I'm Oli Silverwood-Cope, experienced midwife, doula and yoga teacher, currently training in Somatic Experiencing®.

My work brings together an understanding of birth physiology, trauma, the nervous system and the body’s innate capacity to heal.

I have supported women and birthing people through pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period for 14 years. I bring the clinical knowledge of an NHS community midwife, who has also worked in all hospital settings, the embodied wisdom of having given birth three times at home, and the somatic awareness of currently training in Somatic Experiencing with the School of Somatic Experiencing International.

Birth is a sacred, powerful physiological, emotional and spiritual happening, not a medical problem to be managed, and not a one-size-fits-all process. Every person who gives birth brings a unique history, body, circumstances and set of needs. I see birth within the context of a social model of health and wellness: shaped by hormones, by the fluid emotional phases of labour, by rites of passage, by the nervous system, and profoundly by the environment and the people present. The birthing person is always the central person in that dynamic and the relationship between them and those who care for them is fundamental to how birth unfolds.

Continuity is not a luxury, it’s what proper care feels like. The evidence is clear and has been repeated across decades of research: people have better outcomes, fewer interventions, higher satisfaction and greater wellbeing when they are cared for by someone they know and trust.

In birth reflection sessions, I hold a safe, supportive space for people to begin exploring their pregnancy, birth and postpartum experiences, gently and at their own pace, with trauma awareness and deep reflective listening. I draw on years of teaching pregnancy yoga and Hatha yoga to integrate somatic practices so people feel grounded throughout and gain practical tools for self-soothing, self-compassion and integration. When people feel unsupported, unsafe and alone during pregnancy and/or birth and/or postpartum, it leaves a mark that deserves genuine, paced, relational space to begin to process what happened, and free up the nervous system to relax in the here and now

I offer independent antenatal and postnatal midwifery care, pregnancy yoga and yoga nidrā, and co-facilitate a birth experience peer support group in Stroud.

If you want to see how my experience feels to you, you could read my 'CV as a blog’ post: The long way home

and follow me @healing_births on Instagram