My journey into this beautiful work began in 1997 in New York when I was invited to attend a dear friend’s birth as her massage therapist. She had also hired a doula and when I witnessed the gentle and loving ways the doula supported, not only the birthing family, but the medical staff as well, I knew that I had found my life’s work.

I was honoured to be able to attend my first doula training with Penny Simkin in Philadelphia and became a certified doula in 1998 with DONA (Doulas of North America). I’m originally from Seattle, but my path has led me hither and yon, and over the years I’ve had the privilege and shared joy of supporting hundreds of families in numerous hospitals, birth centres and homes in New York City, Stockholm, Sweden and throughout Switzerland.

My husband and I now live near Frankfurt, Germany and are the proud parents of two young adults who live in Switzerland. As we all walked beside each other on our family journey, our children in their own unique and perfect ways, mentored us along the way and they continue to teach us all sorts of things we had no idea we needed to learn. ; )

Indeed, I believe that mentors come in many shapes and sizes and mentoring is a life-long process. I think it was Michelangelo who said at the age of 87, “Ancora Imparo”, which means, “I’m still learning”. If we are open…the gift of learning is always there.

I joined the Nurturing Birth family as a mentor in 2019 and one of the things I love most about the NB culture is the unwavering and non-judgmental support that is there for all of us as we do the work of serving young families. Just as each birth I attend humbles me, educates me, empowers me and holds within it a wealth of wisdom from which I draw from, so too does each mentoring session I have, both with my mentees and my own mentor. It’s a sacred give and take and I so look forward to sharing the gift of learning with you!