For Families currently birthing at Seven Sisters

Birth Doula Program

Program Details

For this pilot year (2024-2025),  we are dedicated to serving four Seven Sister's Midwifery and Community Birth Center clients and/or families per month.

 

These services are made possible through state-provided grant funding.

 

Eligibility Criteria:

To participate, you must already be a client of Seven Sisters Midwifery and Community Birth Center. We will prioritize individuals and families from underserved and underrepresented communities, including those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, birthers/families of Color, LGBTQIA+ or non-English speaking folks, those who have experienced trauma, sexual assault survivors, low-resourced individuals/families, and any others who would benefit most from this personalized care.

 

Offering details:

This program is entirely free for enrolled families and includes the following care:

- Two comprehensive prenatal visits
- Labor and birth support
- One postpartum visit

We are committed to providing individualized support and care to each family we serve, ensuring a positive and empowering birth experience.

 

If interested in the program, talk to your midwife today! 

 

** You may be placed on a waitlist if we have reached capacity for your due month. The program coordinators can also consult with you individually about other ways to find doula care services in Western Massachusetts if needed.

Program Mission

Our Doula Program aims to provide quality, comprehensive birth doula care to individuals and families birthing at Seven Sisters Midwifery and Community Birth Center. As an extension of the Seven Sister’s mission and culture of individualized care, this program will promote a safe environment where each client’s unique support needs are met. We are committed to enhancing the perinatal experience through personalized and compassionate doula care.

Our Team Members

Jen Walts

Jen Walts

Program Co-coordinator (she/her)

Birth Doula / HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Educator

Birth can be transformative, empowering, healing, redemptive, and joyful. Birth is also incredibly hard work that requires sturdy support. Families bring their own unique wisdom into the birthing space, and that deserves to be honored, respected, and deeply listened to. 

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Elissa Carney

Program Co-coordinator (she/her)

Full Spectrum Doula / Student Midwife

I am passionate about helping women, birthing folks and families know their options and become their own best self-advocates in preparation for their birthing time. I help guide them toward greater self-confidence so that they may approach birth with excited anticipation instead of fear.

Axis Dade

Axis Dade

Program Mentor (they/them)

Birth & Postpartum Doula  / LMT / Childbirth Educator/ Night Nanny

 I’ve been asked why I love birth so much and the answer is as much a mystery as the act itself but if I had to try: Birth is the last mysterious thing, it can’t be googled, it’s variable, it’s timeless, it’s wild, spiritual, and unpredictable. And, no matter how it happens it feels like the closest thing to Magic.

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Laconia Fennell

Program Mentor

Birth Doula / Student Midwife

I believe birth is natural and sacred. Empowering and encouraging birthing people specifically women of color to take their power back and be an active part of their on pregnancy and birth journey. I came to birthwork to provide support, education, and information during prenatal care, labor and birth, and postpartum.

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Jean Potter

Program Mentor (she/her)

Birth Doula & Postpartum Doula

I love connecting with families over the big work of birth and parenting.  My birth philosophy centers around meeting each parent where they are and creating a loving, kind, safe, and curious container for the transformative experiences that lie ahead. Birth work is a wonderful teacher and I am always learning more on the job.

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Rebecca Leung

Doula Team Member (she/her)

Birth Doula 

A well-supported birth is an opportunity for us to construct the world we all deserve: one where birthing people are prioritized and safe and we get to welcome someone new to the world in the most loving and generous way possible. Accompanying people during this incredible and common life moment keeps me connected to my own humanity and spirituality. 

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Jesse Muzzy

Doula Team Member (she/her)

Birth Doula / Fertility Awareness &  Reproductive Health Educator

I deeply believe that all people have the right to live autonomously in their bodies and deserve to have the pregnancy and birth that they desire. In working with me we will have honest and real conversations, connect deeply with your body, and have fun along the way!

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Crystal Norwood

Doula Team Member (she/her)

Birth Doula 

I seek to guide families, empower them and I hope to alleviate doubt, fear and uncertainty. I hope to provide community resources, emotional support and knowledge for a healthy birth journey. I am a life long learner. I want to capture your story, it unfolds, every tiny detail.

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Carole Renard

Doula Team Member (she/her)

Birth Doula / Student Midwife

I am passionate about informed consent, body sovereignty, and the right to access to compassionate care in which you feel seen, heard, safe, and empowered. I am here to support you in caring for and connecting to your body; exploring your own relationship to birth; and making informed choices and advocating for yourself. 

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Viki Seligman

Doula Team Member (she/her)

Birth Doula

I came to birth-work by helping a friend with the home birth of her first child. We all came away understanding the importance of a doula. Someone who is non-medical and whose perspective is that of a non-judgemental witness allowing an authentic experience to unfold while offering aid, support, love, guidance and space.

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Martha Hoffman

Program Backup Doula (they/she)

Full Spectrum Doula / LMT / Fertility Awareness Educator

I strive to co-create an encouraging, safe, and enlivening environment for birth to unfold for you. Supporting people through intensity calls me into my full presence and witnessing babies arrive brings me into closer connection with life. Every birth and body is unique, and I can't wait to meet you right where you're at.

If interested in the program, talk to your midwife today!