Sarah Yarwood

About Me

My love for birth, supporting families, working with healing and the human body drive me to continue learning how to be the best support person I can be for the community. I can offer you two roles in one as not only your birth doula, but as your own personal massage therapist and body worker. Massage is intrinsic to my support services, lending comfort to ease the transitions of pregnancy and parenthood. Massage helps to: promote better sleep, positive hormone release, treat and prevent symptoms of pregnancy, ease anxiety, among many other things. The earlier we start working together the sooner regular massage treatments can begin. We start once a month in your home, then build regularity as your birth day approaches. I can teach your birth partner to massage your pregnant body at home and some techniques in preparation for labour, and how to continue to take care of each other’s shoulders once your baby has arrived. I bring my table to your home, we can have a tea and catch up at the same time, so this gives us ample time to get to know one another, and as I also offer evening home calls you can even go straight to bed after treatment. This is all in addition to being your birth doula! As your birth doula I can:

• Help you explore your birthing options available to you and support you however you need to create your birth plan
• Listen to you and hold space for your thoughts and feelings as they arise, lending an ear without judgement
• Offer books and resources from my library
• Provide birth pool
• Offer practical support i.e. Help with childcare arrangements for a smoother transition from home to another location (MLU/hospital)
• Be a continuous support to you and your family, available by phone, email, and in person from as soon as we start working together in your pregnancy, throughout the duration of your labour and delivery, and into your postnatal weeks. This continuous thread of support is designed to enhance and solidify what is already in place, noticing what gaps can be filled, and anything else – streamlined.

Some background… In 2015 I began studying massage therapy and birth support in Nelson, BC, Canada. I did this under mentorship over two and a half years while I took several trainings in pregnancy massage, labour and delivery massage, postnatal massage and baby massage instruction and trained as a doula with Doulas of North America International. Alongside my studies, I assisted my massage mentor Christine Sutherland in the birthing room. streaming online live classes around the world, traveling to teach massage in remote Northern Guatemala and in weekly classes in our mountain town of Nelson. We massaged members of our local community from pregnancy to palliative in the hospital, home and classroom setting. Since returning to the UK four years ago and I have since attended more births, continued with additional trainings, certifying in holistic therapeutic massage, anatomy, physiology and pathology and as a Red Tent Doula. I have been attending births in the hospital and the home setting across Surrey and Kent as well as offering massage as a mobile service and in a clinical setting – Apotheca in Faversham. I continue to study and qualify in other modalities of bodywork to bring more comfort to my clients. As a member of the Birth Network, I have the pleasure of being a part of a vibrant community of East Kent’s birth support workers and their monthly events which connects us with the local pregnant community and new parents.