Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Prentice.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Laura. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Hello! My name is Laura Prentice, and I am the founder of Beldam Womancare, a company that provides reproductive health education and support to women and girls through women’s circles and classes.
I started Beldam Womancare after several years of supporting women during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum as a doula. During my time as a doula, I learned about the importance of women’s complete autonomy over their bodies and how little that is respected by doctors, midwives, and even doulas. Pregnant and birthing women were told rather than asked what was going to happen to their bodies as if anyone knew better than they what was best for them. While some women I worked with questioned these practices, many were completely fine with handing over the authority over their bodies because they truly believed that someone else knew more. I realized that most women lack a basic understanding of and trust in their bodies, which leaves them vulnerable to being controlled by fear and misinformation.
As a result of this realization, I stepped away from attending births and shifted my focus to education. I had spent my entire doula career learning about female reproductive biology and decided to begin sharing what I had learned. However, I also realized the importance of community support for women in helping develop a sense of intuition; by hearing each other’s stories, we learn about the normalcy of our experiences and can tune in to what is actually true for us. I decided to create a space for women to come together to learn about the menstrual cycle, birth, postpartum, and more. Thus, Beldam Womancare was born. My vision is to share information, build community, and offer support so that all women may step into power and wisdom.
Has it been a smooth road?
While the path to actually starting my business was relatively smooth, I have struggled to find local women who connect to my vision. I know many women who share the goal of reconnecting to our bodies, but they are scattered throughout the world. I am sure these women are there, but reaching and engaging them has been a challenge.
Another issue has been the location piece. I do not yet have a physical location, so I rent various spaces to host the classes I teach to girls and teens. This is challenging in terms of balancing profit with affordability and also with needing to have my curriculum approved by the facility owner. I hope to one day have a permanent space!
Please tell us about Beldam Womancare.
Through Beldam Womancare, I teach women and girls about their bodies and provide a space for them to share their experiences with each other. One way I do this is by teaching Fertility Awareness Education, which is a method of charting the menstrual cycle that women can use to gauge their reproductive health, prevent pregnancy without hormones, or increase their chances of conception.
When I first learned about the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), I was incensed. I can take my temperature and check my cervical mucus and know exactly when I ovulate and am fertile? Why had no one told me this? In an effort to provide young women with this essential information for health and body literacy, I developed the Your Wise Body Series. This program contains four classes: a Mother-Daughter Menstrual Cycle class, which lays out the basics of charting the menstrual cycle; an Honoring Your Moon class, which helps girls develop a loving relationship with their monthly cycle; a Mammalian Development class, which works to normalize body changes in puberty by discussing humans as mammals; and a Sacred Sexuality class, which respectfully covers anatomy, physiology, pleasure, safety, consent, and more. I am extremely proud of these one-of-a-kind classes as they foster conversation among girls and provide them with an essential space to ask questions.
For women who want to gain a sense of body literacy, I lead a monthly FAM circle in which women check in with each other on how their cycles are going and learn about the method. I also offer one-on-one consults to review charts, teach the Fertility Awareness Method, and discuss any menstrual cycle issues.
A note about period or cycle-tracking apps: There are tons of apps on the market for menstrual cycle tracking. However, nearly all of them use flawed algorithms to predict what will happen in a woman’s cycle, rather than helping her learn her individual body. The predictive nature of algorithms makes apps notoriously inaccurate for preventing or achieving pregnancy.
What sets my work apart from apps and that of others is my commitment to sharing information that allows women to trust their bodies. By actually learning about their body’s fertility signals, women gain a deep understanding of their state of health, which builds confidence and trust. Additionally, not only do I share information, but I also bring women together to build their own knowledge base through collaboration. I have gained so much from being in circles of wise, intuitive women, and I am committed to creating that in the DFW area.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
In the next few years, I anticipate that much of my work (one-on-one Fertility Awareness sessions, classes) will be held online and have a wider reach. This is already becoming a trend and I expect to see it more and more. Education on alternatives to and the side effects of hormonal birth control I predict will also become a large part of my field as more studies are done.
Contact Info:
- Website: beldamwomancare.com
- Phone: 972-316-9943
- Email: laura.prentice@beldamwomancare.com
- Instagram: @beldamwomancare
- Facebook: facebook.com/beldamwomancare
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