Education | Inspiration | Support
ONLINE · SELF-PACED
Self-paced Birth & Postnatal Doula Course
Study at home, in your own time, with the same core curriculum as our in-person training. The course is yours for life and I'm here on Zoom whenever you want to talk something through.
Complete the training and reflective work to receive the BirthBliss Diploma in Birth and Postnatal Doula Support.
£648 in full or six monthly payments of £108
“I especially appreciate the constant reminders from Kicki that I am already capable and knowledgeable.”
Maryam Ghauri, online student
Lifetime
course access
Live support
from Kicki
Birth and postnatal training
BirthBliss Diploma on completion
FLEXIBLE LEARNING
Learn in a way that fits around your life
Many people who come to me have no background in maternity care. They come because someone once sat with them when it mattered, or because they wish someone had.
If you are the person friends already ring when life gets hard, you may have more of what this work needs than you realise.
Online learning gives you the space to study when and where it suits you. You can pause, reflect and return to the material as your understanding grows.
You might study for an hour on a quiet evening, complete a lesson while your baby sleeps or take a break when life becomes busy. There is no fixed pace to keep up with and no need to take everything in at once.
Work, family or caring commitments
Study in the gaps your life allows, whether that’s an evening a week or a few hours at the weekend.
Learn at your own pace
Take time to stop, think, make notes and revisit subjects before moving on.
Cannot easily travel
Complete your BirthBliss training wherever you live, in the UK or overseas.
Same curriculum, more flexibility
The online and in-person courses follow the same core BirthBliss curriculum and lead to the same Diploma. What changes is how you choose to learn.
YOUR COURSE
What is included
Everything you need to begin, with people beside you while you do.
8 MODULES · 149 LESSONS
The full doula training
Birth, postnatal support, communication, infant feeding, loss, professional practice and starting your doula business.
ONGOING
BirthBliss community
Doulas at every stage of their work, sharing what they have learnt with families along the way.
YOURS TO KEEP
Lifetime access
The course stays with you. Come back to any lesson whenever you want to refresh a subject or see it with fresh eyes.
SIX MONTHS FREE
The Doula Directory
Your own listing when you graduate, so families looking for a doula can find you from the start.
LIVE ON ZOOM
Doula Days with me
Bring your questions, explore the work more deeply and learn alongside other students. You can join before you finish the course.
IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND
The option to upgrade
If you would like to train in-person later, you can add an in-person course by paying the difference. You keep your online access too, so you have both.
£648 or six monthly payments of £108, with no additional charge for paying in instalments.
The online course leads to the same BirthBliss Diploma as our in-person training. It is FEDANT accredited and recognised by The Doula Association of Ireland.
Online does not mean learning alone
It may feel as though choosing online means working it all out by yourself. That isn’t how it works here.
Choosing a self-paced course may give you the flexibility you need, although you may still be wondering who you will turn to when a lesson brings up a question or something needs talking through.
You will work through the course material in your own time, while remaining connected to me and the wider BirthBliss community. Our live Zoom Doula Days give you somewhere to ask questions, explore different aspects of doula work and learn alongside other people who are also beginning their training.
Quite often, a question asked by one student opens up a valuable conversation for everybody.
You will also have opportunities to connect with doulas at different stages of their work, hear how others have approached real situations and continue learning through the experiences shared within the community. Some parts of the course may benefit from quiet reflection, while others make more sense when they are discussed. The online course gives you space for both.
STEP BY STEP
How the course works
Begin when you are ready and work through it in a way that fits around your life. There is no deadline and the course is yours for life.
01
Begin your course
Click “Start the online course” to enrol. You can pay £648 in full or in six monthly payments of £108. Either way, you can start learning straight away.
02
The eight modules
Eight modules and 149 lessons covering birth and postnatal support, communication, infant feeding, loss, professional practice and starting your doula business.
149 lessons can sound like a lot. You only ever need to do the next one. Some students finish in a few weeks, others take several months and there is no deadline either way.
03
Pause and reflect
Stop after a lesson, make notes and try the practical exercises. Go back to earlier lessons whenever you want to look at something again.
04
Join the Doula Days
Come along on Zoom to ask questions and learn alongside other students. You don’t need to finish the course before you take part.
05
Your reflective work
The reflective modules help you think about how the learning fits with your own experiences, values and understanding of the doula role.
06
Receive your Diploma
Once you have completed the course requirements and reflective work, you will receive the BirthBliss Diploma in Birth and Postnatal Doula Support. What comes next is up to you.
Can online doula training really prepare me?
It is understandable to wonder whether an online course can prepare you for work that is so practical, relational and centred around being with people.
Doula work is not based on memorising information or performing a fixed set of techniques. It asks you to understand your role, listen closely, communicate clearly and respond to each family without taking over their experience. The online course gives you a thorough foundation in these areas, with time to pause and consider how you might apply the learning in real situations.
Practical subjects are taught through video demonstrations, guided exercises and opportunities to practise in your own space. You will explore massage, movement and positioning for labour, alongside early infant-feeding support, including ways of helping a parent consider positioning and attachment while recognising when more specialist support may be needed. Being able to pause a demonstration, try something and return to it can be especially helpful when learning at home.
Online training cannot reproduce the exact experience of practising with a small group in the same room. It does give you the freedom to revisit practical teaching as often as you need and bring the questions that arise to the live Doula Days.
The course is designed to prepare you to begin. Confidence will continue to develop through reflection, support and experience with families, as it does for every newly trained doula. The BirthBliss community and optional Certification Programme are there if you would like continued support as you put your learning into practice.
ONLINE OR IN-PERSON?
Not sure which route suits you?
If you are deciding between online and in-person training, you can compare both courses side by side before you decide.
Choosing a course can feel like a big decision to get right. If you start online and later want to train in the room with us, you can upgrade by paying the difference. You keep your online access, so nothing you have learnt is lost.
THE CURRICULUM
What you will learn
Doula training is about much more than learning what happens during labour. You are learning how to be alongside a woman and her family during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period without taking over their experience or making decisions for them.
Throughout the course, you will explore practical doula support alongside communication, listening, boundaries, reflection and the relationships that sit at the heart of this work.The course covers both birth and postnatal doula support, giving you a broad foundation from which to begin working with families.
01
Understanding Doula Support
Explore the role of the doula, professional boundaries and the principles of emotional, practical and informational support.
02
The Birth Journey
Develop your understanding of labour and birth, the physiology of birth and the doula's role throughout the birth journey.
03
Comfort, Pain and Support During Labour
Explore practical comfort measures, movement and positioning alongside ways of remaining supportive when birth takes an unexpected direction.
04
Postnatal Support
Learn about recovery after birth, emotional wellbeing, practical support and the transition into parenthood.
05
Infant Feeding
Develop a sound foundation in infant feeding, early feeding support and understanding when additional or specialist support may be needed.
06
Communication
Explore listening, language, difficult conversations, working with partners and professionals and communicating in ways that respect another person's choices.
07
Supporting Families Through Loss
Approach pregnancy loss, stillbirth and the death of a baby with sensitivity while understanding the doula's role, appropriate boundaries and the importance of specialist support.
08
Starting Your Doula Business
Explore consultations, finding clients, agreements, fees, boundaries and the practical foundations of beginning your work as a doula.
YOUR TEACHER
Learn with Kicki Hansard
I’ve been a doula since 2002 and started teaching doulas in 2005. I founded The BirthBliss Doula Academy in 2012 and have trained more than 1,500 doulas since then.
I’ve written two books on birth and postnatal support and was named Doula of the Year in 2009. I’m still learning, from the families I’ve supported and from birth workers, researchers and educators here and abroad.
I started BirthBliss because I could see how easily something gets lost when training focuses only on knowledge and techniques. The relationship between a doula and the person she supports is what families remember, so it sits at the centre of everything I teach.
When people train with me, I’m not looking for perfect answers. I’m interested in how you listen, what you notice and what you bring of yourself. You are welcome to get things wrong here. That’s how most of us learn.
I made the online course for people who can’t come to an in-person course, or who simply learn better with time to absorb, revisit and reflect.
What happens after the course?
Completing your course is the beginning of your doula work rather than the end of your learning.
The question most newly trained doulas carry is whether anyone will actually book them. You won’t be finding that out on your own.
The business module covers consultations, fees and finding clients. Your Doula Directory listing helps families find you from the start. When your first enquiry arrives, the community is there to talk it through.
Receive your Diploma
Once you have completed the course requirements and reflective work, you will receive the BirthBliss Diploma in Birth and Postnatal Doula Support.
Begin working as a doula
Start putting your learning into practice, finding clients and building experience with families.
Six months on The Doula Directory
All BirthBliss graduates receive six months free membership of The Doula Directory, helping you begin creating a professional presence and making it easier for families to find you.
Choose Certification if you want it
If you would like structured support as you begin working with families, you can continue through the optional BirthBliss Certification Programme.
What our online students say
I can’t recommend this online course highly enough! After spending a long time researching different training providers, I chose BirthBliss because their ethos and values seemed a perfect fit for me and it turned out to be the best decision. The course offers an incredible depth of content, all delivered in a clear, accessible way. Now that I’ve completed the training, I feel confident and well equipped to build my doula business. The ongoing support from Kicki and the wider BirthBliss doula community is amazing, it’s so reassuring to know I’m part of such a supportive network.
Kelly Woolhouse
The Online training course is a brilliant foundation for doula students. I found the content very informative and in-depth. The course itself was very well designed and allowed me to digest the information in my own time. I love that I am able to revisit the course content to refresh myself. The course gave me lots of inspiration for further learning and fuelled my passion to help families.
Rowan Stead
Thank you Kicki and BirthBliss! The online course was so full of valuable information and I keep going back to the Modules for reference. I especially appreciate the constant reminders from Kicki that I am already capable and knowledgeable and should focus on being myself and staying genuine! I am very much enjoying every step of setting up my business and know that I will have all the support and guidance I need from Kicki and BirthBliss! Thank you!
Maryam Ghauri
Is this course right for you?
This online course is best completed on a computer or laptop, rather than a phone or tablet. You’ll need to be comfortable using basic computer functions, like logging in, navigating websites, playing videos, downloading PDFs and typing up your reflections.
The course is delivered in English, both written and spoken, so you’ll need to be able to read and understand English to fully take part.
If you’re unsure whether this course is right for you, feel free to get in touch. We’re happy to help.
You’ll also need
✓ A stable internet connection
✓ The ability to manage your own time and learning at your own pace
✓ A quiet space where you can focus, especially during the more reflective or emotional topics
Questions you may have
Ready to begin?
Perhaps you have been thinking about this for a long time. Perhaps you already picture yourself beside a family on the day their baby arrives, or sitting with a new mother at her kitchen table a week later.
If that picture stays with you, would it be unreasonable to find out a little more?
The complete online BirthBliss course costs £648. Choose one payment of £648 or six monthly payments of £108, with no additional charge for paying in instalments.
You can begin learning after enrolment with either payment option. Your diploma is issued once you have completed the course requirements, reflective work and payment of the full course fee.
Your course fee includes the complete training programme, lifetime access to your course material, live learning opportunities, the BirthBliss community, your Diploma when you complete the course requirements and six months’ free membership of The Doula Directory.
£648 is a real decision for most people, especially when it comes out of a family budget. That’s one reason the free taster exists. You can come along, ask anything you like and see how it feels before you spend a penny.
Not quite sure yet? Is there any harm in coming to a free taster first?
NOT READY TO DECIDE?
That’s completely fine. If you’d like to understand more about training, qualifications and what it takes to start working as a doula, my guide walks you through it.