Baker, Bridget
Birth date
27/06/1946
Death date
24/03/2023
Biography
Bridget Baker lived in Hackney in the '60's and 70's. She moved to Islington in 1984, then to Forest Road, Hackney in 1991. She spent almost 50 years involved in antenatal teaching and had been attending births from around 1980. This role was not commonly known as "birth doula" at the time but experienced women have traditionally supported mothers during labour & birth throughout history.
Bridget started teaching antenatal classes with NCT (National Childbirth Trust) in the mid 1970's. Bridget would say that she was doulaing then, not charging and just attending. This caused her to leave the NCT in the early 90s when one of her clients was at an NCT conference and let it slip that Bridget had been at the birth. At that time, their antenatal teachers were not allowed to also be present at their client's births and so she left the organisation.
Bridget was very involved with the Jewish community in Stamford Hill. In the early 80s, a woman named Hansy Josovic got in touch with the NCT about training and Bridget got involved. Hansy completed her training and started running classes. Sadly, Hansy died soon after that but her teaching carried on in the Jewish community. Bridget was asked if she would consider helping train some teachers to take over. Bridget was loved by the women she taught and all her doula mentees as well.
In 2001, Doula UK [https://doula.org.uk/] was formed, with Bridget being one of the founding members. She began a training programme for their members and implemented an introductory day for women who were interested in finding out about what being a doula entailed. Doulas are non-medical professionals who provide support to a birthing person and their family before, during and after childbirth. Bridget was Head of Education and Mentoring at Doula UK for many years until she became too unwell and had to cut back on her commitments. She continued to be a Doula Mentor and occasionally supported births until the year before she died.
Bridget started teaching antenatal classes with NCT (National Childbirth Trust) in the mid 1970's. Bridget would say that she was doulaing then, not charging and just attending. This caused her to leave the NCT in the early 90s when one of her clients was at an NCT conference and let it slip that Bridget had been at the birth. At that time, their antenatal teachers were not allowed to also be present at their client's births and so she left the organisation.
Bridget was very involved with the Jewish community in Stamford Hill. In the early 80s, a woman named Hansy Josovic got in touch with the NCT about training and Bridget got involved. Hansy completed her training and started running classes. Sadly, Hansy died soon after that but her teaching carried on in the Jewish community. Bridget was asked if she would consider helping train some teachers to take over. Bridget was loved by the women she taught and all her doula mentees as well.
In 2001, Doula UK [https://doula.org.uk/] was formed, with Bridget being one of the founding members. She began a training programme for their members and implemented an introductory day for women who were interested in finding out about what being a doula entailed. Doulas are non-medical professionals who provide support to a birthing person and their family before, during and after childbirth. Bridget was Head of Education and Mentoring at Doula UK for many years until she became too unwell and had to cut back on her commitments. She continued to be a Doula Mentor and occasionally supported births until the year before she died.
