Foundations of Birthing from Within: Heart of Mentoring

Course Curriculum

Course Introduction

Welcome!

Foundations of Birthing from Within: Heart of Mentoring will orient you to the Birthing from Within philosophy, and give you enough foundational skills to prepare you to begin working with pregnant families in  your community.

This course consists of four parts.  We encourage you to work through each part, and then take the new concepts you learn to parents in your community, practicing new skills and looking at birth preparation through a new lens.

If you don't already engage with pregnant parents on a regular basis, now is the time to start making appointments with pregnant people. Arrange to meet with someone who is pregnant either in person or online. You can meet with the same person or different people. Each session should take about one to two hours per module.

By the end of Heart of Mentoring, the way you think about birth and engage with clients will have expanded, bringing new insights, tools, and ways of interacting with parents into your practice.

Meet Your Heart of Mentoring Facilitator, Nikki Shaheed!

Nikki Shaheed has guided hundreds of families across the threshold of birth as a Birthing from Within Mentor and Doula since 2012. She enjoys offering informative and heart-opening classes for expectant parents to cultivate resilience, connection, and self-compassion. Her classes help parents feel better prepared for the intensity and unpredictability of birth. Nikki is also Certified Birth Story Mentor, Professional Certified Life Coach, and author of Heart Centered Pregnancy Journal. Her offerings include: private and group childbirth classes, birth story healing, training and mentoring for birth professionals, coaching, Heart Centered Pregnancy Journal, Heart Centered Pregnancy Deck.

Course Outline

Part 1: Mentoring and Solution-Focused Dialogue

Part 2: Birth as a Heroic Journey and the Labyrinth of Birth

Part 3: Archetypes of Birth 101

Part 4: Pain Coping: Scaling, Baseline and Breath Awareness

Birthing from Within's Values and Philosophy

Birthing from Within: Values

  • We believe that perinatal support for all birthing people is a key contribution to the project of universal human liberation.

  • We believe that the Birthing from Within philosophy, skills, and community are powerful tools for transforming birth in our culture.

  • We strive to illuminate the importance of humanity, compassion, and connection in our work by using trauma-informed best practices; intercultural humility; inclusive language; and respect and accountability in our interactions with our clients, course participants, and each other.

  • We are committed to addressing racial disparities in birth outcomes and trauma, as well as our organizational and personal biases, and to being open and responsive to feedback on how to improve our own approaches, behaviors, and policies.

Birthing from Within: Philosophy

  • Birth is a process of initiation.

  • While there is much that parents can learn prenatally about birth, pain, and the modern medical system, birth is ultimately synonymous with the unknown.

  • Because birth is ultimately unknowable, birth professionals and parents benefit from looking beyond attachments to particular outcomes.

  • Birth preparation begins years before parents take a pregnancy test, begin prenatal classes, or hire a doula.

  • In order to be prepared to birth in modern culture, parents need to access both modern knowing and inner knowing.

  • The task of a Birthing from Within doula or childbirth educator is to awaken a coping mindset and the internal locus of control in parents in order to help them stay present, access all possibilities, and take action when needed.

  • By normalizing a wide spectrum of ways to give birth, support birth, and cope with intensity and the unknown, Birthing from Within childbirth educators and doulas help reduce birth trauma in themselves and the parents they work with.

  • When a childbirth educator or doula thinks in terms of mentoring rather than teaching, they become able to develop trusting, honest relationships in which parents' inner wisdom can be acknowledged and nurtured.

  • Birth professionals can support parents with the most open-hearted care when they engage in self awareness and personal reflection.

Philosophical Values and Assumptions of Birthing from Within