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Trauma Specialised Care for Birth Professionals: a training on trauma informed care, communication and burn-out prevention
The training Trauma Specialised Care for Birth Professionals is designed to give a comprehensive understanding of trauma informed care (TIC). What does TIC entails and why it is beneficial or even paramount both for your clients as well as yourself, and how to implement trauma informed care into your existing practice. We will uncover how trauma informed care actually is a way of burn-out prevention for all professionals working with pregnancy, birth and the postpartum.
The course includes:
- preliminary reading
- three day in-person training with a delicious lunch provided for
- two 2hour follow-up zoom meetings
- documented submission of course reflections and a case study.
Upon completion of the full course you will receive a certification of completion.
We will demystify the notion of “trauma informed care” and explore why it is so important as a prenatal, birth, postpartum care provider or bodyworker to be equipped in this crucial aspect of holding space for families pre-conception and during pregnancy, birth and parenthood.
We will walk you through what trauma informed care looks, sounds, and feels like as both care provider and client. The course will offer you an accessible ABC “how to” on embedding the principles of holding space for trauma into your current work.
Throughout the three days we will clarify for you what a tangible difference this approach and framework will mean for your clients who need this extra tenderness and compassion; and, crucially, for yourself and your wellbeing as you navigate the extra care and boundaries that are asked for.
Attending this course will allow you to confidently navigate the following foundations:
- Why trauma informed care matters
- What is trauma?
- Trauma and the nervous system, polyvagal theory
- What is secondary / vicarious trauma?
- What is post traumatic growth?
- The far reaching impact of trauma and post traumatic growth on a person’s experience of conception, pregnancy, birth and postpartum / parenting
- What is trauma informed care; & how to adjust your current practice to incorporate these principles
- The basics of trauma sensitive communication
- What is radical self care and why is it important?
- The significance of acknowledging, respecting and committing to your own boundaries
- Burn-out prevention
- An introduction to embodiment practices for you as a practitioner; four tangible grounding / self regulation practices
- Why regular self reflection and adopting a growth mindset is paramount to your personal growth and the growth of your clients when practicing trauma informed care
For whom?
The course is accessible for certified professionals: midwives, nurses, gynaecologists, kraamverzorgenden, doulas, counselors, childbirth educators, bodyworkers with a minimum of 2 years working experience and/or having attended a minimum of 5 births. If you feel you are eligible to attend this course, without meeting these requirements, send us an email and we can discuss. We accept a maximum of 20 course participants.
Registration is by booking your course through this website, with the payment of €300,- downpayment. We will then send you an intake questionnaire followed by an intake-interview, after which registration will be made final. We will then send you an invoice for the remainder of the course fee of €575,-. Should it be mutually agreed to postpone participation – then the downpayment will be fully refunded.


About the course facilitators
Ilena Standring
Ilena is a full spectrum trauma informed doula, coach and consultant. Having been a peer counsellor since adolescence; Ilena became a certified coach in 2012 and in 2014 became a trauma specialised doula. Having worked extensively supporting clients and families who have experienced various traumas for over seven years, and having personally worked extensively on her own post traumatic growth; Ilena is compelled to speak openly and hopefully about trauma and trauma informed care for pregnant, birthing and postpartum people.
Prior to becoming a doula; Ilena worked in HR and consulted across various organisations at management and executive board level. She continues to consult for global corporates on the varying impact of the transition people make as they become parents.
By unravelling trauma taboos in open and accessible settings she aspires to move the conversation around trauma away from pathology and into one of strength, resilience, hope and empowerment.
Joyce Hoek-Pula
Joyce is a doula, masseuse, childbirth educator and certified coach with 20 years of experience working with pregnant people. She has been mentoring and teaching doulas since 2012 and is a co-owner at BiA Training.
Joyce has been fascinated by trauma and its impact on pregnancy and birth from early on in her career and has followed different courses to deepen her understanding. She is moved by the resilience of birthing people, and is dedicated to improving their experiences, both by supporting women and their partners during pregnancy and birth as well as by helping to change the paradigm of our birth culture. Currently she is doing the Somatic Experiencing Training (based on the work of Peter Levine).
Three In-Person days: 22, 23, 24 November 2024
Two online follow up sessions (2 hours each): Dates to be determined
Timings:In person training: 9.30 doors open, training from 10am – 5.30pm
Location in person days: Naar Zee Stadsoase, Bert Haanstrakade 102, Amsterdam IJburg
Price: €875,-
Price includes: lunch, 21%vat, course manual, 2x 120 minute post-course zoom meetings and certificate of completion after meeting all course requirements.
Accreditation: NBvD is applied for / Cluster D points for KNOV-members upon receiving certificate of completion (25 contact hours)
For more information about the content of this training: hello@ilenajoannestadring.com
For information about payment, location etc: doula@biadoulatraining.com
Cancelation Policy:
You can retract your registration within 14 days of the online registration and payment. This is not possible if the training takes place within 30 days of registration. If the intake interview is within those 14 days, and if in the interview it is mutually agreed that you will attend the course, the 14 day withdrawal policy falls due.
The booked training can be canceled up to 30 days prior to the training, subject to a €150,- administration fee. The cancellation must be sent by email to doula@biadoulatraining.com. In any other case: no refund possible, also when called away to a birth.
If the training takes place within 30 days, cancellation is no longer possible.
We strongly recommend that if you’re on call, you arrange back-up for the 3 days of the training; because of the nature of the training, you cannot catch up in a subsequent training and if you’d miss the first day, you cannot come to the following days.