A mindful community and support for families in London
Our vision for Family Folk is that of a movement, a village, a community of diverse families coming together to support one another, sharing wisdom, forming life-long bonds, gathering to play, getting informed and simply to BE. We hope to collaborate with other people who already serve families with their wisdom, skills, time and love, many of whom are doulas, mentors, holistic therapist or simply parents themselves. Family Folk has already brought events and circles to east London where we want to bring families together for community, soon to be joined by holistic practitioners to share some of their wisdom and knowledge.
Currently the main focus of Family Folk is to support and serve expecting parents of all backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations and beliefs through Birth and Postpartum Doula services. There are plans for talks, workshops and more community circles. If you are someone who is a professional/practitioner of any sort: Doula, serving families in any capacity, giving talks, offering workshops/classes, selling a product aimed at parents, children or anything else you can imagine that could be offered in collaboration with Family Folk, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! We want other members of our community to be part of Family Folk.
Family Folk wants to hold space and support all birthing people, to nurture families in all stages of parenthood and create mindful gatherings for you to come and simply be.
Born in Germany and having lived in London for more than a decade, for me the need for a genuine community was strong, even more so when my husband and I became parents in 2016.
Anywhere, even a big city can be a lonely place, especially for new parents. Neither of our parents live in the UK and we relied on our network of close friends who truly supported us (and still do) in a way that only family would. Thanks to my background as a nanny, I already knew many local families, Doula’s and others serving expecting and new parents. But I know many parents often feel pretty lost at first and so my desire to serve those families, was born.
Besides having worked as an experienced nanny for over 15 years, I am also a trained birth and postnatal doula since 2014, working towards my recognised status through Doula UK. Becoming a Doula has changed my life and the way I view sisterhood and community especially throughout the childbearing years. I am especially passionate about Full Spectrum Doula care, which is fully inclusive, serving folks throughout the full spectrum of pregnancy from birth, to abortion, miscarriage to adoption and surrogacy. Every experience matters, no one is discriminated against. To me this kind of work is activism.It's one of the ways I am able to serve my community. In addition I am also part of the charity Neighbourhood Doulas London.
The need for community has been a huge part of my life since I was a teenager. I have been part of many very tight-knit communities in different places all over the world. I have taken these experiences to build the idea for Family Folk, my business, my way of supporting families of my community throughout parenthood.
