OUR TEAM
We are an experienced and growing team of doulas, bilingual supporters, trauma therapists, antenatal teachers, human rights specialists and infant feeding supporters. Together, we are dedicated to serving women/pregnant and birthing people and their babies during times of financial hardship and disadvantage.
Kate Woods
Founder & CEO
Kate has been working with women, families and healthcare professionals for over 27 years as a Doula, Mentor, and Doula educator.
During this time, Kate has been actively supporting human/women's rights within the childbearing year and has a deep understanding of how continuous support, informed decision making and education are pivotal in improving birth outcomes.
Kate founded Doulas Without Borders in May 2019 and is excited to have grown the organisation from a dozen to several hundred volunteers. Kate has enjoyed founding our values of reflective practice, feedback and continuous learning towards improved outcomes
for our clientbase.
Kate is proud to have gained accreditation from the Royal College of Midwifery for her 'Trauma Informed and Responsive Toolkit' Workshop for Healthcare Professionals.
Kate is also the founder of Conscious Birthing and TIDE (Trauma-Informed Doula Education) and a Mental Health first-aider.
Navrup Kaur
Co-Director & Feedback Coordinator
Navrup is a birth and postnatal doula focusing on supporting people of colour, in person and virtually. After the birth of her first child, Navrup became passionate about supporting other women and their interactions with maternity services.
Navrup advocates for pregnant people and educates others about cultural and religious needs and differences via social media and in-person. She works with people with little or no English, sharing how to navigate a maternity system which carries inherent racism within it.
Navrup understands and has witnessed the generational and cultural conditioning that people of colour carry, which can result in cycles of poor treatment and low expectations. Navrup is passionate about stepping in to remind others how to use their voice as feedback and how this can bring positive change for their communities into the future.
Through Navrup's own experiences of birth & via supporting others, she has also developed a passion for the power of feedback as support for maternity services in their understanding of how pregnant people of colour might feel when interacting with the services. Navrup mainly focuses on helping services understand the rippling effect of birth trauma and broader society.
Amina Haita
Trustee & Infant Loss Specialist
Amina is a midwife working currently in both the NHS and charity sector, having been involved in midwifery care since 2005.
Working with refugees and those seeking asylum as well as those with various additional needs, Amina has experience of supporting many intersectional issues within the childbearing year. Amina works as a research midwife at Imperial College alongside Human Milk Foundation and is also the Midwifery Manager at Tommy’s, the charity supporting infant loss.
Amina is a passionate advocate for women and families achieving the best birth experience for them, using knowledge and empowerment gained from women-centred education, support and care, believing that the core of midwifery is embedded in kindness and support.
Amina also teaches on our Mother Tongue project.
Rosie Ali
Trustee & Trauma Therapist
Rose is a birth and postnatal doula with special interest and training in birth trauma. Her background is in forensic psychology working with people with mental health difficulties combined with criminal offences. The therapeutic ways in which trauma was resolved, through compassion focussed therapy and mindfulness, inspired her work. After the birth of her daughter, she was drawn to working with families in pregnancy, birth & postnatally and her passion for trauma became a part of it.
She was involved with the Mother Tongue project due being trilingual in Swedish, Arabic and English and interested in supporting vulnerable people such as refugee families as a Doula. As a former refugee herself, she is connected to the families she works with through shared experiences & familiarity. Her experiences in her early life alongside her work, have allowed her to feel a strong empathy and dedication to helping families with Doulas Without Borders.
Loretta Hepburn
Safeguarding Co-Lead
I have been working with women, families, young people and multi disciplinary teams for over 30 years.
I have a wide range of experience of working in child protection and safeguarding from policy writing to multi disciplinary meetings. My role has also been to work in partnership and provide support to families where there have been concerns and work with their strengths in gaining a good, strong parenting foundation.
I am a Doula and prior to this was working in a busy obstetric led hospital within the NHS
as a Midwife. I am also trained and have volunteered as a feeding peer support worker.
Philippa Cresswell
Safeguarding Co-Lead & Consultant Social Worker
Philipa has worked as a social worker and manager since 2008; in child protection, child sexual exploitation, youth offending and leaving care, meaning safeguarding will always be the foundation of her practice. Whilst working as a birth doula, she practices social work independently, offering assessments for parents, young people, those who wish to care for children and those seeking asylum. Through this work she has witnessed pregnancy, birth, and parenthood at its most challenging and traumatic.
The systems that these families often find themselves in can often feel oppressive and complex; Phillipa aims to provide transparent and honest information to enable people to navigate them feeling informed and in control. Through transformational births and holding space for families as they forge new paths, we can build strong foundations for positive generational cycles.
Phillipa is a birth doula, breastfeeding peer supporter and Mum of two small children
Esme Newlands
Volunteer Coordinator
Esme is a birth and post natal doula, focusing on supporting vulnerable people. She believes passionately that support, information and advocacy should be available to all birthing people, regardless of their circumstances and is committed to providing accessible doula care, and inclusive, safe spaces for all pregnant people and parents.
Having spent many years living abroad, where she had her three daughters, Esme now lives in Kent with her wife and two dogs. She has been volunteering with Doulas Without Borders since 2023 and originally supported our doulas, working alongside Grace in referrals. She has now taken on the role of volunteer coordinator, supporting existing doulas and those new to working with us.
Samantha Reilly
Head of Elders
Sam started her career as an office manager but has worked with families since the birth of her first child. Initially she volunteered with the NCT in their local fundraising committee running events for new parents. She then trained with the NCT and worked as a postnatal leader for 11 years, running weaning workshops, the NCT postnatal helpline, hosting class reunions and listening to many birth stories.
During this time she trained as a doula with British Doulas and split her time between being a postnatal doula and NCT teaching while bringing up her children.
She now works as a postnatal doula in South West London as well as lots of volunteering. What really makes her happy is doing something to improve new families' lives! She also volunteers with HomeStart, Little Village and Learn to Love to Read.
She lives in London with her husband and two grown up children.
Grace Coles
Referrals Coordinator
Grace started her career as a primary school teacher. The experience of having her own children led her to train as a trauma informed Doula. She initially came on board as the Volunteer Coordinator at Doulas Without Borders, and is now contributing further to the organisation in the role of Referrals Coordinator.
Grace believes wholeheartedly in the value of empowering vulnerable women and families through the childbearing year, through supportive kindness
and compassion.
Diljit Sandhu
Referrals Coordinator
Diljit is a qualified social worker by background with a passion for supporting and empowering vulnerable children and their families.
Since becoming a parent herself during the pandemic she has had a growing interest in supporting women as they make that transition to becoming a parent whether it be their first or 5th time. She is also keen to raise awareness and assist change in current maternity care systems which can often leave women feeling more vulnerable.
Thereasa Morgan
Referrals Coordinator
Thereasa is a mother of 3 and a Virtual Assistant with over 15 years of admin experience.
Due to her great passion for helping women to achieve a positive birthing experience, Thereasa has tailored her Virtual Assistant business to assist those in the birthing world.
Thereasa has trained as a Breastfeeding Peer Support worker and is a member of her local Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership.
Georgiana Calinescu
Consultant Psychotherapist
Georgiana is our in-house Psychotherapist and offers sessions for our volunteers as well
as our clients.
Georgianas' background is in working with with traumatised children and adults with challenging behaviour, attachment disorder, ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, Phobia, Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, Eating disorders, learning difficulties, family relationship problems; adjustment to physical illness and chronic diseases; neurological disorders;
addictive behaviours.
Undertaking assessments, analysing information, drawing up psychological profiles for the assessed people and organising and developing complex and integrated therapy activities (either client centred or group centred) for both children and adult clients.
Georgiana is also a
Trauma Informed Doula.
Julie Scrancher
Consultant in Infant Feeding Support
Julie Scrancher is a Nurse/Midwife, currently working as a part-time Tongue Tie Practitioner for the NHS.
Julie has worked in many areas of the UK both in hospitals and the community since the late 1970's. More recently, her work has been confined to Infant Feeding both by instructing Midwives and Health Visitors how feeding works and they can help parents. Alongside this, she trains mothers to help other mothers as Peer Supporters and has taught on our Mother Tongue project.
Julie has also run Lactation clinics, as well as starting up and supporting Breastfeeding Support Groups. Julie is a qualified Lactation consultant and wishes to continue to help Mothers on their feeding journey.
Charlotte Dean
Consultant Obstetrician and Mental Health Specialist
Charlotte is a Consultant Obstetrician at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London. She was appointed in 2012 after completing her specialist training across the northwest London region and Australia.
She is the obstetric lead for the perinatal mental health services and runs a weekly joint antenatal clinic with the specialist midwives. She is also the link consultant for the Poppy team of midwives who care for vulnerable women in pregnancy including refugees, women with drug and alcohol dependency and survivors of abuse.
She is keen to highlight the challenges facing women who enter pregnancy and motherhood with mental health issues or previous trauma, and to work to change the systems to allow all women to have choice in their births and to feel safe and supported.
She is delighted to support the work of DWB.