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We chose to work together as doulas because we share similar values: healthy moms, healthy babies and empowering birth experiences! Although we have a special passion for natural birth, we're comfortable working with all moms, including those who are open to pain medication.
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Andrea Augustine
Andrea has always loved supporting women. She was a resident of the Women's Resource Center while studying biology at Kalamazoo College, and has enjoyed volunteering to help women, including women's health advocacy and Spanish translation. Since the births of her two daughters, Ella and Chloe, she's been especially excited about helping women and families through childbirth as well. She had amazing support with both of her births from her husband Dave, and her personal experiences with both an unmedicated labor and cesarean section enrich her doula work. Andrea has attended two sessions of the Bradley Method course and a series of Lamaze classes. She was trained as a birth doula through DONA International.
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Kendra Brooks
Kendra has always been interested in birth, but her passion blossomed after the arrival of her son, Layne. She and her husband Mike took Jessica's childbirth class and had an amazing natural birth experience. As part of her doula training, she has attended a second full series of the course, and she's currently finishing her certification through DONA International. Kendra is certified in clinical nutrition and has a special interest in herbal remedies.
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Valerie Erlandson
As a certified massage therapist, Val developed a caring touch and a passion for working with women at all stages of life. When she became a mom herself, she began to explore how she might support other women on their birth journeys. Val's own birth experiences have shaped her work as a doula. At 41 weeks pregnant, she discovered that her first daughter, Olivia, was breech. Just hours later she went into labor, and Olivia was born by c-section. For her second birth, Val and her husband Chris took independent natural childbirth classes and chose to work with a doula. Her second daughter Hannah's birth was an empowered, informed, natural VBAC. Not surprisingly, she has a special passion for working with moms planning a vaginal birth after cesarean. Val is a graduate of Kalamazoo Center for the Healing Arts and her doula training is through DONA International.
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Jessica English
It's been more than a decade since Jessica wrote her senior college thesis on midwifery, and her passion for birth has only grown in the years since. A former Bradley Method childbirth instructor, Jessica now teaches "The Best of Natural Birth" classes at the Kalamazoo Center for the Healing Arts. She is a widely published writer and publishes an e-newsletter about natural childbirth. (subscribe) A graduate of Kalamazoo College, she has had a long career in marketing and public relations, and she is the organizer of the Family Talk Baby and Family Expo. Jessica has had two natural births, with a doula present for both. Her husband Keith caught their first baby, Aidan, at Bronson Hospital, and their second son, Quinn, at home. Jessica is certified as a doula through DONA International and is a member of the International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA).
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