Jo's Biography

My journey to 'doula' in many ways felt like a natural progression. I had worked with families as a nanny for over eighteen years and more recently a maternity nurse. In 2008 a dear friend and fellow nanny asked me to be her birth companion, little did I know this great honour would alter the path of my career and challenge me to retrain and educate myself regarding all things birth and pregnancy. Most importantly it opened my eyes to the needs of a woman during labour and that of the family after the birth.

Like many of my doula peers I embarked upon this calling, knowing it would be challenging nonetheless feeling I could help change the system from the inside. It would be simple I would educate parents-to-be to make smart birth choices and by being there in person I could ensure positive birth experiences in a hospital setting. How naive?!

In 2020 I stopped supporting hospital births. I stopped regurgitating the narrative that people could have a good birth experience ‘anywhere’ and stopped centring myself as the saviour. My journey to healing from the trauma I had witnessed began and so how I prepare and support birthing communities has radically shifted. Today I work to guide people to ‘unlearn’ the cultural narrative that birth is unsafe by bringing them to a deep understanding of birth physiology and how to trust and listen to their body, pregnancy through mothering.

The awesome experience of birth has the profound effect of opening us up to something bigger and unstoppable. As a birthkeeper you never stop learning, no two women are the same and no two births. How we approach each birth that makes all the difference, knowing when to be silent, when to offer words of encouragement, when to hold and when to fade into the background.

Giving birth unfettered by the constraints of hospital systems, fear and the stories of others is a woman’s birthright. Today I support people to birth their babies in their power at home. Peace on earth starts with birth.

Im happiest when I'm cooking, dancing the night away (too infrequently!) and walking my beloved dog Dolly. I'm naturally gregarious and drawn to people who love to laugh. I'm a lifelong Liverpool fan avid traveller, devoted aunty, book lover and gym procrastinator.