Apprentices are amazing doulas that are trained by an accredited organization and are gaining experience. They are under my mentorship and they are following the same professional scope of practice that I do. Their apprenticeship rate is $650 for a full service birth package and $20/hr for postpartum day shift, or $25/hr for postpartum overnight while they are mentoring under me. Once they have completed the program and grown their business their rates will be higher. If they have finished the 5-step shadowing experience it is designated on their bio, this additional effort will help them be even more prepared to serve you. If you’d like to set up a complimentary consultation with an apprentice doula or would like to learn more about becoming an apprentice, contact me!
Current apprentices:
Bailey McDonald is currently working on the 5-step mentoring program. “After going through my first pregnancy, I felt discouraged and sad, wondering if labor and delivery was always going to be like that. The experience was intense and overwhelming, and not quite how I had envisioned for myself. It was still amazing and something I knew I loved, but I knew that labor couldn’t always be that miserable. I researched and found new techniques and skills to help my next labor to be empowering, safe and positive for myself. I am passionate about all types of holistic approaches to life but especially for pregnancy and labor. A few of the many tools I love to incorporate are, Emotion Code work, working with healing crystals, and essential oils. During the pregnancy of my second child, I suffered through anxiety and depression. Following her birth, I dealt with Postpartum depression, but I found ways during each of those events to cope and make the journey less scary and less painful. As a doula, I am eager to help other women to use many different tools to empower, support, and ease any fears they may have.”
Mackenzie Coffey is currently in the shadowing program and is working hard to gain doula skills. “I have always been amazed by the human body and its capabilities. It is truly divine and awe inspiring. I love birth and everything about it. Through my own medical experiences, I have felt unheard and pressured. I never want any woman to feel this way. I want you to be heard and supported. I will be there for you. I will help you feel empowered in whatever decision YOU and your partner choose to make. Your birth should be how you want it. I will support you and most importantly listen to you. Your voice will be heard. I will assist you in a hospital birth, home birth, cesarean, epidural, unmedicated, or any other options. I would be honored to support you through your birth. I’m excited to meet you!”
Graduates:
Mitzi Lopez is a DONA trained doula, bengkung belly binder, infant massage, and placenta encapsulator. She has just completed the 5-step program and her website can be found at Joyful Delivery Doula. “It is not only my goal, but my passion, to aid women and their partners in their birth journey to bring baby earthside. I fully believe in and embrace being a supportive member of the birth team and will honor the role of mother and partner. I will be there to offer comfort techniques, labor positions, and utilize my training to bring peace into your space, and hold that space for both mother and partner. I appreciate that each birth is unique to every woman. I have been present for both medicated and unmedicated births as well as cesarean births! I believe every pregnant woman and her partner have the intuition to choose what type of birth is best for their babe. Parental preferences should be respected and I will dedicate myself to aiding families and offering all that I have to help make their birth all of what they hope for. If medical issues require intervention I will remain fluid and offer options to stay as close to the birth plan as possible.”
Kera Lyman is a trained Birth and Bereavement Doula through StillBirthday, 5-step mentoring graduate from doulaed, and a current student of midwifery. “I am mother to three wonderful children who are here with me, and one son lost to stillbirth at 35 weeks. I am passionate about family-directed, physiologic childbirth, and believe the need for caring, sensitive and knowledgeable support is imperative. I am a strong advocate of spontaneous, unmedicated childbirth, but I am also fierce about your right to make choices according to your own individual needs. I support your right to birth wherever and however you choose and believe that a positive birth experience is possible with these key principles: Informed Decisions, Confidence, and Support. I’ve been attending births for two years, and have supported medicated, unmedicated, cesarean, and VBAC births. When I’m not at a birth, I’m homeschooling my three rascals and studying to become a Midwife, while dreaming about having a hobby farm somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.” Kera’s doula practice can be found at Deliberate Beginnings.
Bekkah Twede has completed the doulaed mentoring program and is growing her business beautifully, contact her through Rebekkah Twede Doula. “I have always had an interest in birth and motherhood but it wasn’t until after the birth of my second child that I felt a pull towards making birth work my career. I trained with DONA and gained an even deeper respect for the birth process. I am honored every time I am invited by birthing women and their families into that sacred space. I strive to make sure that every family I serve feels confident and comfortable with their choices during their birth journey. I love getting to know each family while we build a birth plan that is right for them. Helping women feel empowered through their choices while also helping them feel safe, respected and loved is my ultimate goal. When I am not attending births, I run an esthetics business. Very often my pampering skills are also useful in the birth room. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my husband and three small children and two fur babies.”
Katie Förster completed the 5-step mentoring program with doulaed and has a successful, established doula practice, Freya Birth. “My own motherhood journey took place in Stuttgart Germany. My first birth was a challenge for me, one which I was unprepared to meet and it was not easy. I walked away feeling disappointed in my body but happy to be a mother. Those difficulties motivated me to make some changes. The next time I was pregnant, I took a birth preparation course and gained some tools for labor. I rocked that birth and it was truly transformative. I walked away feeling powerful and strong. This experience inspired me to become a birth worker and help women put their feet on the path to a powerful, positive birth. My goal as a doula is to educate, empower, and support mothers during their birth and postpartum journey. Birth is a tremendous and transformative labor of love, ripe with both challenges and rewards. I believe in the immense power of a positive birth experience that empowers women and men to begin parenthood with joy and confidence.
My goal is to help parents create positive memories of birth, regardless of the challenges that arise. I approach being a doula with a dedication to working openly with the unique perspective, abilities, challenges, and needs of laboring mothers and their support team. With an attentive and wholehearted presence, I aid women and their support team with physical and emotional comfort measures, pain coping methods, relaxation techniques, understanding of birth physiology, communication with medical staff, and supported involvement of a partner or birth companion. I am also passionate about helping mothers to feel fulfilled and supported during their postpartum period. It is a time of great change, and many people are not equipped or prepared to handle the new burdens placed upon them. My goal is help mothers learn to become a team with their baby, to understand them and to blossom into her role as the mother of that child.”