About Alison
Alison has always loved babies and been interested in supporting mothers through the birth journey, but it wasn’t until she had a baby of her own and experienced the wonder and beauty of pregnancy, birth and new life in such a personal way that she decided to pursue training which would help her to support other mothers through their pregnancy, birth and postpartum journeys.
Alison firmly believes that for most women a natural physiological birth is not only possible, but achievable, empowering and mind-blowing. She also knows that a physiological birth is not always possible, but she is absolutely convinced that having the time and support you need to consider what your options are and make your own informed decisions can lead to a very positive birth experience, regardless of what path the birth takes.
Every woman is unique, and every birth experience is unique. Alison’s goal as a childbirth educator and doula is to support women and their partners through their fantastic journey to becoming parents.
Childbirth education and perinatal care qualifications and training:
Certified GentleBirth Childbirth Educator (2024)
Birth & Postpartum Doula, Australian Doula College (in training)
Natural Breastfeeeding Program with Dr Theresa Nesbitt, MD & Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, FILCA (2024)
Other relevant training:
First Aid Certificate with CPR (completed Oct 2023)
NSW Working with Children Check (valid to Oct 2028)
Area Serviced
Alison is located in Fern Bay, in the Newcastle / Port Stephens area. Her goal is to provide GentleBirth childbirth education workshops at central locations through the Hunter region to make them accessible to as many families as possible.
As a doula, while she can go anywhere in the Hunter region, when it comes to doula services she thinks the closer you live to your doula the better! As a guideline, she suggests trying to find a doula within a maximum of half to one hour’s drive of where you live or will give birth.
Who can we help?
While available to everyone, Alison feels particularly called to support women from non-English-speaking backgrounds. She studied languages and linguistics at university. University exchange in Italy led to a 2020 COVID lockdown love story and marriage, and in 2021 she found herself facing pregnancy and birth in a foreign country. Blessed with a supportive birth team and plenty of time to learn and prepare beforehand, the birth was a totally amazing experience. She feels these experiences help her to have a greater empathy for the experience of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women who find themselves preparing to give birth in an unfamiliar culture or environment, and she would love to be able to support them to have a positive birth experience despite the challenges they face.
Alison speaks fluent English and Italian, and has also done studies in Mandarin, Spanish and German.
The significance of wattle
Why does wattle feature in our logo? Wattle is the national flower of Australia, but also holds a special significance for Alison in relation to birth. She was living in Italy when she gave birth to her first child, a baby girl. Baby was due on 8 March, International Women’s Day, though arrived some days earlier. In Italy the wattle flower is associated with International Women’s Day, and on 8 March people will take bouquets of wattle to the special women in their lives.
On 8 March Alison’s husband brought home some wattle for her and their new daughter (see photo, with Alison and baby snuggling on the lounge in the background!). For Alison, this was not just a loving gesture, but also a reminder that women all around the world were experiencing pregnancy, birth, and caring for a newborn along with her. It can be easy to feel isolated by pregnancy and birth, but we need to remember that we are not alone: there are countless other women around the world who are sharing the same experience!
