article in @guardian today? dis

Did you catch this article in @guardian today? discussing the posibilties for "pop-up" maternity units during the #COVID19 crisis.⠀
.⠀
Here's a snippet: ⠀
.⠀
"Experts warn that community-based options should be available to women wishing to avoid hospitals treating people infected with Covid-19, where pregnant women are being told they will not be allowed the support of a birth partner, apart from during “active labour”. Birthrights (the charity set up by Rebecca Schiller and Elizabeth Prochaska) said it had been inundated with concerns about the removal of homebirth and birth centre options “without thorough investigation about how staffing and safe transfer challenges could be addressed”. In a statement it said: “We believe that this action may be unlawful and could lead trusts to be responsible for significant risk to life if women choose to birth without medical assistance.”⠀
.⠀
"Maria Booker, the programmes director at Birthrights, said: “Some women being induced are not allowed their partners with them until active labour (three or four centimetres dilated). Many are not allowed partners on the postnatal ward, which is especially worrying for mothers of twins."⠀
.⠀
“Others who have suffered PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] are having homebirths cancelled but told they can’t have partners with them on the postnatal ward. Some are asking if trusts have a duty of care to attend their birth at home if they go ahead anyway.”⠀
.⠀
These are challenging times indeed and this conversation is so important. Pregnancy can be a time of vulnarability and anxiety for many - and this crisis to public health takes it to another level.⠀
.⠀
As doulas, we are here to support. It is what we do, what we know, what drives us. Our passion. This support can take many forms and is certainly valid now, even with social-distancing measures observed. If you would like to discuss anything you have read here, please ping us an email or DM and we would be glad to offer you some signposting.⠀
.⠀
#doula #doulachat #doulacare #birthworkers #birthprep #firsttrimester #secondtrimester #thirdtrimester #pregnancy #motherhood #parenting

Today, we're talking boundaries.⠀ .⠀ You will

Today, we're talking boundaries.⠀
.⠀
You will have heard us championing the support of doulas at this time, and talking about how we are being called on for empowerment and support for mothers and partners in different ways to those we are used to, as hospital and maternity services are stretched while they cope with the additional load that COVID19 is presenting them with. Doulas are consulting on the phone, via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp and other new methods.⠀
.⠀
It's happening and it's working. We are hearing many incredible stories of births that have played out with doula support in this way and the benefits have been felt, deeply. Amazing!⠀
.⠀
There has been talk of an increase in homebirths as this situation is unfolding, and in response to that we feel it is our responsibilty to say that doula support CAN not and SHOULD not replace medical support. For us, this is a boundary that is absolutely crucial in the work that we do and everything we stand for.⠀
.⠀
We are all here to help and we desperately want to do all we can to support mothers during this time. For us, that means not putting ourselves in situations that we are unqualified for. We are the best we can be when we stay calm and above all, responsible.⠀
.⠀
It's absolutely time for emotional strength and empowerment but we must never want to do so much that we put ourselves and our clients in risky situations.⠀
.⠀
If you are a doula or a pregnant mother, and you feel you are struggling with boundaries at this time, please feel free to drop us a line or give us a call to discuss your thoughts.⠀
.⠀
Stay safe everyone 💕⠀
.⠀
📷 courtesy of @foxandbeauphotography⠀
.⠀
#doula #doulachat #doulasupport #boundaries #doulathedoula #pregnancy #pregnancychat #birthworkers #thirdtrimester #pregnantduringlockdown #socialdistancing

Adapting to remote working is a big step for every

Adapting to remote working is a big step for everyone at the moment - all businesses, no matter how big or small - and for us doulas remote working is quite the shift from what we are accustomed to, holding space for our clients, oxytocin flowing 💕⠀
.⠀
This workshop is for any birth worker who is adapting to this huge change in working behaviours, necessitated by social distancing. There are wonderful connections to be made, even with social distancing measures firmly in place. Let us talk through the how, what and why.⠀
.⠀
Please join us, we look forward to seeing you 💕⠀
.⠀
#doula #doulalove #doulachat #socialdistancing #doulathedoula #remoteworking #remotedoula

This could be really interesting, coming from the

This could be really interesting, coming from the #US this week. They are a few steps ahead of us in their #COVID19 situation and have a different healthcare and preinatal care system, but nevertheless, building a knowledge bank is always useful in times of need, and for doulas in their support of mothers moving forwards. We will be tuning in, thanks @thebizof 🤗⠀
.⠀
"With labor and delivery options restricted due to COVID-19, The Business Of is launching a series of discussions with birthing experts, moms, and advocates to discuss what options and rights expectant parents have that also ensure the safety of healthcare professionals. We're excited to announce @avivaromm and @glowmaven as our speakers this week! Details at https://buff.ly/2WQadUH"

Load More... Follow on Instagram