Side By Side Doulas
🌿 Are you ready to begin your journey into perinatal support with heart, integrity, and community at the core? The Side by Side Doula Preparation Course, created by experienced doula, mentor, and podcast host Leila, offers a rich and inclusive foundation for aspiring doulas. Whether you're drawn to perinatal support through personal experience, a passion for advocacy, or a desire to support families in meaningful ways - this course welcomes you.
Delivered online via Zoom, the course is designed to be accessible and flexible, with options to join over two weeks or across eleven weekly or twice-weekly evening sessions. Each cohort is intentionally small to foster connection, reflection, and deep learning.
💜 What Makes This Course Special
- Inclusive & Safe Space: We hold space for all identities and experiences, with at least one free place per course reserved for someone from a marginalised or underrepresented group. We also offer a 50% reduction to ALL bursary applicants.
- Facilitated by Leila & Bev: Leila is a seasoned doula, mentor, and Director at Doula UK, Leila brings warmth, wisdom, and a deep commitment to equity and community care. Bev Samways, founder of Small Acorn, is a passionate hypnobirthing teacher and birth educator who brings empathy, insight, and a deep commitment to positive birth experiences into every session she facilitates.
- Live, Interactive Sessions: Ten or eleven live Zoom sessions encourage active participation, discussion, and peer support.
- Doula UK Approved: This course meets the standards of Doula UK’s core curriculum and philosophy, preparing you for membership and mentoring.
📚 What You’ll Learn
Our curriculum blends practical skills with reflective practice, covering:
- Cultural Competency: Supporting LGBTQ+ families, inclusive language, and respectful care.
- Foundation Skills: Communication, listening, boundaries, and doula/life balance.
- Pregnancy & Birth: Physiology, oxytocin, induction, assisted birth, caesarean, and third stage.
- Postnatal Support: Infant feeding, newborn challenges, parenting the parent.
- Running a Doula Business: Marketing, social media, joining Doula UK, and growing your practice.
- Informed Choice & Advocacy: Birth plans, decision-making tools, statistics, and working with healthcare professionals.
🌀 Our Approach
We believe in learning through involvement, not just instruction. Each session is a blend of teaching, storytelling, and shared wisdom. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on your values, explore your strengths, and consider how you want to show up in perinatal support.
As recent participants have shared:
“Leila does a fabulous job of leading the sessions and finding just the right balance of teaching and listening. The course runs with a clear thread of inclusion, diversity, and understanding, making a very special open and safe space.
“The Side by Side online evening course is great if you are working full time and want to train to become a Doula. It's accredited by Doula UK and is very reasonably priced. Course trainer Bev Samways is very experienced, knowledgeable and generous with her time. She presented topics well and clearly. Everyone on the course had an opportunity to speak and ask questions, and the online sessions were very inclusive. This course will set you up to begin your Doula journey.”
🗓 Upcoming Courses
Please visit our website to see the next available courses, or to register for our mailing list to get the dates straight to your inbox
💸 Course Fee
- £550
- Includes access to all live sessions and course materials
- One free place per cohort for someone from a marginalised group
If you're ready to begin your doula journey with compassion, curiosity, and community, we’d love to welcome you. You can find more details and register your interest on the Side by Side Doula Training page.
