Nicole Heidbreder became an INELDA trainer in 2017. She brings extensive experience as a hospice and labor and delivery nurse to her teaching. She also serves as a faculty educator for Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a DONA International Birth Doula Trainer. In 2016 she was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honors Society, in recognition of her role as a leader in the field of nursing education. The transitions of birth and death have always seemed to parallel each other, sometimes occurring together as Nicole dealt with fetal and maternal demises in her work as a birth doula and labor and delivery nurse.
Prior to her nursing career, Nicole was a production manager for projects in New York City that focused on the intersection between art and politics. She is a Level I Reiki practitioner and a student of the Buddhist teacher Thich Naht Hanh. When she’s not serving the dying or a birthing woman, she can be found playing with her two cats, Hermes and Apollo, or out dancing while listening to live music. For more information visit INELDA.org