Supporting people through their fertility experiences.

When you think of doulas or birth workers you may think of birth and possibly postnatal work but we often spend a lot of our time supporting people before they get to experience that birth.

I remember being completely unequipped when my 3rd client had a stillbirth at term. I had only been taught about how to support birth not to walk beside someone experiencing such overwhelming grief, and simultaneously manage my own emotions.

Loss is one of the key reproductive experiences that defines many of our fertility journeys with an estimated 1 in 8 pregnancies ending in miscarriage alone. It is natural that doulas are often on hand to support such experiences - you may have been hired by an excited client at 8 weeks pregnant only to be called at 12 weeks gestation to be told their miscarrying. Understanding these experiences and the range of emotions that parents may undergo and why is fundamental to the support and non judgemental understanding that doulas provide.

Based on my own experience of supporting clients through loss, but also through fertility experiences that included assisted reproductive technologies led me to the conclusion that birth workers needed access to training that enabled them to understand and support these journeys. Working with a client who’s had IVF and is being treated as high risk during their pregnancy, or someone who has experienced multiple losses and is treated similarly? Understanding what your clients have been through and being able to walk beside them as they navigate a maternity system that often lacks compassion and understanding is priceless.

I knew doulas needed a grounding in a complete picture of our physiology because to support our clients fertility you must understand the physiology of the menstrual, and therefore the fertility cycle. So From Fertility was created by myself and the incredible Harriet @weweomb. The course delves deep into the womb body cycle and the fundamentals of conception. What support, mentally, physically and spiritually you may be able to offer if your clients are experiencing challenges in conception. Our hope is that this self led, online learning experience will give birth workers a grounding in the information they need and space to reflect on their own practise in relation to all elements of the womb body.

My hope is that we can better equip birth workers to support their clients through all the fertility experiences, providing support when people are at their most vulnerable, often able to then complete the cycle through conception, birth and postpartum with a family.