Reinventing
Birth Support
Our coaching method transforms how birth professionals support families, how clients experience their perinatal journey, and how the birth field evolves.
Neri Life-Choma, M.A.
Certified Birth Doula, CBE, CHT, NLP Prec. , Transformational Coach
Neri Life-Choma holds a master’s degree in cognitive science and is a certified doula, childbirth educator, hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, and Transformational Life Coach. With 27 years of experience supporting and teaching expectant individuals and families, and directing two birth resource centers, Neri brings a unique combination of expertise in birth, education, coaching, and human behavior.
Throughout her years as a doula, Neri recognized an untapped potential in birth support. She saw that having information doesn’t necessarily mean feeling empowered to make decisions, trust yourself, or take an active role in your care. She recognized the power of coaching conversations to help families move from fear to confidence, from uncertainty to clarity, and from simply receiving information to actively shaping their experiences.
That insight led Neri to found Birth Coach Method in 2016 – a new approach to birth support that integrates transformational coaching principles and tools into doula practice. Today, she is dedicated to empowering birth professionals, deepening their impact, and helping them build sustainable, thriving practices.
Neri is the author of the audiovisual guide Practicing for an Active Birth and the book The Art of Coaching for Childbirth.
“Teaching birth support professionals is an honor.”
Guided by Experience and Expertise
Olga Libova
CNM AT Stanford Hospital, DNP
Olga is a California Board Certified Nurse- Midwife. She is a tenured nursing faculty member in De Anza College’s nursing program and currently practices at Women’s Care Medical Group in the Stanford Bay Area.
Olga brings a wealth of knowledge to our program on prenatal care and changes, the medical aspects of labor, and relationships between birth workers and staff in Labor and delivery. She is always up to date on obstetric regulations and ACOG recommendations.
Alit Ronen
CNM, Retired L&D RN
Alit is a Certified Nurse-Midwife (Israel) and has been practicing as a Labor & Delivery nurse at UCLA Santa Monica since 1991. She began her career as a childbirth educator and labor doula and co-founded Mama Center, a birth resource center in Israel and California, with Neri.
Alit regularly joins our doula training cohorts to share valuable insights and practical principles for building respectful, collaborative relationships between doulas and Labor & Delivery staff. She helps clarify the doula scope of practice and strongly believes in the value of prenatal coaching.
Beyond Information. Toward Transformation
Our mission is to transform birth support and advance the future of birth work by equipping doulas and birth professionals with coaching skills and innovative approaches that help families move beyond information to confidence, agency, and empowered decision-making. We prepare birth professionals to expand their impact, adapt to the changing landscape of birth care, and build thriving, sustainable careers.
Birth Coach Method expands traditional birth support through Transformational Perinatal Coaching. We teach birth professionals to move beyond simply providing information and guidance to facilitating intentional conversations that help clients clarify what matters to them, trust their own wisdom, and take an active role in their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences.
- Coaching-based birth support
- Client-centered advocacy
- Transformational perinatal conversations
- Professional communication with healthcare teams
- Sustainable birth work practices
Turning Knowledge Into Confidence and Agency
Knowing about birth and going through birth are two very different experiences. Education helps families understand their options, birth physiology, and what to expect. But pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood also ask people to navigate fear, uncertainty, changing circumstances, and difficult decisions while staying connected to who they are and what matters to them.
Information is great when your clients need to deliver knowledge. Coaching is even better when they’re about to deliver a baby!
That is where transformational coaching belongs in birth work. It gives birth professionals practical ways to help clients think through their options, connect with what matters to them, and move forward with greater confidence and agency.
Coaching does not replace education, emotional support, or hands-on doula care. Our doula training combines evidence-based knowledge with skilled, hands-on support. Perinatal Coaching builds on these foundations, equipping birth professionals to help clients navigate decisions with greater confidence and agency, make a meaningful difference in their experiences and lives, and create lasting impact. Transformational Perinatal Coaching also opens new possibilities for meaningful prenatal and postpartum work.
Birth education gives families knowledge.
Birth support provides presence
and guidance.
Transformational coaching helps them turn what they know into confident, empowered action.
Birth Coach Method is dedicated to advancing perinatal support grounded in mutual respect, trust, and meaningful relationships, while fostering strong partnerships between clients and the professionals who support them.
Which Path Is Right for You?
What is the difference between doula training and perinatal coaching training?
Doula training prepares you to provide practical, physical, emotional, and informational support to families during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. You’ll learn about the birth process, comfort measures, labor support, and how to help clients navigate their birth experiences.
Perinatal Coaching teaches you how to use conversational coaching skills to help clients explore what matters to them, work through uncertainty, clarify their options, and make decisions with greater confidence and agency. Perinatal Coaching adds another layer of support by helping clients find their own answers, build agency, and take ownership and action.
Birth workers who integrate coaching into their practice often report renewed motivation, greater confidence in attracting and enrolling clients, and deeper satisfaction in their work. By moving beyond the pressure to have all the answers, they gain more freedom in how they work, reduce burnout risk, and build a more rewarding, sustainable practice.
Do I need to be a doula before studying Perinatal Coaching?
Not necessarily. Perinatal Coaching is designed for birth professionals who want to integrate coaching into their work. If you’re already a doula, childbirth educator, midwife, nurse, or another perinatal professional, you can build on your existing experience.
If you’re new to birth work, doula training is a strong starting point for learning the foundations of supporting families. Alternatively, as a newcomer to the field, you can learn our prerequisite program. Please contact us to learn more about this program.
Can I become both a doula and a perinatal coach?
Absolutely! The two pathways complement each other.
Doula training gives you the knowledge and practical skills to support clients through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Perinatal Coaching adds tools to facilitate meaningful conversations that help clients build confidence, clarify priorities, and make informed, intentional choices.
Together, these skills allow you to offer more comprehensive support while building an impactful and sustainable practice that doesn’t rely on providing many hours of hands-on physical support
How is Perinatal Coaching different from childbirth education?
Childbirth education helps clients understand pregnancy, birth, their options, and what to expect. Coaching helps clients explore how that information relates to their own circumstances, values, concerns, and desired experiences.
Education provides knowledge. Coaching helps clients turn knowledge into clarity, confidence, and action.
Both have an important place in birth work, and they can work beautifully together.
Can Perinatal Coaching help me grow my doula practice?
Absolutely!
Perinatal Coaching can open new opportunities to offer prenatal and postpartum coaching services, including virtual sessions. By adding a series of coaching sessions, you can expand the value you offer clients, create new revenue opportunities, and reduce your reliance on physically demanding, hands-on support. This allows you to make a meaningful difference in more families’ lives while building a more flexible, rewarding, and sustainable practice.
Which pathway should I choose if I’m just starting out?
If you want to learn how to support families during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, start with doula training.
If you’re already working with families and want to strengthen your coaching skills, deepen your impact, and expand the ways you support clients, explore Transformational Perinatal Coaching.
And if you’re drawn to both, you can build your skills step by step. Your path can grow as your experience and vision develop.
Ready to take your next step? Explore our training pathways and find the one that fits your experience.
How would you like to make a difference?
Explore the training path that best fits where you are now and where you want to go.
