Penny Bussell - Tucson

I have been a doula at over 100 births, and have trained over 3,000 new doulas. I hold doula-training workshops all over the country. I originally trained in 1987 as a Certified Childbirth Educator (CCE) with the National Childbirth Trust in the UK. Since 2014 I have been a CCE with Lamaze International. I was a founder member of Desert Doulas in Tucson, AZ in the 1990's. From 2013 to 2018 I was a reviewer on the DONA International doula certification committee. I have represented DONA International at the state level as an Ambassador for both New Jersey and Arizona. Since 2014 I have been a Certified Lactation Counselor and since 2021 I have also been a certified Microbiome Parent Educator.

My book “Labors of Love: A Doula’s Birth Stories” was published in December 2010 and reprinted in 2014 and again in 2018. On this site you can register on-line for my training workshops and if you like, purchase a signed copy of my book.

I am on the board of directors of both Watching over Women and Babies and Birth and Baby Services. I am trained in using the in8 needs and resource cards to support clients. I have a husband who is good with computers and web pages, three wonderful children and six grandchildren (including triplets!).

In 2000 I graduated from the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts (subsequently a Cortiva school) in Tucson, Arizona, and set up business as a licensed massage therapist, specializing in prenatal massage and trigger point therapy. Since then I have provided massage therapy to private clients, taught prenatal massage to students, and provided instruction to therapists. I was a founding partner of Hillsborough Massage Therapy, LLC in New Jersey. I worked for Cortiva Institute nationally as a pre-natal massage instructor, and I taught pre-natal massage in luxury spas across the USA for Mama Mio (“fit skin for life”).