About Brooke

EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD

I’ve enjoyed assisting families through the journey of childbirth since obtaining my doula certification from Birthingway College of Midwifery in 1998. Since then, I’ve attended over 200 births in the Portland metro area, taught childbirth education classes, and take great pleasure in working with expecting parents and growing families.

Shortly after becoming a certified doula, I pursued a career as a home birth midwife and completed three years of midwifery training and apprenticeship. I now apply those years of specialized midwifery training to my doula practice and bring the knowledge and skills of a midwife and childbirth educator to my doula work.

In 2008, I completed an M.A. in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy, and since that time I've been working as a counselor in private practice. My experience as a counselor supplies my doula practice with a distinct level of sensitivity and awareness, and I have a special interest in counseling focused on the emotions, concerns, and transitions that arise during the childbearing year. (For more information on my counseling services, please go to www.portlandcounselor.net.)

I am familiar with all of the major hospitals in the Portland metro area, enjoy working collaboratively with hospital staff, and feel confident in my ability to successfully support a variety of labor and birth experiences including: natural childbirths, epidural assisted births, vaginal births after cesarean section (VBAC’s), water births, homebirths, and cesarean births.

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MY DOULA PHILOSOPHY

  • I believe in honoring the labor and birth experience as a transformative life event.
  • I believe there are as many ways to give birth as there are women in the world, and that a doula’s role is to encourage and unfold your distinct birthing style while offering complimentary suggestions and information.
  • I believe it’s a doula’s job to support and encourage the couple’s relationship before, during, and after the birth process so that their entry into parenthood is accompanied by a sense of teamwork and success. 
  • I believe that every family is unique, and that a birth doula needs to understand and respect your family’s beliefs, preferences, communication styles, and coping techniques in order to provide you with the individualized care you deserve.
  • I believe that birth’s journey can sometimes be unpredictable and mysterious, and that a sense of openness, flexibility, and reverence may be needed.
  • I believe in informed consent and offer parents balanced information about the risks and benefits of procedures so that they can make well-informed decisions about what’s right for them.
  • I believe that all families deserve the additional support of a caring and knowledgeable birth doula, who will help them navigate the experience of labor and birth with greater ease and confidence.