Thank you for sharing your story.

All done!

My name is Susie. I am a single mother of two children and I am a birth and postpartum doula through brood. I actually work in partnership with another doula, Hannah Adario Berry. We find that this partnership model allows for more sustainability for both us and our children. So if you are looking to work with me, you will actually get two doulas. I have been a doula for seven years and I have worked with hundreds of families. This is a career that I came to after my own experiences of being so well supported through pregnancy and birth and postpartum. I became very passionate about birth work and wanted to offer the same type of care that I had received to other families in this time of transition. I love supporting people through this shift and this reorienting in their priorities and their schedules and their bodies. It can be a very vulnerable and powerful time to become the parent of a new child. My caregiving style is to assume that you are the expert on your own experience and to help you trust your instincts, offering suggestions only when needed. In birth, you are the one in your body. I hope to come alongside you in what you're already doing, help your partner, if you have one, to be your primary support and offer guidance only when it is need. Mostly I'm there to normalize the experience and reassure you to be a calm presence in a situation that can feel very new or out of control. I have no particular agenda when it comes to any decisions you might make about interventions or pain management, but I hope to help you understand the risks and benefits to any choice so that you feel proud and strong afterwards and like you were the one making all the decisions postpartum. I assume that you are the expert on your baby. Again, my role is to affirm your instincts, normalize everything about your changing body and your baby, and offer unbiased information when you ask for it. I have experience in both hospital and home birth as well as births where the plan changes. I have supported many Caesareans, both elective and emergent, and I see my role as helping to keep you calm when things don't go as expected or when you encounter moments of doubt because birth is hard. I have supported families postpartum welcoming their first child, welcoming subsequent children where either the questions or the logistics are overwhelming. I also speak fluent French and have lots of experience with families who are new to Canada and unfamiliar with our medical system. At the end of the day, I believe that choosing the right doula for you is about compatibility. This is someone who at the bare minimum is going to see you naked, but much more importantly is going to see you at your most vulnerable and also at your strongest. If you think that might be me, I look forward to chatting more.

Hello & What's Next

Hi. Lizzie here. We're so glad that you're part of our brood and that there's so many families who are curious to get to know you and a little bit about your story. We're using video in a creative way so families can see you, hear your voice, hear a little bit about your story, and understand if tour a good fit to jive. Jill's going to help you a little bit more with your setup and we're going to share a few questions for you to practice and think about when creating a really short, casual video to share with folks. Thank you so much for your energy and sharing a little bit about.

Getting Set Up

Jill. Here some quick ways to get set up. Grab your phone or your laptop with a video camera in it. Set it up somehow. Maybe you've got a stand or on a stack of books. You're going to find a natural source of light, like a window. Or if you're like me, you have one of those fancy ring lights. And then click record when you're ready. That's it.

You. So you're all ready to record. Your space is lit. You're looking great. Everything is calm and quiet. Now take out a pen and paper or a postit note, and you're going to think about these three prompts that you'll answer in your short video. The first is I became a doula because I became a doula because the the second is my caregiving style is my caregiving style is and the last my expertise is my expertise is we've created these three prompts, so you can share, pieces that you've studied, elements that you like to apply in your care work to families and anything that feels relevant and true to you. Anything that you would share in person. Make sure that you start all the prompts like you would in a conversation. My caregiving style is based on my cancer sign, I am a water sign. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever feels good to you. And our videos are under three minutes, so keep looking at a timer and keep talking and finish when you're ready to go. Good luck.

Thank you & get consent

That's it. You're all done. Thank you so much for submitting that video. It's really going to help our families get to know you a little bit better, more about your caregiving style, and help us set up the right pairings of doulas and families so they get the care that they need. If you have any questions or want any support in any of these things, do it again. Just want to talk it out with one of us. Get in touch with myself, Lizzie or Emma. That thank you.

Suzi Livingstone