Doulentina - Online Group Birth Preparation Course

I am an enthusiastic Italian mother of two, living and working in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, as a Doula, Childbirth Educator, Professional Postpartum Care Provider and BabyBrainsⓇ trainer. I moved here in 2013 from Italy after my PhD in Neuroscience to work as a Postdoctoral researcher, still in Neuroscience but in a different field.

It was during my 4-years postdoctoral period that I fell pregnant with my first child and discovered the world around birth: it was love at first sight. In that phase of my life, I needed to explore and to expand my innate tendency of taking care, holding space and empowering others. So, I became a doula. Initially, I combined my research with the volunteering work for the Italian community in The Netherlands (Amsterdam Dolce Attesa). This latter role consists in explaining the differences between the Dutch and the Italian health systems regarding birth, supporting informed decisions on the multiple choices they face, and communicating their rights in the birth setting in The Netherlands. Along with managing and moderating a Facebook group where discussions and Q&A take place, I organise a monthly event to gather people and professionals around birth. Since mid 2017, after 10 years in Academia, I’ve been working as a full-time doula.

Along with my regular birth clients, I occasionally volunteer for ACM-HVO Querido in Amsterdam, which is an organisation that provides support to victims of human trafficking, helping pregnant people during their birth. This work is particularly touching as we provide support to a very vulnerable group of people.

In 2018, I co-founded Doula Collectief Noord (now Het Doula Collectief) with the purpose of enhancing our community support and establishing a well defined network to collaborate, share experiences and back up each other. Some highlights of our collective are our work with single parents and rainbow families in their pregnancy journeys with activities, meetings and emotional support.

Then, in 2019, I became the first BabyBrainsⓇ trainer for The Netherlands. I felt that Neuroscience was calling me again and I noticed that the birth and family care community in The Netherlands was lacking a professional able to translate scientific concepts into simple and accessible language on how children’s brains work. I took the challenge and decided to combine my academic background with my experience in supporting and empowering families. BabyBrainsⓇ is indeed a Neuroscience-based parenting program aimed at bringing children neuro-development and psychology research to families. In 2021, I aim to also implement courses for birth and family-care professionals.

Regarding my job, I want to think of my services as a bridge between Science and Parents’ Soul. I use Science to inform, empower and nurture families in their journey into parenthood, providing interactive, creative and experimentally-inspired education around childbirth and child cognitive development.
I root my classes on the latest insight from Physiology, Psychology and Neuroscience, making them available to parents, who will be guided to connect with their own intuition and to use it for making aware decisions. This enables a more conscious, effective and pleasurable experience of both childbirth and parenting, making the adventure of becoming a family one rich in joy and fulfilment. A well informed and adequately supported parent will experience less frustration, exhaustion and hopelessness as their energy will be channelled towards the most effective tool: nurturing the relationship with their own body-mind and with their child. It is through this relationship that support for an optimal birth and child development can be offered. At the end of my courses, parents feel empowered to take on the most wonderful challenge of their lives: giving birth to and parenting their unique child.