FULL-SPECTRUM DOULA / CHILDBIRTH EDUCATOR / BIRTH ART MENTOR
Welcome. My name is Jenna and I have been caring for individuals and families during their childbearing experiences for the past 9 years. In that time it has been my sincere honour to hold space for others during their most raw, honest and transformative moments; through their journeys of conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum; and those of loss and bereavement as well.
Through these rites of passage you will come to know yourself on an intimate level. Your joy, your fears, your intuition, your instincts and more, will be brought to the forefront.
I understand and trust that you know what is best for you and your baby/ family through it all. I will simply be the heart and hands that will walk by your side, witness you, tend to you and share what these many years of caring for families has taught me. I will be available to share information cultivated through my on-going experience and education, to offer a crafted collection of tools and care items to support your body, mind and soul during this process and to stay steadily by your side through it all.
“DON’T BE THE REASON SOMEONE FEELS INSECURE. BE THE REASON SOMEONE FEELS SEEN, HEARD AND SUPPORTED.”
- CLEO WADE
Our childbearing experiences and stories will shape and impact each of us for the rest of our lives. A healthy community can begin or heal in these experiences. This is where the bones and foundation for wellness as children, parents and families, begins. At Mother Willow, a full-spectrum and family centered approach to providing care is an essential element to my practice. I am not here to replace anyone, but to fill the space between. No matter how your unique childbirth experience looks or unfolds, I will be there to offer flexible support and compassionate guidance through it all.
My calling to this work arrived when I was just a child; that was the time my deep love for the process of childbirth was first planted. As a child, birth and death were quite a common part of my life; something I was witness to regularly both within my family and community, and within the wild spaces that I spent roaming on our family farm. During that time I was likewise never far from my dolls, pregnant barbies and or my books about the reproductive cycle. It was during these formative years that I was invited to sit alongside the deathbeds of others as I witnessed my family supporting them through their transition out of this world. At the time I was unaware of how important the care I was witnessing would impact my future work. I know now though, that it was in those quiet spaces that I first began learning what it meant to ‘Doula’ someone during a sacred and sensitive moment of their life.
While my own life is always immersed in the landscape of 'birth-work', many other interests, experiences and practices fill my days. I am also an Artist, Writer, Folk Herbalist, Mother of 3 (here on earth) and wife to my beloved of 15 years. I enjoy spending time exploring the wilderness and camping, reading too many books, fishing, wildcrafting, sport shooting, gardening, crafting and romanticizing the small things in life.
I am also the founder of a sister business named Willow & Womb Artistry. This is where I get to share my passion for art making. My work and focus for W&W embodies all aspects of the childbearing experience. I often paint and draw the families that I serve; along with providing custom artwork for individuals and families that are touched by pregnancy and infant loss. It is in this space that I also illustrate for other childbirth organizations (such as Birth Arts International + Indie Birth) and others who serve in this realm of work; creating educational materials, activity handouts and more.
RECIPIENT OF 2020 WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
