Taranaki's first doula - a non-medical person who supports a woman in labour - has a passion for educating women on the importance of emotional and physical support during labour.
Carol Burroughs is recently qualified in the role and is now holding workshops to educate parents-to-be about how they can have an empowering birth experience.
A doula is paid to provide emotional and physical help to women and their partners before, during and after childbirth.
Carol - who has eight children aged between 12 and 27 - says she loves the role and feels passionate about teaching women techniques to help them overcome the fear, pain and uncertainty of birth.
"Part of me always wanted to be a midwife but I will be 55 this year so rather than spending three years becoming a midwife, this is something I can do. I really enjoy helping people and feel a lot of empathy with women. It's my passion to empower people.