Online - WILD Journey: from sisterhood to motherhood

This is a friendly peer support group, facilitated by doulas, for women who are planning to journey through pregnancy and birth on their own terms.

You are welcome to this group if you are planning a future pregnancy, currently pregnant and planning your birth, or you’ve already experienced an autonomous birth and you’d like to share your story.

We believe that pregnancy and birth are normal bodily functions, and that women are the experts on their own bodies. We trust in Wisdom, Intuition, Liberation and Discovery. Your questions, fears, excitement and stories are all very welcome.
Partners, friends and supporters are welcome to come along and gain some confidence in the birth process so long as they are female. Children of both sexes are welcome.

This group is unstructured to allow time and space for whatever women bring to the group and want to take from it.
We know that going against the grain can feel lonely and it's hard to find other women who understand your choices, but you can find them here. You're not alone.

It's free to attend but if you're in a position to make a donation towards supporting women who cannot afford to pay for support services, it will be gratefully accepted. We accept donations in person, or you can make an online donation here.

We are open to suggestions for topics, but it's more than okay for the group to be led by attendees' questions and stories. Either means we can explore, discuss, and flesh out pregnancy, birth and postpartum plans, dreams and ideas while keeping in mind what the barriers are and what we can do to protect our space, our energy, our time and resources, and most of all our self confidence.

This group is for you if you're planning (or even planning to plan!) an undisturbed birth at home. Some of the questions you might be asking yourself, which we can explore together at the group are:

• What's your ideal pregnancy/birth/postpartum - what do you really want, in your heart of hearts?
• What do you imagine when you close your eyes?
• What, who, and where do you feel drawn to?
• What is your intuition telling you?
• How would you give birth if you could wave a magic wand and make it so?
• And finally, is it possible? If not, why not? What are the obstacles? Could some aspects of it be incorporated?

Doulas are not medically or clinically trained. We speak from our experience and we are trained to listen and hold space. If you feel you want to meet with us (online or in person) about something in particular before coming to the group, or if it brings stuff up that you want to explore in depth afterwards, you are welcome to book in a private session. We can support you to figure out where you're at, what you want, and what's in the way so you can get rid of what's not serving you. You may want to process a previous birth (or someone else's) or you might have a specific birth plan you want to put in place. Whatever is on your mind won't be too big, or scary, or small or silly for us - we hold space for women no matter what they're going through. If it matters to you it matters, and in our experience it's always better to bring something into the light. When you're safely held, in confidence and compassion, when you feel seen and heard, you make healing and magic happen.

Greater Manchester Doulas is a small and dedicated team of women who support women in different situations, at every age and stage, and girls from aged 8. We have attended births in hospitals/birth centres and at home with midwives in the past, but in 2020 made the decision to only attend freebirths from then on. These are home births with no medical professionals present.
You can read more about the doulas on our website or find us on Facebook and Instagram @greatermanchesterdoulas