I have been in care work for my entire adult life. Before having kids, I managed a busy therapy and psychiatry office while putting myself through art school. I saw clearly gaps where patients needed support that could not be provided clinically and enjoyed stepping into that role. My eyes really opened to the ways in which our medical system does not serve the people who need it, especially families. I became a mother during this time. To my first in 2012, and two years later I had a daughter born with hydrocephalus and a rare syndrome. Our medical team kept us alive, but it was the folks on their hands and knees, in the muck and mire of my postpartum, and in her infant and toddlerhood that uplifted and carried our family. With this inspiration, I trained as a doula in 2014 after my second was born and have never looked back. Four kids in, caring for my own family, I am humbled on a daily basis by the enormity of the task — the joy, humor but also it’s enormous demands. I think perhaps, this daily reminder has become the greatest gift of what I offer as a doula. With a strong affection for the handmade, I can often be found cooking up medicines, soaps, and tinctures among other essentials. Think big messes. My home and garden is under constant repair. I often refer to it as a painting that will never be finished. I see you and your family as fellow human beings on a vulnerable, beautiful and challenging path. I am up for whatever you bring, and have slowly acquired the wisdom to trust that you know what your family needs and wants far better than I possibly could. I know that you deserve to be listened to and supported as you paint the story of your own life. In light of this, I am able to provide truly non judgmental support, and challenge myself each day to meet you where you are with respect, honesty and skill. I am brought to this work out of the strong belief that every birthing person and family deserves to have a support that is there for them and them only. One not tied to or by other responsibilities (providers, hospitals) or complex relationships with friends and family. My agenda is your safety and dignity, as you define it. My skillset is built out of my years as a doula, advocating for my own child with complex medical needs, managing a busy medical office, and as a community activist working to advance policy on behalf of families. Experience includes: VBAC, unmedicated birth, cesarean birth (belly birth!), induction, birthing with an epidural, trauma, postpartum mood disorders, lactation, weaning & lactation suppression, breech, home birth, hospital birth, hypnosis in childbirth, fetal diagnosis, miscarriage, still birth, abortion, traditional foods for healing. Currently a private practice doula, certified lactation counselor, founder and director of RhodeIslandBirth.com and a co-Founder & Board Member of the RI Birth Worker Cooperative. Co-founder of Bellwether Doulas. DONA Birth Doula Training (2014). Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) – Healthy Children Project, Inc (2020).