Laura Dahlen has been around pregnancy and birth all of her life but became a certified doula in 2011.  She has worked as an intern for the Doula Alliance for the past 6 years and spent a year working for With Child Doula Services as a personal assistant. She has completed an EMT course, is CPR certified, and has volunteered over 500 hours in the ER at Redwood Memorial Hospital, as well as, at St. Joseph's Hospital, in Humboldt County.  She is now serving Shasta and Tehama Counties.

 

Laura has a passion to help families become healthy and loves to educate on proper nutrition. Laura is also a Young Living Distributor so if you'd like to order any essential oils from her just go to the Young Living website and use her distributor #1697049 for both the sponsor ID and the enroller ID.  She will teach you the proper way of using essential oils in your business.

 

Laura is a very creative lady, check out all of the goodies on her website. She also makes super cool stamped metal doula jewlery! 

Donna Wallace

  is the mother of two grown children whose births were both supported by doulas. Knowing that she would need some extra help taking care of her first baby, Donna’s mother hired a postpartum doula for her, which was an incredible blessing. Donna’s second birth was attended by a birth doula who changed her birth outcome in a very positive way. Donna learned firsthand, over 30 years ago, how doulas can change a new mom’s life but she didn’t get trained as right away. She worked for over 20 years as a healthcare professional in various fields, from a hands-on care provider to the head of the company’s marketing development department.  Caring for people has always been in Donna’s heart. When she was recruited to be a doula, in her mid-50’s in Northeast Louisiana, she knew she wanted to be one!

 

Donna attended a DONA doula training in Richardson, Texas.  Soon after her training, she relocated to California. Because she valued the postpartum help she received after her own child, Donna decided to take a postpartum doula training course. Even with a 9-5 job she is able to work with families during their postpartum time.  Donna spends much of her time mentoring other doulas.  She is lovingly referred to as "Mama Donna" to her doula sisters.

 

 

 

Tracey Dahlen has been married for over 25 years. She is a mother to three wonderful grown children, one of which, is a leader for the Doula Alliance and is the mother of Tracey's first grandbaby!   

 

Tracey was the fire behind the beginning of the Doula Alliance that started back in 2007. Check out the birth of the alliance story.

 

Tracey has been a doula for over 20 years. She opened a pregnancy resource center called With Child Doula Services in 2008. This office was incredibly special to her, and it was a lifeline for expectant families. Nothing made Tracey happier than being able to provide services and support to the families in her community.

 

Tracey closed her office in 2011 so that she and her family could relocate to Redding, California. She hopes to reopen another doula office there, which will include a handful of doulas to work collaboratively together. 

 

Tracey was one of the doulas interviewed for and is quoted in the book Become A Doula written by author Rachel Gurevich. Rachel also wrote the book The Doula Advantage. 

Stephanie Jensen was thrilled to join the Leadership & Training Team of the Doula Alliance in January of 2016.  She has enjoyed being a doula for many years, but now also has the pleasure of teaching others to do what she loves!

She feels she couldn't have joined a better team.  With Tracey's passion for educating, Laura's welcoming gifts of hospitality, and Momma Donna's ability to see people for who they truly are, Stephanie's talents of communication & group facilitation fit right in!  She thoroughly enjoys consulting with Tracey as they continue to strive to make the Doula Alliance the best that it can be, supporting expectant families & filling the world with great doulas!

Shannon Moyer-Szemenyei   

 is the Owner of Sweet Stella's Birth and Postpartum Doulas in London and Toronto Ontario and is proud to join the Doula Alliance training team. Following a rocky start to motherhood in 2010 and a miscarriage in 2013, she knew that there had to be another way of nurturing and empowering mothers. In 2014, as she was approaching the birth of her second son, she hired a doula and finally understood what a positive birth and postpartum transition could be.

 

In August 2014, just six short weeks after Graeme's birth, she started working as a postpartum doula and sought out certification. She found the Doula Alliance in the strangest of places, on Instagram, and as soon as she learned about their approach and philosophy, she knew that it was the best place for her to learn and immerse herself into a profession where she could make a difference for other mothers.

 

 

After suffering for two years with Postpartum Depression, Anxiety and Anger, then a miscarriage...I just knew that there was something missing from our process. When we hired a birth doula, my whole outlook on parenting changed. I felt empowered. I trusted myself and my instincts. I knew that I wanted to use my voice and experience to help other mothers find their groove. I love watching a woman take control of her pregnancy and birth, triumphing over whatever hurdles come her way. Seeing her trust herself and breathe into her body...it's an incredible experience and I'm so honoured to be doing this work.

 

 

Since beginning her practice in 2014, Shannon has gone from a solo practitioner to owning an agency with offices in London and Toronto, Ontario. Early on, she expressed a strong desire to lead others on their own educational path and has sought additional certifications in hypnobirth and meditation. She has even created her own training materials for the families that her team serves, as they offer in person and online workshops covering various pregnancy and Postpartum related topics.

As the first Canadian trainer for Doula Alliance, Shannon hopes to show other doulas how strong and capable they are of supporting women and families. She truly believes that everyone has something unique to them that makes them an incredible human being. At her courses, Doulas will gain mentoring and guidance to uncover those abilities and learn how to be confident in the support they give.

For more information about Shannon and her practice, Sweet Stella'sBirth and Postpartum Doulas: www.sweetstellas.com