About me

Hello! I am Ange! I am a birth and postpartum doula based on the Sunshine Coast. I live in Buderim with my husband and three children. I am a nature-lover, a creative soul with a love of singing and song-writing, an experienced psychologist, and birth nerd.

As a doula I feel honoured to journey alongside women and their families through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience, providing emotional, informational and physical support. I recognise the birthing woman as the expert and rightful decision-maker on her own body, baby and birth. As your doula I am there to serve YOU mama, and also support your birth partner in their important role.

I bring a calm and grounded presence, depth of experience in holding space, an unwavering belief in YOU, and a whole lot of love and passion for this work.

Birth is so much more than the physical act of birthing. Other aspects such as the emotional and spiritual aspects of birth are often overlooked and not given enough attention or reverence. Birth involves not only the birth of a babe, but the birth of a mother (or mother of two, three ..) and family. I believe that how we birth and how we are cared for and supported in that experience can significantly impact upon our mothering journey.

I am passionate about woman-centred care, as opposed to care that centres the needs of institutions or care providers.

I believe that every woman is deserving of maternity care that is respectful - that upholds her dignity and her rights such as informed consent.

Knowledge is power and being aware of your choices and rights can make a significant difference in the degree to which you feel in your power through this transformative experience.

My passion in this area grew from experiencing three very different births. I found out first-hand what a difference having wonderful doula support and midwifery-led continuity of care could make in helping me to trust my instincts and feel in my power throughout my experience. Feeling seen, heard and respected and having time to build trust with a known care provider and doula helped to create an environment of safety which helped me to be able to drop in and focus my attention inward, being instinctive and going with my body.

This sparked my desire to be involved in providing amazing support to women through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey and prompted me to shift direction from my established career as a Clinical Psychologist, and rather than return to my private psychology practice following maternity leave after having my third babe, instead pursue study in the field of birth work. In the role of a doula I feel that many threads of my life experiences, my essential nature and values have come together to lead me to this role. I feel deeply honoured to serve in this way.

I am in sheer awe of women’s bodies and what we are capable of. The more I learn about physiological birth my respect deepens further for how beautifully the processes usually unfold when understood, undisturbed and properly respected. I find mother-nature’s design mind-blowing really. I also acknowledge that birth can be unpredictable and in special circumstances the support of medical intervention can be crucial for the best outcomes. I feel grateful to live in a time and place where we can access technologies and specialist knowledge and skill for when complications arise. I am also passionate about autonomy and choice for women in birth. And regardless of whether you, mama, go for a physiological homebirth in a birthing pool or whether electing to have an induction and epidural in hospital on your due date feels aligned for you, I will be in full support of you every step of the way. I will share evidence-based information with you to support your decision-making process and will always uphold YOU as the one who knows what is best for you. Your body, your baby, your birth. You at the centre of care, informed and supported.

Qualifications and experience

I am a certified Birth and Postpartum Doula. I trained with the Australian Doula College. This training not only offered the gathering of skills and knowledge through face-to-face and online training modules, but the opportunity to support three mums/couples through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey, with access to mentorship and opportunity for reflection and debriefing.

I am also active in constantly updating my knowledge and skills through reading books by experts in the field, staying across the latest research, listening to podcasts, and I seek out ongoing mentorship with more experienced birth workers. I believe it is so important to learn from the experienced wise women in our village.

I am an experienced psychologist (over 13 years of experience). While the role of a doula is very distinct and I am careful not to blur the lines, there are a variety of skills and relevant knowledge that I bring from this background, for example my depth of experience in holding space.

I also attend to my own inner work which I believe is important in being able to effectively hold space for others and bring my full, open-hearted presence to serving them and their journey.

I am experienced in practicing and guiding various forms of breathing, meditation and relaxation skills. I have a solid understanding of the nervous system and how it interacts with other systems involved in birthing such as the function of the uterus and birth hormones, and I am experienced with various mechanisms helpful for soothing the nervous system to a relaxed state conducive to a more positive birth experience.

I have completed HypnoBirthing Childbirth Educator training. For couples who are learning this approach elsewhere I am well equipped to support your practice and use of this set of tools as your doula.

And last but certainly not least I am a mama myself. I have three children earthside and have experienced loss along my journey also. I have experienced different models of care across private and public hospital settings. I have experienced the amazing benefits of doula support and of continuity of care with a known midwife. Having been on the receiving end of incredible support, I feel more equipped to provide it. It’s hard to explain how valuable it can be having a support person there through the whole journey who you know and trust and who knows you well, who is there purely to support you and your birth partner, who believes in you, sees and hears you, and invites a remembering of your own inner-knowing and power. For me it was a game-changer. I feel honoured to now be offering this support.

How will you know if I am the doula for you?

• Meet me! Nothing quite like a good chat over a cuppa to get to know each other and help to determine whether we are a good fit. I believe it’s so important to feel an easy, natural connection with your doula. We’ll share a bit about our stories and chat about your vision for your birth. We can discuss the role of a doula and run through my offerings and any questions you might have. Even if you feel ready to book me then and there, I will encourage you to sleep on it and let me know the following day or two if you would like to have me onboard for your journey.

• Read a bit about me and my philosophies and guiding values and notice whether you feel an alignment there. You may also find it useful to read some words that previous clients have written about their experience with me as their doula.

• What is my core mission in my doula work? To honour and nurture the mother. To walk alongside her, listen deeply and hold space for her. To remind her of how amazing she is and of her inner wisdom and strength if she has lost touch with that knowing. To endeavour to develop with her a safe and trusting relationship and to provide a context that aides her in feeling informed, supported, honoured, in touch with her instincts and in her power throughout her pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey. To assist birth partners in feeling informed and supported in their important role, together building the dream support team.

• Am I only supportive of natural physiological births? I am there to support YOU through whatever birth journey you want or however your journey unfolds. I uphold YOU as the expert on your own body and baby, rightful decision-maker in your birth (drawing upon your inner knowing and external sources of knowledge, for example, from care providers and research evidence as you see fit) and will support the birthing choices you make. This is your journey not mine. We will discuss your various options and I share a variety of tools and evidence-based information and point you in the direction of quality resources to learn more, but will never push an agenda or judge your choices. I am there to walk alongside you. Your birth, your way.

• Do I support both homebirths with a private practice midwife and hospital births – YES!

• Do I attend planned freebirths where the birthing woman has chosen to have no midwife or obstetrician present – No I don’t. I recognise and fully respect birthing women’s right to choice in the place she births and who she has present (or not) to support her. But this is a situation where I don’t feel comfortable being a support person. There are other doulas who do feel comfortable offering support in this space.

• How do I communicate with hospital care providers? I am respectful, warm, and generally expect the best of people, and I am also assertive. My number one priority is making sure that you feel informed, supported and in your power throughout your experience. We will have worked together on a birth plan that will have been communicated with care providers in writing, and I will refer to that if necessary and will always check in with you along the way at any decision points. For instance, if an intervention is offered that deviates from your birth plan I will check in with how you feel about that, do you understand what they are saying, do you need any further information, time or privacy to discuss with your birth partner to make a decision and so on. I am also there to support your birth partner in being an advocate for you.

• What are the main ways a doula offers support? There are three broad categories that sum up the main aspects of the doula role:

  • informational support (such as sharing evidence-based information and how to find it, sharing frameworks to aid in the process of your decision-making and your communication with care providers)

  • emotional support (deeply listening to you and holding space for you and all that you are experiencing throughout your pregnancy, birth and postpartum journey)

  • physical support (for example support with comfort measures during your labour such as massage, heat packs, acupressure, rebozo, offering sips of water, aromatherapy, setting up your physical birthing space to be soothing). See doula offerings for more detail

• What my doula service is not – I am not involved in any measuring, monitoring or any other aspect of clinical care or giving you any advice about what you should do. I have a clear understanding of my role and scope and will happily share information about linking in with other professionals appropriately qualified and skilled to assist in areas that fall outside of my scope of support. I have a great list of local services that I would be glad to share with you.

If you feel curious and want to know more or feel drawn to potentially working with me and want to set up a time for an obligation-free café catch-up I would love to hear from you! Drop me a dm on Insta or email me at moonandbackbirth@gmail.com