Why accompaniment?
I’ve chosen the term accompaniment, as it’s close to my heart. Before becoming a birth worker, while in graduate school for social work, I studied accompaniment as an approach to working with individuals and communities. Later, I worked as an international accompanier in Guatemala, offering moral support and an international presence for human rights defenders in Guatemala. As a birth worker, my goal is to be at your side - to accompany you - throughout these periods of transition.
I also acknowledge that I in no way coined this term. Accompaniment has been a deep cultural and community practice, especially as it relates to birth, for generations.
Racial Justice Commitment
I am a white birth worker practicing to forward reproductive justice. To do this with integrity, I acknowledge that racism, along with other systems of oppression, is at the root of the injustices and violence that many experience in the U.S. reproductive health system today.
Financial reparations to black midwifery, doula, and reproductive health organizations, individuals, and coalitions, is one way I’m committed to practice racial justice. I will contribute 5-10% of my fees to Want to Be Well Doula Collective and their projects.
Influencers, trainings, & mentors
It is important to name those who have influenced and informed my development as a birth worker. Of course, I don’t have space to list them all. I accompany clients as a full, complex, and fluid person, and I am grateful for all those who have and continue to make me the person I am today.
Trainings
Full Circle Birth Doula Training, International Center for Traditional Childbearing (Shafia Monroe), 2014
Full Spectrum Doula Training, Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (Sabia Wade & Jenna Brown), 2020
Postpartum Doula Training, Whole Body Pregnancy (Erika Davis), 2021
Lactation Training for Doulas, East Bay Lactation Associates (Molly Brannigan), 2021
Racial Justice Somatics for White Organizers, Dara Silverman & Amanda Ream, 2020; 2022
Birthing Beyond the Binary, king yaa, 2022
Gilligan’s Guide for Doulas, Ann Gilligan, 2022
Abortion Doula Training, Mountain Area Abortion Doula Collective, 2022
Yoga Teacher Training (200 hour), Global Breath Yoga and Meditation Center, 2023
Home Birth for Doulas, Cornerstone Birthwork Trainings, 2023
Hypno Doula Training, Hypnobabies, 2024
Birth Work Mentors
Brooke Patmore, BORN Collective, mentor
Teri Nava- Anderson, Harmony Doula, mentor
Teachers and leaders who influence my work
Eri Guajardo Johnson, Birth Bruja
Prentis Hempill, Somatics Teacher, coach, and author
Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Co-author of Revolutionary Mothering
Countless others…