How We Hold It

A 4-Week Training for Doulas, Midwives, Therapists, and Birth Workers in Trauma-Informed Birth Story Processing

The most powerful thing you can do after a birth isn't what you say.

It's how you hold the story.

If you support births, sit with postpartum families, or hold the complicated territory of perinatal care in any capacity: this is for you.

Birth stories around the world are celebrated in sacred ceremonies: smudging, singing, dancing, fires, placenta burials and more bring together communities of women as they have been for generations.

But our clients are navigating birth stories in a culture that no longer knows how to witness them.

The way the story is held matters deeply in both brain and body.

This training equips birth workers to be the witness to their clients’ stories using trauma-informed approaches (whether trauma is present or not!), understand the basics of neuroscience, and make room for their own stories even while they hold onto others.

Hi, I’m Ashley Ward

I’m a mental health therapist based in Fort Collins, CO, specializing in postpartum care, birth trauma, and birth story processing

My first birth was a 34-week induction for preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, with a NICU stay and failure to thrive. It was…fine? My baby came home eventually. I came home. I didn’t process it. I didn’t know I was even supposed to process it.

My second birth went much better, and I think if they gave out any sort of of birthing awards, I’d have won them. My midwives told me I was “so funny” and “so much fun” and “so great” to labor with.

Then came my third.

If I showed you my chart, you’d probably agree with what everyone else said about my birth: in the birth center, eleven hours start to finish, no tearing, no observable medical complications— everyone in the room called it beautiful. What nobody caught, and what I didn’t even know to name for seven years, was that I had a full on panic attack during active labor.

And because nobody asked, because the chart looked good, and because everyone kept telling me how beautiful it was, I spent years walking around with a story I couldn’t make sense of.

That’s why I built this training. And it’s why I do this work. 

FAQ

Still have questions? Feel free to send an email to ashley@ashleywardtherapy.com

  • A mix of live and recorded content spread throughout the 4 weeks (always with the option of catching up on a recorded version the live portions) as well as a private instagram for community connection and content.

  • Yes! It contains some similar themes, but will go significantly more in depth and cover new topics as well!

  • Round 1 will launch with special pricing of $149 and be limited to a very small group. (This one’s my first pancake!)

  • Topics include: how to build a container to hold your own birth story without spilling it onto your clients; the ins and outs of neuroscience and the basics of the nervous system, holding vicarious trauma (both short and long term), and self-care, community care, advocacy and the importance of holding each other even while we hold our clients.

  • Nope! This is not therapy, just training, and is open to anyone, anywhere. If I have enough interest to run an in-person group I will, but I’ll run an online only version, too!