Hi there, my name is Sophie. I’m a postnatal doula living and working in the Southside of Glasgow. I grew up in the south of England and moved to Glasgow for University over a decade ago where I fell in love with Scotland and never left. At university, I studied English Literature but soon felt myself drawn towards a career that had a real impact on people’s lives. Following university I studied counselling skills before I fell pregnant in 2022.
Having my son was a hugely transformative experience both personally and professionally. I did a hypnobirthing course in preparation for my birth and this ignited the spark of interest in birth work for me. Following his birth I found the initial postpartum period to be more isolating than I expected. I struggled to find my village to lean on and also had practical struggles with establishing breastfeeding and recovering from the birth.
My partner and I struggled with visitors coming to see the baby and the pressure to ‘host’ whilst having so little practical support around the house. I wish I had known about postnatal doulas at this point as this would have filled the void in my support system. It wasn’t until it came to the end of my maternity leave and my contract had expired with my previous job that a friend suggested retraining as a doula that I looked into doulaship and the rest is history.
I completed a doula preparation certificate with Every Birth Matters in June 2024 and became a registered member of Doula UK. I also completed breastfeeding helper training in January 2024. Working on my coursework for the doula prep course highlighted the number of people within my network who also struggled with a lack of support within the postpartum period and this is where I began to focus my interest on postpartum support.
I am neurodivergent and was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 26 and my partner was diagnosed as autistic the following year. I also identify as queer and non-binary and I am very passionate about improving the support provided to queer and neurodivergent folks during pregnancy and postpartum.
Finally, in my spare time, I enjoy crafts (particularly crochet at the moment), cooking, nature walks, foraging, and I’ve been getting into wild swimming recently.
Now enough about me! What can I do for you?
The goal of my service is to support you in the best way to fit your family for you to be able to enjoy your time with your new family member. This flexible support can differ from family to family and could look like:
- Emotional support
- Practical support
- Feeding support
- Signposting to local resources and support
- Companionship
- Support with day-to-day household tasks
- Respite, holding baby while you rest, shower, or maybe taking baby to allow longer periods of rest
- Lending books and other supplies
- Meal prepping and preparing food
- Running errands
- Tidying the house
- A listening ear for your worries and concerns about parenthood, and also to debrief your birth story if you'd like.
- Something I’ve not thought to include! I am here to support you in whatever way would be helpful so if there is something else you need me to do just ask.
