Conception, pregnancy and birth as territory for healing. Two days for those who care for the ones arriving into the world.
100% of every registration goes to causes supporting motherhood and the beginning of life, in Portugal and in Brazil.
The way we were conceived, carried and received into the world leaves a tracing that stays with us for life — and that can also become a place of healing.
It is from this understanding that the Symposium The Beginning Matters is born: two days around the three gateways — conception, pregnancy and birth — seen not as clinical stages, but as the territory where a life begins to be written, and where care can make the difference.
A gathering for professionals who accompany the beginning of life: psychology, therapy, midwifery, doulas and obstetrics. A space for those working at the border between the body, the story and the bond, who want to listen more widely to where a life began.
"The beginning of a life matters — and it is never too late to make it a place of healing."
The origins, and what is written before the womb — the field where a life is called.
What is written inside the womb: the bond, the environment, the memories of gestation.
The arrival into the world and the marks it leaves — and the care that makes the difference.
Pre-conception & Pregnancy
Birth
Times in Lisbon · Brasília · 20 minutes per talk. The Zoom room opens at 1:45 pm · 10:45 am, fifteen minutes before the welcome. Each day ends with questions and comments to the panel, and the symposium closes with a joint statement by Marisa Couto and Maria Conceição Lopes. Panel still being updated.
Throughout the talks you can send us your questions. They will be gathered and put to the speakers at the end of each block. Send as many as you like.
Portugal
Nurse-midwife and Therapist of the Beginning of Life. Creator of the method Healing Birth in Water® and of the ecosystem NASCENTE by Marisa Couto — honouring the flow of life. Author of The Marks of the Beginning of Life.
Brazil
Writer, MSc in Public Health, Social Worker and Integrative Health Therapist. Her work is devoted to health and to the stories that begin before us.
The United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health, working so that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, and no mother dies giving life.
An NGO in the heart of Rio de Janeiro that for fifteen years has welcomed, supported and transformed the lives of vulnerable mothers and their children — creating a place of care and love where mothers and babies can flourish and build a bright future.
providenciando.org.br · @providenciando
Registration fees go entirely to these causes,
split equally between the two organisations.
The joining link is emailed to you once your registration and payment are confirmed.
Access to the full recording for 15 days after the symposium.
Certificate of attendance stating the hours and the dates of the event.
An invitation to join the Community of the Beginning of Life — to carry on the path together.
Step 2 · payment
Fill in the registration form first. As soon as you send it, the payment buttons open here.
🔒 Payment processed securely · 100% goes to the causes
Questions? Write to us: healingbirthpt@gmail.com
after the symposium
These two days open a door. For those who want to walk through it, there is a whole path on the other side — from constellations of the beginning of life to the training for therapists.
