Our Courses

Our Courses

There is a wisdom in the stories that our grandmothers tell us. It’s the medicine of generations.  The stories of our collective pasts, and the hope for our future. The world of birth is not new and neither is the work of the birthkeeper.

When you decide to become an Abuela doula, you will be encouraged to reach back into your cultural heritage to bring forward the traditions of your mothers and your mothers’ mothers. The role of a doula is to support and to be with women as they travel through pregnancy, birth and those early postnatal days. To sit in and share the wisdom of the Abuelas, the grandmothers.

Compared to other courses, I felt this was a safe space for me to talk, share and learn.

Doula Preparation Course

Knowing what a doula is, and knowing what it is to be a doula, recognising that the preparation course is precisely that. Preparation. An Abuela doula should seek to learn more, network and engage with other birth and postnatal professionals and hold herself to a good personal code. 

This is a four day, interactive course. An application form will be sent and the course explained to enquirers – this includes structure and fees. The pre-course module will be sent with the application form and is expected to be completed before starting. The post course module should be completed within 9 months. 

COST: £750

The first day of the course I noticed I was in a room filled with women of colour, and different cultural backgrounds, here to learn the wisdom of the Abuela Doulas. The knowledge was good, all the standard material and information you gain at a Doula prep course, but the difference with this course was that I learnt more about different cultural traditions around pregnancy, birth and post-birth, African, Caribbean, Chinese, Asian and more. I am so glad that I went on this course! This course takes you back to the times when Granny Midwife was around, I learnt so many things that I can bring into my world as a doula, as a mother, as a sister and as a friend.

I felt you made the course for us as individuals, you brought things out of each of us.

Postnatal Sankofa

Most postnatal courses concentrate on the household chores that doulas perform and getting parents back into ‘normal’ life. Abuela Doulas are there to teach you how to truly nurture and nourish women where they are, enabling healing and restoration. You will honour your clients. 

We emphasise the need to be culturally safe and to move beyond mere competence to true, unbiased support. We will dig deep into cultural support and care – it is the perfect compliment to the Red Tent practical postpartum course.

Level Up! Advanced Doula Course

As an Abuela doula, you will be encouraged to reach back into your cultural heritage to bring forward the traditions of your mothers and your mothers’ mothers. The role of a doula is to support and to be with women and birthing people as they travel through pregnancy, birth and those early postnatal days.

We invite you to sit in and share the wisdom of the Abuelas, the grandmothers.

Cultural Competency Course

Cultural Competency is a set of behaviours, policies and attitudes that form a system that allows cross cultural groups to effectively work individually and within organisations where mutli-cultural situations are present. In changing the colour of the landscape, we need to be able to live and work effectively within it. Without cultural competency we find health disparities, service users turning away and complaints.

This workshop aims to work through the way we work culturally and how to implement best practice when working within the birth world. Looking at our language, awareness of self and ways of working, this is going to be a full day with role play as well as individual and group work. We look forward to your active participation. On occasion this workshop is available to travel to you – please be in touch to discuss this.

Upcoming Events

Watch Mars speaking at the Doula UK Conference, 2016

Mars Lord

I have been a birth keeper for over a decade. After attending the Paramana Doula course with Michel Odent and Lilliana Lammers, a spark was lit within me and the passion that I discovered for birth and supporting women has fired my soul ever since. I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of women.

As a founding member of Birth In The City alongside Maisie Hill and Nicola Mahdiyyah Goodall, I delight in working with other doulas and sharing our collective stories and skills.

My work with pregnant women and their families has led me to speak at conferences and to lead workshops, namely Loving The Multiple Mamas. I’ve had the privilege of speaking at Mumsnet’s Bumpfest, twice, the Doula UK Conference (2016) and Feminism In London, twice.

Lorna Philip

 

Lorna brings a wealth of experience to her work as a birth and postnatal doula and this makes her one of the most sought-after doulas in Birmingham and the West Midlands. She also provides a number of complementary therapies and postnatal services alongside her doula work.

Qualifying as a nursery nurse in 1987, Lorna has almost 30 years’ experience of supporting young children and their families. Fast forward to 2019 when Lorna accepted an invitation to become a doula mentor for the Abuela Doula Preparation Course and is now the Birmingham facilitator for both the Abuela Doula Preparation Course and the Abuela: Postnatal Sankofa Course. She is firmly embedded in the Abuela family and is passionate about Abuela’s mission, to make black birth better.

 

Images from our Courses

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For more information about Abuela Doulas or our courses please contact us using the following form:

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