Course Content

Doula Training • Birth Educator Training

The Relaxed Birth and Parenting Doula and Birth Educator Trainings are both structured around the 7 Words, which is a system of authentic commumication. You can find out more about 7 Words at www.7words.co.uk. Each course consists

of a number of different modules based around one or more of the seven key words.

Relaxed Birth and Parenting Doula Training

The Relaxed Birth and Parenting Doula Training is composed of two modules; each module is three days long.

Module One

Day One

• Introduction to the 7 Words: how does this system of authentic communication work and how will it serve your training and work as a Doula?
• NO of Birth: boundaries, identity, choice, and truth.
• How do we support women to make good boundaries, to strengthen their identity, to make good choices that reflect
their truth?
• How will you do the same in your work as Doula? What is the role of the Doula? What is it not?
• Exploring the culture of birth
• Finding the ground, the basics and structure of birth, an exploration
of the pelvis
• Working with breath and touch.

Day Two

• HELLO of Birth: communication tools, including non-violent communication skills
and active listening
• Exploring different births – hospital, home birth, water birth and more
• Working with the baby in utero, acknowledging the baby as present and having
an experience;
• saying Hello to the baby
• THANKYOU of pregnancy and birth
• Pregnancy and birth hormones and physiology, active birth
• Nurturing the heart-womb meridian with visualisation and body work
• Increased awareness of the breath
• Relationship skills.

Day Three

• GOODBYE of Birth: realisation, decision, completion, and moving on

• Rachel Wheeler (midwife and Active Birth Teacher): looking at birth and the pelvis

• Midwifery updates and procedures with Rachel – how to serve your client best. Understanding hospital
and medical procedures
• Stages of birth: what happens in birth; really grounding your understanding
• Transition of labour
• Power in labour
• Perineal massage
• Squatting and birth postions

• Helping women and their families to get real about birth and parenting; making the transition to parenthood
• Working with fear.

Module Two

Day One

• How do we do the above for our own birth practice? Jessica Eveleigh (Relaxed
Birth and Parenting Practitioner and Author) will be teaching about marketing and setting up practice
• Learning how women get their needs met. Being clear. Helping women and their partners to ask for what they need. Joining in co-operation to help vision flourish
• SORRY of Birth: responsibility, remorse, repair, and release

• Helping women to bring healing to the wounds that may inhibit the birth process; taking responsibility for what we bring to the arena of birth, as practitioners and birthing women
• Looking at sexuality, menarche, termination, loss, still birth, sexual abuse.

Day Two

• The no-projecting way to approach birth

• Studying with the genogram and learning a tool to help women to map their story and what they bring

• Working with sound and breath, and meditation
• Working with the MA sound to strengthen the heart-womb meridian
• Taking responsibility as a practitioner

• Amanda Rayment (Herbalist and Healer): the Doula's medicine bag for birth.

Day Three

• YES; permission, agreement, acceptance and surrender
• The power of the breath affirmed

• The ability to choose relaxation
• The energetics of birth

• The spirituality of birth

• The soul journey through labour; nurturing the baby as it journeys to life
outside the womb
• Breastfeeding and postnatal support
• Blessingway ceremony and developing trust.

Assessment criteria

• Two case studies of births you have attended
• Observation of one birth workshop

• Observation of two antenatal classes

• Final verbal assesment – different scenarios

• Payment in full

On meeting the assessment criteria, you will be eligible to register with the Federation of Antenatal Tutors (FEDANT).

Further information

Babies in arms are welcome on the Doula Training course, however, when babies start crawling we recognise that we are unable to accommodate them.

For the dates of the next Doula Training, go to Training Dates & Costs. To apply, please fill in an Application Form. If you have any questions and would like more information, please Contact Us.

Relaxed Birth and Parenting Birth Educator Training

The Relaxed Birth and Parenting Birth Educator Training is composed of seven modules; each module takes
place over one weekend.

All weekends have a practical body work aspect, including breathwork and often sound work. We also timetable in circle time for sharing experiences, as well as time for questions and feedback. We support each weekend with handouts and during the first module we will look at coursework, journals, sitting in and practicals.

Module One

• Getting to know what this training will be about, and exploring how it might be different
from other trainings

• We want you to be able to work as confident Relaxed Birth and Parenting Birth Educators and/or Doulas after the 7 modules, so we begin by asking you about how
we can best support that

• Introducing the breath and fundamentals of touch

• Getting grounded with yoga

• One of the points of focus of this training is that we are working from a place of appreciating the body and our natural resources. We will be inviting you to share how you got here, to this training, and what it means for you to have made this decision

to work in the arena of birth. From there you will have a chance to share your vision
of birth and how you want to contribute to that vision

• It may become clearer during this first weekend that there are some areas which
call for your healing attention around birth, and part of your journey may be to
explore that further

• Working with the Spirit of Birth, engaging passion and intuition.

Module Two

• Exploring all the different options of birth and how you may work to support women's choices in an informed way

• Authentic communication, the language of birth, and how to communicate our needs and respond to the needs of the woman

• The physiology of conception as taught by Jenni Meyer (Midwife and Craniosacral Therapist)

• Further yoga and different ways of working with the breath and sound

• Relationship between mother and baby in utero, and how the father can share in that

• Amanda Rayment (Herbalist and Healer), who specialises in ante and post-natal, will help you create
your 'medicine bag' for birth.

Module Three

• Further yoga and practical bodywork

• Nurturing the heart-womb meridian and looking at the different ways you can work with this in pregnancy and postnatally

• Blessingway: a ceremony which celebrates the circle of women, developing support and connection

• Relationships – building resources, exploring the changing dynamics of family relationships and how teachers
can support that

• Opening the body: breath and sound. Yoga.

Module Four

• Symptoms of pregnancy

• Medical procedures and obstetric updates taught by Rachel Wheeler
(Active Birth teacher and Midwife)

• Relationship dynamics, when two becomes three

• Second stage of labour, pelvis and birth

• Perinneal massage

• Third stage of labour

• Squatting and positions for labour

• Working with pregnancy - getting comfortable with basics of the body

• Shiatsu for labour and pregnancy with Suzanne Yates (Author and Shiatsu Therapist).

Module Five

• The Vision of Birth and the Family

• Postnatal Issues

• Intention of Birth

• Setting up your Relaxed Birth and Parenting practice, marketing tools and more with teaching from Eva Fernandes,

marketing expert, ethical business guru, and founder of Born

• Further yoga and breath work.

Module Six

• Termination, miscarriage, stillbirth, loss

• Healing

• Exploring emotional baggage

• Creating awareness around family patterning

• Your own birth

• Dealing with guilt and bringing forgiveness

• Taking Responsibility

• Teaching from Tracy Holloway (Clinical Hypnotherapist and Psychotherapist, Medical Intuitive, Theta DNA Healing Teacher and Practitioner)

• Physiology of the transition phase of labour

• Coping with fear and pain

• Further yoga and breath work.

Module Seven

• Group dynamics

• Finding a way to surrender to birth

• More breath and sound work

• Further yoga

• Revisiting the hormones of birth

• Breastfeeding

• Revisiting the second stage of labour: letting go

• Acceptance

• The spirituality of birth and parenting.

Assessment criteria

• Completion of homework for all seven modules

• Two case studies

• Observation of ten antenatal classes

• Observation of five birth preparation workshops

• Final assesment with an outside adjudicator, Active Birth Teacher and Midwife Rachel Wheeler, which will be
a mixture of practical and verbal exercises – this will take place on weekend seven

• Payment in full

On meeting the assessment criteria, you will be eligible to register with the Federation of Antenatal Tutors (FEDANT).

Further information

Babies in arms are welcome on the Doula Training course, however, when babies start crawling we recognise that we are unable to accommodate them.

For the dates of the next Birth Educator Training, go to Training Dates & Costs. To apply, please fill in an Application Form. If you have any questions and would like more information, please Contact Us.