How I got here…
A little bit about my journey to birth work as a doula and then a doula business mentor and coach.
The Path That Led Me To Birth
My passion for birth was ignited after my son was born in 2014 after a long, challenging and intervention heavy labour and birth that left me with serious complications and trauma. Despite the challenges of this experience, I couldn’t stop thinking about the incredible role of my midwife, and how she got to witness women become mothers every single day. I wondered if maybe I had a calling to be a midwife myself, but I knew that I really didn’t want to return to university OR have a clinical role. So, after taking a year off work I returned to my role supporting the capacity development of migrant and refugee women in the community development sector.
A few years later when I left this role in a leave of absence to welcome my second child into the world, I expected that when I was ready, I would return in some capacity to the same field. But the birth of my daughter in completely different circumstances at home, undisturbed, and deeply supported was the medicine I didn’t realise I needed and the start of a new trajectory into the magical world of birth.
Having had two such vastly different experiences of birth and experiencing firsthand both the trauma and ecstasy that can be experienced, I wanted to help other women circumvent the often traumatic first birth and go straight to the empowered experience, however the actual birth may unfold. To help others avoid trauma and take full accountability for their experience. This is my ‘why’.
I also felt addicted to oxytocin and wanted to birth babies over and over again, but I didn’t actually want to have any more kids. My mind wandered again to the figure of the midwife, but it still didn’t feel right and then it dawned on me that all the years I’d spent serving women had led me to the path of ultimate service, to become a doula.
How Birth led to Business…
When I completed my initial doula training, I didn't expect to turn what I had learned into a business, but that I would do it alongside my ‘real’ work when I finished maternity leave. However, when the pandemic made it impossible for me to return to work outside the home I leaned into this new interest, I undertook further training and gained traction working with families and marvelling at their transformations.
Despite this, I always knew that there was more to this for me than the birth work, and I wanted to find a way to weave my professional background and interests into this new area of work. In my first year in business I spent a few months volunteering with Birth for Humankind in an administrative capacity before taking a short term contract position with NGO Global Sisters facilitating their Sister School project, which is a practical business education program that provides women with the tools, skills, knowledge, support and mindset to get their business foundations right.
This opportunity proved to be instrumental in helping me understand the foundations of my own business, which was going from strength to strength. Over the following two years I focussed on serving as many families as I could and learning about some of the most pertinent themes in pregnancy, birth and early motherhood. I became so busy that I had to turn down clients and I was starting to feel burned out.
That is when I took the plunge and joined a 12 month coaching mastermind, with the goal of developing an online birth preparation program. However, over the course of this time it became clear to me that my passion isn’t actually in the online birth preparation program, but in supporting other doulas in business. So here I am and I’m excited to take my wisdom and experience seriously and start taking fellow doulas under my wing to offer guidance, mentoring and loving support as they too take the steps to take their doula businesses to the place of their dreams.
Beyond Birth and Business… Re-Villaging Motherhood
In addition to the families and fellow doulas I serve in a professional context, I also strive to improve the community connectedness and experience of newborn mothers in my town. To this effort, I have founded and coordinate:
a community postpartum meal train where a team of 20+ volunteers collectively nourish new families in their first six weeks postpartum.
a monthly mother makers circle to bring together mums who (like me) enjoy making things and weaving our motherhood experiences together through storytelling.
the sharing of a local community birthing necklace to foster a sense of connectedness among pregnant mothers.
My mission is to provide heart led and intuitive mentoring, guidance and support to mothers and doulas to help them develop the confidence and connectivity in their own communities to feel resourced, held, and able to hold other mothers too. This re-villaging of motherhood is part of the flow on effect of my support.
My Values
Authenticity, accountability, integrity, inclusivity, compassion, bodily autonomy, kindness, trust, growth, creativity, positivity, transformation, equity and social responsibility, holistic wellbeing, cultural competency, continuous care, freedom of choice, whole family support.
Giving Back
Some of the rituals and ceremonies I offer are informed by traditional Mexican midwifery, some of which I have learnt in person in Mexico and some from my teacher and mentor, renowned Mexican midwife Naoli Vinaver.
As Naoli’s Australian partner, I help her promote her Art of Birth learning resource in Australia and through the proceeds of this partnership I support the Rhodanthe Lipsett Indigenous Midwifery Charitable Fund. This charity provides a number of scholarships each year to support and encourage Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people to undertake their midwifery education and expand their skills and confidence in caring for Indigenous mothers and their infants.
The fund’s primary goal is to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous women and babies by assisting to increase the number of Indigenous midwives across Australia.
Qualifications, Training & Professional Development
Bachelor Of Arts: Anthropology & Languages – La Trobe University
Diploma Of Education – La Trobe University
Foundation Doula Training - Dial a Doula
Childbirth Education And Mentoring - Birthing from Within
Spinning Babies Awareness – Fiona Hallinan
The Art of Birth – Naoli Vinaver
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competency - Centre for Cultural Competence Australia
Midnight Mothers & Self Determination: A critical inquiry into the ways Western birthing practices have been failing First Nations women since colonisation - Alicia Johnson
Reiki Levels 1 & 2 – Yolanda Carreon (Reiki Master in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico)
Play Therapy - The Centre For Excellence In Child And Family Welfare
How Adults Learn - The Centre For Excellence In Child And Family Welfare
Strengths Based Practice - The Centre For Excellence In Child And Family Welfare
Incidental Counselling Skills - The Centre For Excellence In Child And Family Welfare
Beautiful Feedback
“I don’t have enough words to thank you Mary for everything you did for me throughout my prenatal-birth-postpartum journey. You not only understood all my concerns and worries before birth - and addressed them all helping me have a beautiful experience - but you made THE BEST effort during my labour to ease my pain and concerns. I speak on behalf of my family as my husband was also supported by you - physically during labour and emotionally before it. You also supported me during my tough postpartum journey. What you did for us was a lot more than providing doula services. You understood our family and helped us welcome our little boy the exact way we dreamt about it. I can only hope that many women have the privilege to have you by their sides as well. I miss you already!”
— Cinthia
“I hired Mary for one on one business mentoring because I admire the way she runs her own business, figuring out a way to build a successful business while raising young children. Our sessions were always really insightful and they sometimes made me come face to face with uncomfortable self limiting beliefs, but I knew I needed to face these if I wanted to show up as my own authentic self without the baggage of my conditioning. Mary’s guidance was instrumental in helping me get started and I recommend her support to others doulas trying to figure out how to turn a passion into a real business”.
— Francesca