About.
INSPIRED BY BIRTH.
My mission:
To provide exceptional quality antenatal, labour / birth and postnatal support / guidance, both physical and emotional to families during their pregnancy, birth and beyond.
Hello my name is Hanna!
I live with my husband Gavin and our two daughters, Tehya Jemima and Lolah Blue, we live in Cornwall. We have two crazy and very lovable rescue dogs Lara and Leo! We have a large and wonderful extended family that we all adore and are very close to. Gavin’s sister and three of my five siblings have children, the cousins are much loved by each other and they are wonderful friends. So, all in all we are very blessed!
I am deeply passionate about family, friendship, community and village! I am an advocate of support and building supportive networks, I feel strongly that we function at our best as a ‘part’ of something bigger than just ‘ourselves’.
I am dedicated to supporting families and love the stories of ‘wise women – great aunties’ (stories sadly lost in Western culture today) who live as part of a wider community; offering support, knowledge, guidance and love!
In my role as pregnancy, birth and postnatal doula / child-birth companion the concept of the ‘wise woman – great aunt’ is at the center of everything I do. Bringing the families, I work with; my knowledge, a wealth of evidence-based research and literature from my library, my experience, my expertise, my compassion, my heart, a listening ear, someone to laugh with but also if necessary a shoulder to cry on. I am your champion and advocate if necessary.
I read a quote in a wonderful article some time ago, the doula described herself as ‘a silent ninja’. I love that idea; a silent ninja doula!
WORK.
MY SERVICES.
**COVID-19 Update**
The way I offer support has had to change a little due to COVID-19. However, I am here, available and able to utilize flexible ways to support you in the way you need. Please get in touch and we can talk through what your options are.
(Updated 07/08/20) I am able to offer some in person Doula birth support services. If this is relevant to you, please take a look at (Doula Services – click here).
Online services available for any client wishing to work with me remotely. I use a variety of Skype, Zoom and What’s-App chat / FaceTime. I am confident in my ability to offer you a warm, supportive and compassionate service regardless of the distance between us. Online support is suitable for any location, and with all my services distance isn’t a barrier with clients in Australia, America, the UK and Spain.
I am able to offer some face to face / in-person birth and postnatal doula support within Cornwall.
If you are considering Hypnobirthing, require breastfeeding support or are interested in Traumatic Birth Recovery – Three Step Rewind Therapy in-person (in the comfort of your home) my travel range is within an approximate 1 hour travel radius of Roche, Cornwall. If you live further afield it may still be possible on an individual case by case basis.
To find out more about my fees please go to my individual services, which you will find below.
EXPERIENCE.
MY EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS.
1999 NVQ 3 Advice and Guidance
2000 A&Q 2 Accredited youth worker
2001 NVQ 4 Guidance and Counselling
2003 NVQ 2 Youth and Community Work
2003 Diploma (MARJON) Personal Adviser Connexions Cornwall and Devon
2008 TEFL Level 3 Teaching English as a second language
2012 Cert-TESOL Level 5 Trinity College London Teaching English as a second Language
2013 Breastfeeding Peer Support Training Realbabymilk
2014 Nurturing Birth Doula Course
2015 UNICEF Baby Friendly Accreditation 1-day
2015 Hospital Peer Support Training 2-day course
2015 Train the Trainer Course – Breastfeeding Peer Support Trainer
2016 UNICEF Baby Friendly Accreditation 2-day: London
2016 Sara Wickham Post term pregnancy: Exploring evidence, Inspiring confidence
2018 Completion KG Birthing Foundation Online Module
2018 Completion Introduction to Hypnotherapy Online Module
2019 Completed KG Hypnobirthing Instructor Course.
2019 Completion of the Layla B The Nafsa Project School 5 day challenge
2019 (TBR) 3 Step Rewind – Traumatic Birth Recovery Therapy
2020 (TBR) Supporting Baby and Early Pregnancy Loss
A brief history
I began my journey to becoming a doula when I birthed my own daughters and took the next steps when I began training as a breastfeeding peer supporter with Realbabymilk. It was through this support role, reflecting on my own labour / birth and breastfeeding experiences that my passion for all things birth was born… Listening to women / pregnant people, hearing their stories inspired me to learn more about the natural physiology of pregnancy and birth, to really explore the importance of postnatal support. Over time this process taught me how much value there is in un-compromised / dedicated antenatal, birth and postnatal support for all people and their families… I feel deeply privileged to be in a position to support positive birth experience!
My brand
I was born and raised in the rural county of Cornwall in the UK. I met my husband, married and our daughters were born there. It seemed fitting that I started out on my doula journey as ‘the’ Cornish Doula and you can find me on Facebook @CornishDoula. https://www.facebook.com/Cornish.Doula
I have a fantastic Instagram account where you can follow me TheCornishDoula and my IGTV video clips @doulahannaholcroft
Over the years as my qualifications, skill base and experience have grown, more and more of my work has moved online and so my brand has evolved to what it is now. It has been a profoundly fulfilling experience, one that has opened up a world of employment that is so much more than a job!
If you are interested in working with me online please make contact for a ‘free’ first contact, no obligation chat.
CLIENTS.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
Here are a few of the wonderful families I have had the privilege to support.
“I first met Hanna when my youngest daughter was just 3 weeks old. I desperately wanted to breastfeed and I was experiencing real problems. Hanna came and sat with me for 2 hours, she observed and made such amazing suggestions. My original goal was to get to 12 weeks!
With Hanna’s continued support, I got to 12 weeks, then 6 months and in the end breastfed until she was almost a year old. With Hanna’s gentle support I far surpassed my hopes and dreams. Thank you so much, love Ros”
ROSLYN COOMBE
“Thank you, to one of the most inspirational women I know! Thank you for supporting me to find the strength to have another child, when all hope had gone and fear took over. I am forever grateful to you… Love Flo”
FLO MILLARD
“Hanna is honestly the most caring person I have ever met, she has so much passion for what she does and her knowledge never ceased to amaze me.
She was so easy to talk to and confide in. I would recommend Hanna to anyone looking for a doula, antenatal, birth and postnatal support. .”
AMY POLLARD
The first five weeks of breastfeeding my newborn baby were agony. Unfortunately I, or anyone close to me at the time, had little knowledge of what was ‘normal’. I reached out to Hanna online after reading up a little about her impressive background. I invited her into my home for an assessment of the issues I was experiencing. I immediately felt at ease in her presence and appreciated how she took her time to observe. If it wasn’t for the support I received from Hanna I would have stopped breastfeeding at around 5 weeks. My baby is now 11 months old and I am still successfully feeding my baby. I am so thankful I met her.”
ELLI VILLALBA
Hanna has the biggest heart and is so incredibly passionate about what she does. I feel so privileged to have had Hanna’s support throughout my pregnancy and breastfeeding journey. I had a fairly complicated pregnancy and birth but I was able to confidently conquer the challenges that I came across because of Hanna’s support and guidance. She gave me all the information I needed and helped me to believe in myself and trust my choices. When my son was 1 week old I felt like my breastfeeding journey was already over. With Hanna’s many visits to my house and endless messages and phone calls I was able continue my journey and find a way of feeding that worked for me, my baby and my family. Just when I thought I couldn’t cope or I was really upset I would receive a message from Hanna asking how I was. It was always perfect timing! I will be eternally grateful. Thank you Hanna x”
DANIELLE CREED
I don’t know what I would of done without Hanna. If only I had her for my first baby. We met through her online breastfeeding group in 2018. I then became pregnant with my second child. My husband and I did hypnobirthing with Hanna and I had the natural birth I always wanted thanks to her. I had problems with breastfeeding and Hanna was there for me every single day. She’s an absolute star and someone I can proudly call my friend ❤️”
ROSE WORSNOP
After a quick chat, I booked an 8 hour course with Hanna, fully online, and it was fantastic – I felt that it truly set me up to be fully confident, calm and reassured ahead of my birth, whatever form it would end up taking. The course was adjusted to fit my schedule and also adapted to focus on some particular areas that I was looking for. Her style is so comforting and genuine, you kind of just feel like you have a knowledgeable, supportive best friend giving you guidance mixed in with a pep talk. Everything is always backed up with tonnes of amazing fact based resources which she sends on if/when you’d like some extra reading. She was also available outside of the course to message and always responded with lovely advice and tips.
We ended every class with a little Hypnobirthing session that she personalised and recorded. These were so relaxing and my partner normally fell asleep! I used the recordings many times after our sessions to get myself to sleep or just relax if I was getting anxious about anything.
Hanna also gave me such needed confidence initiating breastfeeding, giving tips and tricks and support along the way when things got a little tough due to a minor post birth complication! I’m now two weeks post birth and I’m proud to say everything is going perfectly and I know I wouldn’t be saying this without her!
Would recommend thoroughly to anyone at any stage of pregnancy! Worth every penny and more.
BRYONY BURROWS
