On-Going Learning for Doulas and Birthworkers
Doulavation
Doulavation is an online course designed for busy people, with materials you can work through at your own pace. Written for birthworkers of all kinds, this course helps you hone your services and find your clients, as well as giving you a wealth of tips on creating a sustainable business.
Sustainability is about balance and about time – creating a lifestyle that you can continue for as long as you wish.
Doulavation prepares and supports you for the long haul and is about elevating you to higher ground so you can survey your landscape and take stock of your life and business. Doulavation invites you to work out what you really want, and how you want to go about getting it.
If bought together with the Developing Doulas course, the package price is £850. If you are already a DD, the fee is £200. If you are not a DD, Doulavation costs £300.
Laid Back Feeding
For parents or professionals, this 2 hour zoom class guides you through the whys and wherefores of laid back feeding postures and explores how leaning back with your baby on top of you can not only help get feeding off to a flying start but enhance the feeding experience, optimise milk transfer, fix feeding problems and increase the duration of the nursing relationship. This practical session covers precisely how to facilitate laid back feeding both in the home and out and about, as well as touching on the theory and history behind the evolution of breastfeeding postures. The session also looks at the more common cradle holds and explores what precisely can go wrong with these parent-led holds that frequently cause problems.
£55 (£50 for DDs) Please contact me to ask for a session – this can be facilitated as a group or as a one to one with Maddie
Breastfeeding Buddy Course
This course is for doulas who would like to go a little deeper into the practicalities of providing breastfeeding support to their clients. It is ‘self-directed learning’ – in other words, it is a module you work through at home, in your own time. There is a suggested reading and resources list to help you answer the questions and complete the tasks. Your tutor, Maddie, is available to help and support you along the way, and when you have finished the module, the price includes Maddie sending back your marked module and a one to one session with Maddie.
£200 (£150 if you are a DD)
Developing Doulas Postnatal Workshops – with Katie
3 hour zoom sessions
Attachment, Bonding and Fourth Trimester.
Attachment in the early days and how we might nurture mothers during this time.
Holding the bonding space, what might it look like?
How do we offer unconditional and non judgemental support, what might hinder us?
The concept of the fourth trimester.
Signposts and book recommendations to strengthen your learning.
Infant Sleep
How do infant’s sleep?
- Expectations vs reality.
- What might the landscape of sleep look like?
Sleep as a developmental milestone.
How do we scaffold families during this time?
What strategies can we share with tired families?
Signposts and book recommendations to strengthen your learning.
Weaning to Solids
The milk diet
When do babies transition from a milk diet to solid diet?
Why do babies eat food?
What readiness signs am I looking for?
The history of weaning and why advice has changed historically?
How food and night waking get muddled and why……..
In each of these workshops we will be unpicking the myths, gently navigating the often conflicting and outdated generational advice and sharing the most up to date evidence and research from the perspective of Postnatal Doula support. There will also be opportunities to unpick our own experiences.
Please ask for prices, as it will depend what package you choose – often these workshops are done as part of a package with the Breastfeeding Buddy course
Breastfeeding Case Studies
Join us for a day (10am to 4pm) of breastfeeding education. Doulas, breastfeeding peer supporters, breastfeeding enthusiasts all welcome. If you’re interested in learning to support breastfeeding mums this workshop is for you.
Explore how the stories that women tell about their breastfeeding relationships teach us so much about how best to support them. Unpick the narratives, share and learn breastfeeding knowledge, find solutions to challenges and foster your empathy with the mothers you support. Oh and if you haven’t seen the famous oil and water demo, here’s your chance!
“Amazing to spend time unpicking and reflecting on women’s stories without needing to fix.”
“Absolutely loved it and all the storytelling”
“A lovely day full of learning. I only wish there was a day 2!”
“I feel more confident in how to talk to mothers and know the boundaries of a Peer Supporter.”
“Brilliant. Really thought-provoking and inspiring.”
Workshop fee is £75. Doulas on call can pay a down payment of £25 to reserve a spot. Spaces are limited.
Next Dates:
Please get in touch if you’d like to do this workshop and we can talk about dates and venues
Tongue Tie Workshop: The Politics and the Passion
“…The largest part of a doula’s work is listening. We listen to the stories of mothers and fathers; the narratives of the birth, the emotions of new parenthood, the highs and the lows of life with a baby…[One] day I realised I’d listened to one too many tongue tie stories. It was time to give all these women a voice. I came home and announced on facebook that I wanted stories from parents about their tongue-tied babies. Not even I could have predicted the pain and suffering that appeared in my inbox over the next few weeks…”
Let’s explore the what, why, how and who of tongue tie. How can we best support families through the tongue tie maze? Join me for 3 hour zoom session of learning and sharing.
There started my obsession with tongue tie; talking to mothers, breastfeeding supporters and Lactation Consultants about tongue tie, working with families with tongue tie babies, learning from the mothers and babies who came my way. All the time, the stories flooded in, teaching me more and deepening my passion to learn more, dispel myths and spread the word.
“Beautiful workshop, really enjoyed it…had many questions answered”
“Very informative and provided me with so much useful and productive information.”
“…now feel so much more confident in signposting women”
“absolutely fascinating day. Can’t believe how quickly the time went.”
“would recommend other breastfeeding helpers do this course”
“wonderful, informative, practical and fun!”
“Awesome! V informative and well-structured”
“Maddie, you have great teaching skills – very lucky to have been able to attend”
“…you have helped me understand my own TT story better”
“Fabulous workshop!”
Workshop fee is £60 The session runs from 6.30pm til 9.30pm
Next Dates: 10th February 2021
To Book, email Maddie
Spaces are limited. Please get in touch if you’d like to do this workshop and we can talk about dates and venues
Beyond the Breast: Exploring What Weaning Means
This is a workshop for doulas, peer supporters and anyone working with new families. The topic of the introduction of solid food is riven with confusion, conflicting advice and misunderstanding.
When a baby starts eating solids, everyone in the family goes on a journey. Ancestral habits and deeply ingrained pain can be reignited, anxiety can be high and conflict is common. It can also be a time of great fun and joy as we watch the baby explore a whole new world of taste and texture.
Commonly, parents find it difficult to imagine what this adventure might look and feel like to the baby. This workshop explores not just the facts around the introduction of complementary foods, but how we can best support parents to empathise with the baby as they learn this wonderful new skill and crucially, to support parents to really consider their own relationship with food and what they do and don’t want to pass down to their children.
This workshop runs from 10am to 4pm and costs £75 (£65 for Developing Doulas). You can book with a £25 deposit.
Next date 3rd November. This workshop is the day after another workshop,Tongue Tie, the politics and Passion’. Please let me know if you’d like to come to both (£125 for both days, or £105 for Developing Doulas)
Please email [email protected] to book or ask questions. The day runs from 10am til 4pm
Spaces are limited. Please get in touch if you’d like to do this workshop and we can talk about dates and venues
Consent in Maternity Care: a practical workshop for doulas
The issue of consent is a hot topic in all areas of life, especially for women and girls. When it comes to maternity care, there are even more misunderstandings, grey areas and lack of emphasis on a woman’s ownership of her own body and unborn baby.
This workshop is to explore the legalities, why and how consent needs to be given and what the doula’s role may or may not be when supporting parents during birth and beyond. This is a practical workshop with the chance to explore real world scenarios.
“Really, really useful content and I know I will use it with every client from now on”
“Really useful to hear about different types of consent and laws around assault. Super helpful signposts for how we can support clients…and helped with blame culture and self care when working in tricky situations”
“Thank you for simplifying the issue of consent as much as possible. I wish I’d had this knowledge years ago.”
“The session was faultless”
“I am so impressed with your ability to open the room’s access to emotion yet still keep time to seamlessly. Hats off to another fantastic workshop, exploring a tricky, complex subject as thoroughly as possible.”
Price £65 for the 3 hour zoom workshop. Book The Consent Workshop here
Upcoming dates:
17th May 7.30pm
