Doula support: an anchor for mums who would like to birth at home in London

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As an experienced, holistic doula and mother of two, I believe you deserve empathic, evidence-based support and healing hands

I will help you connect with your body and understand what makes a peaceful birth, so that you experience this right of passage on your own terms, and feel ready to become a mother.

I’ve worked with parents-to-be all over London, particularly in South East London as I’m based in Kennington

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Colette Ozanne doula in a grey jumper in front of the branch of a tree in autumn with yellow leaves and a woven bird nest

Hello,

I work with you to get to the root of your fears, connect you with your body and work with you and your partner to allow you to approach birth with confidence on your own terms.

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Pregnancy and Postpartum Services

Home Birth Doula in South East London

Mums who choose to birth at home, I can hold space, and be a calm supporting presence for your process and choices to unfold.

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Postnatal Doula across London

Feeling overwhelmed with fatigue and too many choices on how to look after a baby and yourself? What about some delicious and restorative meals, a shoulders or feet massage, someone to talk with about these issues and get help with breastfeeding?

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Holistic Pregnancy & Postpartum Therapies in Kennington

Getting a massage at any stage of pregnancy, birth and after will calm your nervous system, energise and ground you, and make you feel so special. And Closing the bones will help you reclaim with your body after the rite of passage that is the birth.

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Testimonials

  • About a home birth

    Colette is an amazing doula. She created a calm and reassuring atmosphere throughout our home birth. She knew when to be in the background and when to come forward with advice and guidance.  We had our baby before the midwife arrived and Colette made it a wonderful experience when it could so easily have been stressful.  Her loving support, wisdom and gentle guiding hands helped us to birth Martha into the world with grace and power. The sessions leading up to the birth helped to inform and prepare us and the postnatal sessions helped us to reflect and recover. Her food is delicious and her massages are the best! Colette is a very special person and we are endlessly grateful for the way in which she supported our birth experience. We would highly recommend her to anyone who is considering hiring a doula.

    With love and gratitude, Amy, Dan and Martha

  • About postnatal care

    To say Colette is wonderful is simply an understatement. We engaged Colette for postnatal support when our son was 5 weeks old and our family support had all returned home. She immediately became an extended member of our household and dived in to support me & our new baby. She's honestly one of the most empathetic & caring people I've ever met & approaches being a doula with nurturing expertise. Her presence in our house brought a level of calm & serenity during a rather chaotic time. She held & cared for our son, did laundry, cooked meals (including a delicious & healing bone broth!), gave me massages and acted as a second set of hands whenever necessary. She's well versed in holistic care & medicine and mentored me on how to interpret & care for my own body & healing process. She approached every situation in a non-judgemental way & simply stepped in to support us however we needed. We already miss her being with us everyday & cannot recommend her enough!

    Andrea

  • About Mizan therapy

    Colette holds great knowledge about woman's health and I felt completely safe in her presence and her hands. Prior to massage she made full assessment and has enquired about all my needs to make sure treatment would provide the best possible long term outcome.

    Massage felt very healing and extremely nurturing. Her approach is very kind and gentle. She made sure I was really comfortable throughout, being aware of all of my physical limitations she provided assistance where ever needed.

    Our first session ended with follow up suggestions on remedies and home treatments with all the links and info needed, which were really delightful and very helpful.

    I am so grateful to Colette for all her caring work she does supporting woman's health.

    If you are curious about Mizan do not hesitate booking yourself for a session with Colette, you will be glad you did!

    Mali

  • About closing the bones ceremony

    Colette performed a closing the bones ceremony for me when I was about 2 weeks postpartum. I was also healing from a 3rd degree tear and an episiotomy. I was looking forward to the ceremony as I was hoping it would help me feel more acceptance of the complications that happened in the birth of my baby and feel some kind of closure. The ceremony actually helped me feel more than this. I now feel not only acceptance and closure from the ceremony, and being able to debrief my birth story with Colette, I also feel I'm on the road to feeling very proud of myself for the birth.

    Physically I found the Robozo and the massaging extremely comforting. I am also already feeling less pain and discomfort in the body. It was like I was all loose and open and I feel so much more firm and closed up after the ceremony.

    Colette also didn't mind taking everything at my baby's pace and we had two long feeds in the middle of the ceremony.

    After the ceremony I felt a sense of contentment and peace. I'm very grateful to have been able to have this process.

    Emily Hung

  • On drumming during birth

    There was a beautiful moment during labor that stood out as a true highlight of my hospital birth.

    As I labored after the induction for quite some time without pain relief, my doula Colette started to play the shamanic drum, creating a rhythm that filled the room with grounding energy.  The steady beat of the drum resonated deep within me, helping to ease the intensity of contractions, allowing me to surrender to the natural flow of labor.

    With each beat, I felt myself move out of my thinking mind and fully into my body, embracing the raw, primal sensations of birth as the sun was rising and the early morning light coming through the windows.  It was beautiful, as if the drum was guiding me to a place of inner calm and strength, where I could let go fully and simply trust the process.  The sound became a beautiful ally, supporting me in connecting to my baby and body's innate wisdom.

    It was more than pain relief- it was a sacred experience, a moment of pure presence that helped transform labor into something powerful, spiritual, and deeply empowering.

    During the journey of birth, there are moments that transcend the physical and bring a deep connection between mind, body, and spirit.  Colette playing the shamanic drum was one of them and I will always remember it.

    Sarah Azoulay

  • About postnatal care

    It was a real pleasure to have Colette as my postpartum doula. Colette supported our family straight after I gave birth to our baby boy and throughout the first 6 weeks postpartum. After birth, I quickly developed a mastitis and Colette provided me with emotional support to go through this difficult time. She helped me take care of our baby and allowed me to rest. She helped with some light household tasks so that I could focus on my baby. She is very caring and very knowledgeable. She provided me with useful informations on a broad range of relevant topics such as homeopathy, baby massage, pelvic floor, breastfeeding etc. I would strongly recommend Colette to anyone looking for a doula.

    Cyrielle

  • About a home birth

    We worked with Colette over the course of 2022, culminating in the birth of our daughter in August. We had a very positive birth experience, and so much of that is down to the support we had from Colette and the preparation that we were able to do through our work with her. 

    Colette made me feel that everything I need is in me.

    Colette has empathy, it is embodied through her touch.

    Catarina

  • About birth

    I can highly recommend Colette as a doula as I had a very good and relaxed birth experience. She has supported me pre-birth to ensure that I have the knowledge I needed to set up the right birth plan, was there when needed at home and in the hospital. I especially loved that Colette has a holistic and natural approach that included natural remedies, homeopathy, massages and postnatal recovery meals

    S 

  • About birth

    We worked with Colette over the course of 2023, culminating in the birth of our daughter in August. We had a very positive birth experience, and so much of that is down to the support we had from Colette and the preparation that we were able to do through our work with her.

    As a result of working with Colette, we were able to approach birth from a very positive place. She really helped to reduce our anxiety about the process and helped me to feel capable of giving birth. She also helped my partner to understand how best to support me.

    Colette was very understanding of our needs. She was very skilled at offering us a range of types of support and at adapting to us. She supported us as we found our own way, and equipped us with the confidence and knowledge to stand up for what we wanted and believed would be best for both myself and our daughter.

    Colette offered a very holistic programme of support, from massage through to postnatal visits. This meant that we had a very calm and peaceful entry into parenthood. I have very positive feelings about my birth story and felt strong and empowered after giving birth.

    We really cannot thank Colette enough for all of her support. We learnt so much from her, and our experience working with her continues to shape the approach we take as parents.

     Sophie Hollows

  • From pregnancy to postnatal care

    Colette was my doula and supported myself and my partner since the beginning of my (first) pregnancy. I found her support, knowledge and caring compassion incredibly reassuring and empowering. I felt safe and secure in the knowledge I was making informed decisions, thanks to the wisdom colette had shared with us. Colette provided us with information and signposted us to sources of information which allowed me to ensure my birth plan was exactly the plan I wanted, and her help ensured I could stand up for my preferences confidently. I am so grateful we had Colette at our side both before, during and after the birth! It was amazin to have her support after, during the first few days of parenthood, providing the same high level of support and care she had during the pregnancy and birth. Thank you Colette.

    Marta

Certifications

  • Doula training with Conscious Birthing with Samsara Tanner

  • Certificate of Thai massage practitioner from Wat Po, Bangkok

  • Mizan therapy certificate led by Bushra Janna Finch

  • Mizan therapy certificate for fertility

  • Mizan certificate for pregnancy and postpartum

  • Diploma for Closing the bones with Japjeet Kaur.

  • Special training

  • Introduction to homoeopathy with Berkeley Digby.

  • Anti-racism workshop with Pavithra Sarma (director of Shatri Women’s Aid);

  • NVC (non violent communication) and trauma, level 2;

  • The sling consultancy;

  • Training in neurodivergent workshop for birth workers;

  • Workshop on the biomechanics of birth with Molly O’Brien;

  • AIMS workshop on induction,

  • TRE (total release experience), the "no talking" release preogramme for stress, anxiety, trauma and PTSD

Years of experience

  • 35 years as a Thai masseur

  • 5 years as a doula

  • 4 years for closing the bones an

  • 1 ½ years as a Mizan practitioner

Number of births attended

22

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes, you might suddenly be declared at risk during pregnancy or labour and it is important to be prepared for it. And if you’re never considered at risk, you still can’t predict what sort of birth you will have, due to the lack of resources and staff in hospitals, which means that mothers are rushed through their birth process, even when birthing at home, and also because birth is an unknown quantity, there are no two births that are alike. It is a natural physiological process (when allowed to happen without disturbance) that can take little or a long time. You can never know in advance what to expect of a birth, but you can trust the process as well as your body and mind to work with it. Preparing for birth with a doula can give you the confidence you need and the knowledge that you will be supported when it happens.

  • It is worth every penny. It is an investment in the future, more important than all the equipment you might buy for a baby. A good birth experience will affect your connection to your baby, and your recovery. The birth of your first baby is a memory you will hold for the rest of your life, and it will affect how you feel about yourself and how you relate to other members of your family. And if money really is an issue, we can come to an agreement that will suit you.

  • Yes, you can, at any time during your pregnancy and labour, and having a doula by your side will make it easier.

  • Because so many women and families expect to be safe and cared for whilst giving birth in hospital or at home. They are unaware of the way births unfold under the care of obstetricians and NHS midwives, why protocols are in place, and they find themselves caught up and pressured to accept medicalised options they might not really need. Standing up for yourself during labour is not something anyone should have to do. Birth is a physiological process that thrives in calm and peaceful conditions. The main hormone that triggers and allows birth to happen in the best conditions, oxytocyn, thrives in a peaceful, calm, undisturbed, dark environment, as it is the hormone of love. Bringing into it rules, constant checkups, loud orders, lying down under bright lights brings adrenalin into play. Adrenalin and oxytocyn can’t be produced at the same time as they come out of the same receptor in the brain. The role of a doula is to protect the atmosphere so that the birthing mother can produce all the oxytocyn necessary to a peaceful birth that progresses of its own accord, in its own time, without obstructions. For a birth not to be scary, the mother-to-be needs to feel protected, supported, understood, and allowed to move and feel free to birth as her body needs at the time.

Look at my doula packages