Meet Kicki Hansard

​

I never set out to work in maternity care.

​

Looking back, it's difficult to imagine my life any other way. More than twenty years ago, a growing curiosity about birth, about people and about the difference compassionate support can make led me to train as a doula. That curiosity has never left me.

​

Not because I believe birth has to be perfect, but because I know how deeply a woman's experience of pregnancy, birth and the early weeks with her baby can stay with her for the rest of her life.

​

As both a birth and postnatal doula, I have had the privilege of supporting families through some of their happiest, most challenging and most life-changing moments. Those experiences have taught me that support isn't about taking over. It isn't about having all the answers. It's about listening carefully, understanding what matters to each family and helping them feel seen, heard and respected.

​

That belief has shaped everything I have done since completing my training as a doula in 2002.

​

Over the past two decades, I have supported families, trained more than 1,500 birth and postnatal doulas, written books, taught internationally and watched many of my former students become experienced practitioners, mentors and educators in their own right. Today, several people leading doula training organisations across the UK first began their own journey sitting in one of my training courses.

​

Although I have received awards, written books and had opportunities I could never have imagined when I first started, I still see myself as a student of birth.

​

Every woman has something to teach us, every family offers a new perspective and every birth reminds me why I chose this profession.

​

Growing up in Swedish Lapland

I was born in Åsele, a small village in Swedish Lapland, where nature wasn't somewhere you visited, it was simply part of everyday life. The changing seasons shaped the rhythm of life. Long winters taught patience. Endless summer days reminded you to appreciate every moment of light. People understood that nature couldn't be hurried and neither could life.

​

Looking back, I realise those early years taught me lessons that I still carry with me today. To observe before acting. To listen before speaking. To understand that growth happens in its own time. I didn't know it then, but those lessons would later become central to the way I support families and teach doulas.

​

I also have Sámi ancestry, something that has become increasingly meaningful to me over the years. The respect for community, storytelling, nature and learning through observation found in Sámi culture resonates deeply with me and continues to influence both my personal life and my work.

​

There is another part of my family history that has always fascinated me.

​

My great grandmother was a jordemor, a traditional midwife who cared for women within her local community. I never met her, but I often imagine the trust people placed in her as she travelled across the Swedish countryside to support women giving birth.

​

Perhaps that is where my own story really began.

​

Finding a profession I didn't know existed

In 1990, I moved to England. I was nineteen years old and planned to spend a gap year in England after meeting the man who would later become my husband.

​

I didn't begin my career in maternity care. I trained as a Legal Secretary before moving into the IT industry and never imagined that birth would one day become my life's work.

​

Everything changed after becoming a mother. The births of my two daughters didn't simply introduce me to parenthood. They sparked questions that stayed with me long afterwards.

​

• Why do some women leave birth feeling strong, respected and listened to while others carry painful memories for years?

• Why can one person's kindness change an entire experience?

• What is it that helps someone feel truly supported?

 

Then, one Sunday afternoon, I picked up a magazine and read an article about doulas. Until that moment, I had never heard the word. I remember thinking, people actually do this for a living?

​

Within months, I had booked my training with Kassandra Clements and Ingrid Lewis in London.

​

Looking back now, that magazine article changed the direction of my life.

​

A commitment to lifelong learning

From the very beginning, I promised myself that my initial training would never be the end of my education. Birth changes, research evolves and families continue to teach us. If I wanted to support women well and later help others do the same, I needed to keep learning too.

​

Alongside supporting families, I completed a BSc Open Degree, a Diploma in Professional Relaxation Therapy and a City & Guilds qualification in Education and Training (PTLLS).

​

Some of my greatest learning, however, came from the people who transformed modern childbirth education and doula support.​ Over the years, I have had the privilege of learning directly from Penny Simkin, Phyllis Klaus, Sheila Kitzinger, Michel Odent and Ina May Gaskin. Each challenged me to think more deeply, not only about birth itself, but about communication, relationships, trauma, compassion and the responsibility that comes with supporting another human being.

​

One of the greatest honours of my career was inviting Penny Simkin to teach workshops in the UK, giving other doulas the opportunity to learn from someone whose work has inspired generations of birth professionals around the world.

​

Years later, when I wrote Supporting Survivors of Sexual Abuse Through Pregnancy and Childbirth, Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus generously agreed to write the forewords. Their encouragement meant a great deal to me, not simply because of who they are, but because we share a belief that every woman deserves compassionate, informed and respectful support throughout pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.

​

Those experiences strengthened my knowledge, but they also reinforced something much simpler. The more we learn, the more we realise there is still to discover. 

​

It continues to shape the way I support families, the way I teach and the way I hope every BirthBliss doula will approach their own career, with curiosity, humility and a genuine commitment to lifelong learning.

​

Helping shape the next generation of doulas

In 2005, a few years after becoming as a doula, I was invited to begin facilitating doula training. I said yes without realising that teaching would become one of the greatest privileges of my career. Since then, I have trained more than 1,500 birth and postnatal doulas in the UK, China and Australia.

 

When people hear that number, they often ask how many births I have attended. The truth is, I think far more about the families I will never meet. Every doula who leaves one of my courses will go on to support hundreds of women and families throughout their career. They will sit beside women in labour, visit new parents during exhausting early mornings, celebrate new beginnings and help people through some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

​

Knowing that something shared in one of my courses may one day help another family is both humbling and deeply rewarding. That ripple effect is one of the reasons I continue teaching.

​

Creating The BirthBliss Doula Academy

By 2012, I had been teaching for several years and had begun to develop a clearer vision of the kind of education I wanted to offer. That vision became The BirthBliss Doula Academy.

​

I didn't create BirthBliss because I believed there was only one way to be a doula, quite the opposite. I wanted to create a learning environment where people felt safe to ask questions, challenge ideas, reflect on their experiences and discover their own way of supporting women and families.

​

Good doula education needs strong evidence, practical experience and a willingness to question what we think we know. Those things can be taught. The qualities that make an exceptional doula are developed over time.

​

Compassion. Self awareness. Curiosity. Humility. The ability to truly listen.

​

Those qualities develop through reflection, experience and a willingness to keep learning. That philosophy remains at the heart of every BirthBliss course today.

​

Seeing students become colleagues

One of the unexpected joys of teaching for more than twenty years is seeing where people's journeys take them. Former students now support families across the UK and internationally. Many have become mentors, workshop facilitators, authors and speakers. Several have gone on to establish their own doula training organisations and now educate future generations of doulas themselves.

​

People sometimes ask me whether that feels strange. It doesn't. I don't see them as competitors. I see them as part of the continuing story of doula education. Every one of us brings something different to this profession.

​

Watching former students develop their own voices, ideas and approaches has been one of the greatest rewards of my career.

It reminds me that good teaching isn't about creating people who think like you. It's about giving them the confidence to think for themselves.

​

Beyond the classroom

Although teaching has become a central part of my work, I have always believed that education shouldn't stop at the classroom door. Throughout my career, I have looked for opportunities to contribute to wider conversations about maternity care and the experiences of women and families.

​

During my years representing Doula UK, I worked alongside a number of national organisations and campaigns, including the Royal College of Midwives, the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and the 1001 Critical Days campaign.

​

Those experiences gave me a broader understanding of the challenges facing maternity services and reinforced something I had already begun to see through my work as a doula. Real change rarely happens because one person has all the answers. It happens when people are prepared to listen to one another. 

​

Writing to start conversations

Writing has always been another way for me to support families and professionals.

​

I am the author of The Secrets of Birth and Supporting Survivors of Sexual Abuse Through Pregnancy and Childbirth and a contributor to The Roar the breaks the silence.

​

Writing forces you to slow down, to question your assumptions and to organise your thoughts carefully. I have found that process just as valuable as teaching.

​

When Supporting Survivors of Sexual Abuse Through Pregnancy and Childbirth was published, I hoped it would encourage more open conversations about a subject that had often been overlooked within maternity care. Today, I continue to hear from midwives, doulas and maternity professionals who tell me the book has influenced the way they support women.

​

Knowing that those conversations continue is one of the greatest compliments I could receive.

​

Looking for ways to make a difference

Throughout my career, I have tried to ask one simple question, "What could we do better?" That question has led to some of the projects I am proudest of.

​

The BirthBliss Doula Academy launched the #ButNotMaternity campaign during the COVID19 pandemic in response to the restrictions affecting maternity services across the UK. As wider society began to reopen, many women were still attending pregnancy appointments alone, giving birth without the support they had planned or spending time on postnatal wards separated from their partners. The campaign called for maternity services to be given the same consideration as other parts of society, encouraging proportionate, evidence based restrictions while recognising the importance of support during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. What began as a BirthBliss initiative quickly grew into the But Not Maternity Alliance, bringing together charities, campaigners and maternity organisations to amplify the voices of women and families across the UK.

​

More recently, I founded the BirthBliss Maternity Care Report, inviting doulas from every training organisation to anonymously share observations from the births they attend. By bringing together those experiences, I hope we can identify patterns, celebrate examples of excellent care and contribute constructively to ongoing conversations about improving maternity services.

​

Neither initiative began with the belief that I had the answers. Both began with curiosity.

​

Looking back, and looking ahead

When I think about my career, I don't immediately think about the books I've written, the countries I've taught in or the number of doulas I've trained. I think about people. The woman who discovered her own strength during birth. The exhausted new parents who finally felt supported. The aspiring doula who walked into the classroom wondering whether anyone would ever trust them enough to employ them as a doula. The email years later saying, "I still remember something you said on the course".

​

Those moments mean more to me than any title or award ever could.

​

After more than twenty years as both a birth and postnatal doula, I remain just as curious as I was when I first discovered the profession. I still believe that every family deserves compassionate, respectful support. I still believe the best doulas never stop learning.

 

I still feel incredibly grateful that the work I love continues to grow, not only through the families I have supported myself, but through the many hundreds of doulas who now carry that work forward in communities across the UK and beyond.

​

If my work has a legacy, I hope it isn't measured by the number of books I've written or the number of doulas I've trained.

​

I hope it's measured by the women who felt heard, the families who felt supported and the hundreds of doulas who will one day pass those same values on to someone else.