Hello! I'm Doula Paris! My name is Jodi and I am a British trained Midwife who has 5 years experience supporting women in childbirth and throughout the postnatal period. I have witnessed over 100 normal, physiological births, including homebirths and waterbirths.
Passionate about normal birth and women’s choice, I see birth as a normal physiological process and go to great lengths to encourage women to use a variety of techniques to support them to have as intervention-free and empowering birth experience as possible.
Equally, I am well-versed in the nature of 'high risk' births and also endeavour to assist mothers in bringing normality to this environment.
I graduated with a first class BSc degree in Midwifery studies from King’s College London and hold an additional qualification in breastfeeding from the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative.
In 2010 I also completed my Doula training with Michelle Odent and Liliana Lammers.
My Story
I was deeply inspired to become a midwife and doula by my great friend Ingrid Lewis.
The first birth that I saw was a beautiful, calm and undisturbed homebirth, whilst doing work experience with the Brierley Midwives Homebirth team in South London. From this moment on I had deep faith in women’s bodies and their ability to birth serenely and naturally, and for birth to be a unique, positive, and incredibly empowering experience.
Throughout the summer I spent shadowing the Brierley midwives I witnessed several more homebirths, as well as hospital births. Ruth, Rae, Julia, Ayla, and Kate at Brierley were all AMAZING role models and inspired me even further to continue my Journey into Midwifery.
I then went on to study midwifery at King’s College London, where I was placed throughout my training at King’s College hospital.
Training at King’s I was fortunate enough to work with some incredible caseloading and traditional community midwifery teams such as the Oakwood Midwives at Forest Hill Surgery (Peckham Rye), and Paxton Green group practise midwives.
During placements on the labour ward and the midwifery Led Unit at King’s I was also lucky enough to be mentored and inspired by Clemmie, Kate T, and Dorisilla, amongst others, who taught me invaluable skills in supporting women during labour and creating an environment of normality in childbirth.
During my lectures at Kings I was particularly inspired by Mary Stewart whose doctorate research into the use of Vaginal Examinations, and recent ‘Birthplace study,’ have influenced me greatly.
I now work as a part-time Midwife for half of the year at Homerton University hospital. The rest of the year I live with my boyfriend Tristan in Paris. Whilst in Paris I work as a part-time Doula and Hypnobirthing teacher.
In my free time I practise Yoga and mindfulness Meditation and am preparing to start my Yoga teacher training in Paris in April 2016. I have been practising Yoga and meditation techniques since I was 16 years old. My main, and most influential teachers have been: Sherina Russel, Nigel Gilderson, Sama Fabien and Ayala Gill.
My first 6 months at the Homerton hospital I worked on the ‘high risk’ labour ward where I gained experience supporting women with more complex pregnancies and births.
I am now working on the ‘low risk’ Birth Centre there, where I have lots of opportunities to assist with physiological, intervention-free births.
I continue to learn from each and every woman I support during birth.
Qualifications and Experience
2009 - Graduated from the University of Durham: BA Combined Arts in French, English, and Art History
2010: - Paramana Doula training with Liliana Lammers and Michel Odent.
- Yoga for Pregnancy introductory course with Nigel Gilderson and Uma Dinsamore-Tuli
2011: Work experience shadowing the Brierley Homebirth Midwives at King’s College Hospital
2011 - 2014: Midwifery training at King’s College London University and Kings College Hospital
2014: - Placement at Hopital Tenon Maternity department, Paris 20eme
- Graduated with First class BSc Midwifery studies with Registration
2015: - KG Hypnobirthing Teacher training:
- Fully certified KG Hypnobirthing teacher practitioner
- Birthlight perinatal yoga teacher training
2014-2015 : - Band 6 Midwife at Homerton Hopsital, London; predominantly working on the Birth centre/MLU.
2016: - Part-time Doula and Hypnobirthing teacher in Paris
- Employed on a part-time basis as Midwife at Homerton Hospital on Labour Ward/Birth Centre
Disclaimer & Copyright
All opinions expressed on my blog and elsewhere in this website are my own personal thoughts and views. They do not necessarily represent the views/opinions of any organisation or body that I am part of .
All content on doulaparis.com is the property of the author, Jodi Garrod, and may not be reproduced without permission.
Occasionally, guest posts will feature in the share-space and blog section. Such posts represent the views of that particular author only, and are not my own.