The Holistic Birth Practitioner training
Teaching holistic birth practices for a peaceful world.
The Holistic Birth Practitioner training is an in-depth and very comprehensive course to enable women to provide women and couples with holistic support and education during the very special time of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.
The Holistic Birth Practitioner training can be taken as a whole or in a modular format for women who wish to work as doulas only or just wish to offer childbirth education classes (see the curriculum section for more info on the modular format).
There will be varied assignments with each module, sometimes written, sometimes experiential or creative. They will be based on the course work we send you or on books from your reading list.
The training is taking place near Totnes. Accommodation is available for students at low cost.
Courses are open to all women who feel a calling to support others through the childbearing year. No particular qualifications are required, but a willingness to be and work with whatever comes up on this journey together is necessary.
The Birthing Wisdom training is a personal as well as a professional training since just as ‘we birth as we live’, also ‘we work from where we are in ourselves’.
Since personal development is an important aspect of the training, a commitment to receiving personal support throughout the training and beyond is essential, be it in the form of a counsellor, a ‘buddy’ (fellow trainee) or a mentor (a more experienced birth practitioner), alongside the supervision we offer during and after the training.
You are also required to keep a journal in which to reflect on your dreams and experiences.
There will be several teachers involved in the trainings, each passing on their own field of expertise and their passion. Your personal guide is available on a weekly basis for any queries or general support and can be contacted by telephone, letter or email.
We will start our journey by learning and integrating in ourselves the knowledge and skills we want to share and model in our teaching and work with women and couples. We will also devote some of our time to our own development and healing journey, including healing our own birth and the birth(s) of our children. For more details of the course content see our curriculum.
After completing the training, you will take your work into the world, supported by your group as well as the course facilitators.
There is the option to carry on meeting every 3 months for the next year to share the experiences of supporting families and teaching classes, as well as advanced learning and one to one supervision. For those who live too far away, an arrangement can to be made to receive regular supervision.
Birthing Wisdom is committed to offering on-going support, advanced training and supervision for our practitioners.
The Holistic Birth Practitioner training is fully recognised by by Doula UK, the leading organisation for doulas in the UK.
Now that you have had an overview of the course let’s start at the beginning: how can a birth practitioner offer support and education during the childbearing year? Click here to find out more.
Curriculum
The essence of the work of a doula/companion and group facilitator is to be able to provide unconditional emotional openness and support to women, men and their babies. So having and/or developing the ability to be emotionally present and supportive is one of the foundations of our training.
The contact sessions provide an opportunity for the students to experience being in a safe, held and nurturing environment ¡X a supportive setting where they can practice their skills and hold an emotionally supportive space for each other.
Most of the course theory is covered in-depth in the distance modules, with assignments to do with each one. The focus of the weekends is experiential and practical. During these sessions we will use our time together to experience, embody, create and practice, anchoring the information learned in the distance study modules. There will be common parts to the weekends such as relaxation/self-hypnosis, breathing, movement, creative activities, listening and communication skills , etc..
As mentioned already the Holistic Birth practitioner training can be taken as a whole or in modular format, to suit personal needs and the work you would like to do. The course can be broken down in several modules :
The Fundamentals:
Becoming a Holistic Birth practitioner, a slow and soulful journey…
Open to all. A stand alone course for those wanting to work as birth doulas.The entry point for those wanting to add the breastfeeding supporter course to work as postnatal doulas and those wishing to do the childbirth educator training.
This new course involves working more closely with Olivia, the founder and director of Birthing Wisdom, over several months whilst undertaking the personal development journey and learning most of the curriculum theory through completing the distance modules. As well as more individual tutorials and regular email contact there will also be monthly Skype group sessions.
The Breastfeeding supporter training:
One distance module and 23+ hours over 4 days. After completion of the course there will be a reflection module and an open book exam leading to certification. Open to all.
The Childbirth Educator Training:
2 contact sessions and 3 distance modules followed by a reflection module and open book exam. Open to all who have completed the Fundamentals or previously trained with Birthing Wisdom. If you have previous experience in the field of Pregnancy and Birth and wish to be considered for this training please get in touch with Olivia on training@birthingwisdom.co.uk
