On Sunday June 24th 2018, Emi, Stephen, Claire, Russ, Joanne, Seb, Desiree, and Sam will be subjecting themselves to physical torture at Bramham Park in Leeds. We will be completing the Total Warrior 12km run.

But it's not just an ordinary run, oh no. We will be completing 25 arduous and exhausting obstacles, like an ice pit filled with 10 tonnes of ice, a fire leap, 20ft of monkey bars over freezing cold water, crossing a muddy river or two, wading through nipple-deep mud, climbing 15ft high walls, crawling through mud-filled pipes, and getting electrocuted to name just a few!

A few of us have completed Total Warrior before, raising funds for SANDS and for our local Home Birth Support Group, but this is our biggest team ever AND the one with the most amount of women in it!

You can see full details of the course obstacles here, and be amazed by what we're going to put ourselves through and hopefully feel inspired to donate! ---> http://www.totalwarrior.co.uk/course/

Why are we doing this though? That's the question.

Emi, team leader, is a doula with DoulaUK. "What's a doula?" you ask. Well, a doula is a birth worker who provides continuous emotional, physical, and informational support to clients during pregnancy, throughout labour, and into the immediate postpartum period. All this is offered without judgement, but instead with practical and emotional support that is flexible, responsive, and personal.

DoulaUK, the primary doula organisation in the UK, formed the Access Fund (then called the Hardship Fund) in 2008, to cover the expenses of DoulaUK doulas volunteering to work with local clients in emotional, practical or financial hardship. This enabled many families to have a doula there for support that would otherwise not have been able to afford one. A true gift indeed.

The Fund was financed out of DoulaUK’s membership income and from modest donations. Over time, demand for the service rose, which could not be met by DoulaUK’s funding resources and sadly, we had to close the fund to new applicants. In 2017, the members of DoulaUK voted to create an Access Fund charity that through grant funding and corporate giving streams, will ensure that our vision of ‘turn no woman away’ becomes a reality.

By donating, you'll be ensuring that pregnant people and their families are able to access the support they need during their pregnancies and births, and making sure that the expenses of the hard-working, heart-full doulas who volunteer and provide their services for free are covered so they can go on to help and support more people.