Almost four years ago, a dear friend invited me to be a part of her birthing team. She wanted me to be there to help massage her and play music during her birth. I was so touched by the way the group bonded so tightly in support of the birthing family. I was exhilarated that I could help to bring this new life into the world while joyfully using all of my skills. After attending more births, I was hooked. My calling became clear…to help families prepare for and be empowered during the birthing process and beyond. In supporting families as they prepared for birth, many emotional and relationship issues surfaced in the process of becoming a new family. In response, I began to pursue training programs that would help me to address these issues as I worked with other families. I enrolled and completed a Masters program in Pre and Perinatal Clinical Psychology, where I studied birth in depth with the well-known leaders in the birthing field including Michel Odent, David Chamberlin, Thomas Verney, Ray Castellino, Wendy McCarty, Marti Glenn and more. I continued to attend births during school and when I graduated in 2007, I took a DONA doula training and began my work as professional doula.
Before working as a doula I trained extensively as a massage therapist with over 2000 hours of training. I also have worked as a pre-school and toddler teacher, parent educator, and musician. Now I combine all of my skills in work that I am passionate about.
Birthdoulajen's Blog 