For nearly 20 years she was also childbirth educator trainer. Since 2000 she has been a member of European Network of Childbirth Associations (ENCA www.enca-nederland.nl), a European network that works for improvement of the care of mother and baby. She is secretary of the Dutch department of ENCA. She took part in the start of the Education for Doulas in Utrecht and became a doula trainer. During her visits to the Midwifery Today conferences in Europe she learned the use of the rebozo from Naolí Vinaver and Angelina Martinez Miranda from Mexico. Together with Mirjam de Keijzer she started to organize workshops about rebozo massage in 2007. Thea and Mirjam wrote the workbook The Rebozo Technique Unfolded with involvement from Naolí Vinaver who inspired their writing of the book. Thea is married, has two daughters and lives in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. www.theavantuyl.nl (Dutch)