A doula for your pregnancy, birth and after, at no cost to you.

Maryanne is a trained Birth Doula within the MassHealth Doula Program who is passionate about providing comforting, individualized support to clients and their families through pregnancy, labor, and the transition into parenthood.

Her passion for supporting individuals through their birth journey grew from her experience providing perinatal emotional support to individuals and families navigating pregnancy and their postpartum experience. Through this work, she developed a deeper appreciation for the importance of compassionate and consistent support during such a significant and beautiful life transition.

With a background in clinical social work and experience providing perinatal emotional support, she understands the importance of emotional well-being, reassurance, and feeling supported during the transition to parenthood. She is passionate about creating a safe, nonjudgmental space where clients feel heard, respected, and empowered. Through emotional support and comfort measures, Maryanne hopes to help each client feel more confident, comfortable, prepared, and cared for throughout their birth experience.

• Birth Doula Training (2026)
• Perinatal Emotional Support Experience (2025-2026)
• Clinical Social Work Education (2026)

“I’m very happy that you check in on me. Not many doulas would do that after they deliver a baby… I don’t look at you as a doula, I actually look at you as a friend who I can talk to about anything.”— J.B., client

Shelby is a birth doula, trained in both birth and postpartum support, whose focus is supporting families in our MassHealth Doula Program. She brings a natural, calm, compassionate and nurturing approach to her care.

Growing up in hospitals alongside siblings who have faced childhood cancer, congenital heart disease and intellectual disability, and as the daughter of Birthing Gently founder Tara Campbell, Shelby found the medical field a natural calling. Her calling to doula work grew even deeper after she became a mom herself in 2025, to an adorable baby boy.

Shelby was part of the first graduating class of the Health Care Occupations program in Haverhill, MA, in 2020, where she earned the Health Care Occupations Spirit Award for mentoring fellow students. Over four years in the program she helped with patients’ overall care and comfort, including bathing, dressing, feeding and monitoring vital signs, along with taking medical histories, collecting and preparing lab specimens, performing basic tests and updating medical records.

Birthing families deserve dignity, autonomy, and compassion.

Margaret is a caretaker and nurturer who invests deeply in her communities. Through her work at The Family Van, a mobile health clinic that improves access to screenings and resources with a holistic, relationship-centered approach, she has experience in health equity and education, and she knows firsthand how transformative accompaniment and presence can be for individuals, families and communities.

Margaret has felt called to birth work since she was a teenager. She is certified as a birth doula through DONA International after completing her training with Tara, and she completed supplemental training in Dancing For Birth™, an evidence-based movement and perinatal education method that supports physiological birth. She has experience with VBACs and inductions and offers support in both English and Spanish.

Margaret believes birthing families deserve dignity, autonomy and compassion as they prepare to welcome new life. With a background in Anthropology, she is inspired by the long history of people helping each other through pregnancy and birth, and she is honored to be part of this incredible work.

Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Margaret is a lifelong learner interested in the intersections of ecological connection, spirituality and social change. In her free time she grows and works with plants and herbs, spends time outside, reads and bakes. She has also been a tap dancer for over 15 years!

Your champion and your teammate.

Throughout her careers in social work and business, Emily’s focus has always been serving others. She has supported countless women, mothers, children and families through her work in mental health, substance use, nonprofits and education.

Her decision to become a doula later in her career grew from that same commitment to service. Emily believes in the extraordinary magic of support and its transformative effects. Birth is perhaps the most sacred and humbling life experience, and it deserves the utmost attention and care. To offer even more support, Emily is also a Certified Lactation Counselor®.

A lifelong athlete and former college basketball player, Emily will be your champion and teammate, helping you tap into your own strength and confidence. She offers grounding and stability during this life transition, so you feel empowered to make the best decisions for you and your family.

After many years in New York, Emily now lives on the South Shore with her family. In her spare time, she plays competitive tennis.

Equal access to care, and better birth stories for every family.

Lantarra is a dedicated birth doula. Her mission is to promote equal access to healthcare and to help every family leave their birth with a story they feel good about telling.

She is passionate about supporting families through pregnancy and childbirth, offering personalized care, education and emotional support. Whether you’re a first-time parent or adding to your family, Lantarra is committed to helping you have a positive, empowering birth experience.

Lantarra is a strong advocate for the families she supports, and she’s a big believer in movement during labor to help you stay comfortable and help your baby find their way. Above all, she brings positive, fun energy into every birth space.

Lantarra gets to know you during your prenatal visits, learning what matters most to you, answering your questions and helping you prepare. When labor begins, she’s by your side with continuous support, comfort measures and encouragement, and she helps you understand your options so you can make informed decisions with your care team.

After your baby arrives, she checks in at your postpartum visit to talk through your birth and make sure you’re feeling supported as you begin this new chapter.

Where breath meets memory, where culture meets care.

Dawn is a Belizean-born healer whose work lives where breath meets memory, where culture meets care, and where the human spirit remembers its own resilience. For more than two decades, she has walked beside individuals and families through seasons of birth, loss, becoming and return, offering presence, steadiness and a kind of listening that feels like home.

As a trauma-informed, MassHealth-certified Full-Spectrum Doula, Dawn tends to the whole reproductive journey: the first flutter of hope, the quiet ache of uncertainty, the sacred work of postpartum healing, and the tender terrain of perinatal loss. Her advanced training in maternal mental health, postpartum support, high-risk pregnancy, and grief and bereavement lets her hold what is fragile with reverence and what is powerful with awe.

As a Mental Health Clinician, Dawn works at the roots, where generational stories live, cultural wounds echo, and healing begins its slow, steady bloom. She supports veterans, families, postpartum parents and individuals across the lifespan, weaving together trauma-focused care, grief work and the wisdom of lived experience.

For over a decade she has taught Human Services, Mental Health and College Success courses, pairing academic skill-building with trauma-informed teaching, belonging and identity exploration. Her style is warm, intentional and deeply relational, rooted in the belief that every person carries wisdom, resilience and a story worth honoring.

Through Inner Garden Collaboration, Dawn creates herbal products, fairy gardens, aromatherapy experiences and sensory-based wellness workshops that invite people back into their bodies, their breath and their inner knowing. Lavender, sage, chamomile and basil each become a companion in her healing work, each scent a doorway back to calm.

Whether in the birth room, the classroom or the community, Dawn’s presence is steady and compassionate, reflecting her lifelong commitment to holistic healing, cultural affirmation, and supporting families through life’s most tender transitions.

“Never give up on yourself or your vision. No matter how difficult the road, you can do this.”

Stephanie’s journey into birth work began in her senior year of high school, when a close friend became pregnant and many people around her turned away. Her friend asked her to come to the gym with her, and the only way Stephanie could join was by volunteering. That’s where her passion for fitness, and ultimately for supporting mothers, was born. The more she worked alongside women and children, the stronger her calling became.

In 2007, she became a birth sister through Boston Medical Center, dedicating herself to learning and to supporting pregnant mothers in need. Her passion for hands-on care led her to massage therapy, where she continued her education to become a certified prenatal massage therapist.

Stephanie became a mother at 20, and welcoming her daughter into the world at 21 was the greatest gift she could receive. The road wasn’t always easy, and that experience deepened her empathy and her commitment to walking alongside families on their own journeys.

Today, Stephanie’s work reflects the many paths she has taken to serve others. Along with being a doula, she is an outpatient therapist, a foster parent and a CPR instructor. She has completed infant massage training and is studying for the Lamaze certification exam, always continuing her education so she can support families at every stage of life.

Her goal has always been to live a well-rounded life of service: to meet people where they are and help them through life’s most important transitions. She believes parenthood doesn’t prevent you from reaching your goals; if anything, it can enrich your journey.

No one should face pregnancy or birth alone.

Alanna became one of the youngest doulas in our community, a milestone that shows her commitment, maturity and passion for supporting families from an early age. She continues to carry forward her dedication to birth work and advocacy.

Her philosophy is rooted in the belief that no one should face pregnancy or birth alone. She is especially passionate about making sure young mothers and families feel supported, understood and empowered. With her calm presence, empathy and strength, she provides consistent, professional, evidence-based care to every client she serves.

As your doula, Alanna will take the time to get to know you, how you’re feeling about your pregnancy, and your plans for birth. She’ll help you clarify your goals, offer emotional reassurance, and share effective strategies to prepare your body and mind for the journey ahead.

Alanna’s passion for service runs in the family. Her mother, Stephanie, is also a birth doula with Birthing Gently!

“You are never alone in the process, and your body was made for this beautiful journey.”

Samin’s passion for birth and maternal health began when she was a teenager. She was in awe of the strength and resilience of birthing people, and for many years she thought she might go into medicine. As she learned more about birth work, she realized what drew her in most wasn’t the medical side, but the steady, compassionate support doulas bring to families. That’s where her heart has always been.

With a degree in Data Science and Neuroscience and an extensive background in ballet, Samin brings a love of learning and a deep respect for the mind–body connection to her doula work. She also spends time with an educational nonprofit focused on holistic education for children and families, a constant reminder that birth and parenting are about the whole person, the whole family and the community around them.

In the birth space, Samin often draws on her movement experience to help families connect to their bodies through breath, rhythm and flow, finding comfort, strength and confidence along the way. Because birth rarely unfolds in a straight line, she sees her role as a steady presence at your side, offering encouragement, comfort and clear guidance when choices arise.

She has supported families across the full spectrum of births, and in every setting her goal is the same: to hold space for both the joys and the challenges. For Samin, being a doula means walking alongside you through pregnancy and labor, planning together and celebrating your strength, so you feel empowered, cared for and truly centered in your own birth story.

A respectful and fulfilling birth experience, for everyone.

Emma is a birth and postpartum doula and infant care specialist with more than three years of experience. She recently earned a Master’s degree in Public Health, specializing in Global Maternal and Child Health.

She is passionate about reproductive justice and about making sure every family has a respectful and fulfilling birth experience.

Emma speaks both Spanish and Portuguese, and she is eager to support families who don’t speak English through pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

In her free time, Emma loves yoga, cooking and spending time at the beach.

Birth support is a right for all expectant parents.

Susan is a DONA certified birth doula and area educator. She trained with Tara and Birthing Gently in 2011 and has worked with us ever since, primarily in our volunteer program.

Her doula journey began years before she knew the word “doula,” when she helped at a friend’s birth in rural Mexico. As a young mother, she went on to support friends at their births, and only later learned there was a name for what she did and signed up for doula training.

Susan is the mother of two boys, one born by cesarean and one by VBAC. She co-wrote, performed and toured a play, The Wild Place, based on her dreams during pregnancy and her experiences in the first years of parenting. She believes our birth stories become part of the fabric of who we are, offering moments of profound insight into our resilience, power and vulnerability.

Experience has taught Susan to follow the mother, because the mother knows! She sees childbirth as an opportunity to strengthen the ties between mother, partner, family and community, and she keeps a close eye out for ways to strengthen those supports during each birth.

Susan considers it a profound honor to support and witness a mother and her team on their birth journey, and she deeply respects the talented, knowledgeable medical staff in the Boston area.

Along with her doula work, Susan holds a doctorate in Theater History from Tufts University and teaches in area schools.

“Each birthing experience is unique, and I am here to support your preferences for how birth unfolds.”

Thea strives to provide care that helps you feel empowered and centered throughout pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Her doula and midwife mentors have taught her many methods of communicative, engaged, hands-on labor support to help carry you through each phase of the journey.

Trained in anthropology and global health at Harvard College, Thea understands birth as a social, emotional, psychological and physiological transformation. The many births she attended during her thesis research on doulas in Queens, New York, showed her the importance of culturally congruent labor support in clinical settings.

As you change in so many ways, Thea wants to understand your experience so she can tailor her care to you.

“Your power, my partnership, one bebê at a time.”

¡Hola, future mami! Magda is a certified doula and MSW student with a Brazilian heart and a trilingual spirit: she speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Culture- and trauma-informed, she blends evidence-based care with deep empathy. When Magda went through labor without the knowledge she needed, she promised herself she would empower every mom with the information she deserves. Knowledge is power, and that second pair of hands (plus brain!) makes all the difference as you navigate birth together.

From labor support to postpartum strength, Magda brings fierce energy to help you reclaim your story and birth your way.

In her free time, you’ll find Magda spiking volleyballs or cherishing moments with her son.

“Supporting others in their birth journeys is a privilege I hold with great care.”

Raised by a professional advocate, Rosie has always used her voice to support others. Through her mom’s work, she was immersed early in the world of fertility and reproductive health care, and has long understood the many choices people face around birth and building a family.

In 2016, she had the profound honor of supporting her sister through the birth of her child, which sparked a deep desire to support birthing people on a broader scale.

As a member of the polyamorous and queer communities, Rosie has seen firsthand how much more support and advocacy is needed to make sure every family has an affirming, informed and empowering birth experience.

Rosie is child-free by choice and feels deeply honored to help bring children into the world through her work as a birth doula.

“Birth should be an empowering and liberating experience for families.”

Alanna has been dedicated to women’s health since the start of her public health journey. In college she volunteered with her campus Women’s Resource Center, planning events and educating students about sexual health and wellness, and was later hired as a sexual violence educator. Though she began on the pre-medicine track, she realized her true passion was improving health outcomes for people, and she went on to earn her Master of Public Health at Boston University, where she focused her research on maternal health outcomes, especially for women of color.

Alanna brings her passion for reproductive justice to her research at Boston Medical Center, where much of her work focuses on family planning and health disparities in reproductive care. Working alongside amazing birth workers there inspired her own doula journey.

Alanna believes birth should be empowering and liberating for families. Her approach is completely client-centered, so you feel supported and advocated for throughout your experience. She is especially passionate about serving women of color, LGBTQ+ families, first-time moms and alternative family structures.

When she isn’t doing birth work, Alanna enjoys cooking, traveling and playing with her fur baby, Fezzik. Her ultimate goal is to become a midwife so she can keep centering reproductive justice in her work.

“I became the woman I needed during that time: strong, informed and compassionate.”

Jeannine is a mother of two, one born vaginally and one through adoption, and a proud grandmother. Her journey into birth work is deeply personal. As a young single mother grieving the loss of her child’s father, she became the woman she needed during that time: strong, informed and compassionate.

Born and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts, she is committed to providing culturally responsive, respectful and empowering care to every family she serves.

Today Jeannine serves families as a high-risk doula, birth doula, and perinatal and postpartum doula, while also working as a special education teacher. Her work is grounded in empathy, advocacy and education, supporting families through every stage of their journey.

“Every birth experience deserves to be met with respect, informed choice, and personalized care.”

Kayla is a nursing student pursuing a career as a labor and delivery RN. She began her journey as a doula to learn more about providing personal, hands-on maternal care to the families she serves.

She is a compassionate and dedicated doula committed to supporting individuals and families through pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum period.

Kayla’s approach blends emotional support, guidance and a calm, reassuring presence to help you feel confident and empowered every step of the way. Whether you’re preparing for your first baby or growing your family, she is there to advocate for your needs and help create a positive, supported birth experience.

Becoming a parent is a transformation of the mind, body and identity, and it deserves to be witnessed and supported as such.

Sara came to birth work through the NICU, where she supported parents and infants in some of the most tender and frightening moments of early parenthood. That experience lit a fire: she knew she wanted to be there earlier, from the very beginning, walking alongside families as they step into this profound life change.

With three years in women’s health and a background in counseling, Sara brings a rare blend of clinical grounding and genuine warmth. She has taught coping skills at a mental health clinic and currently works with patients, caregivers and families in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. She understands, in a deeply practical way, how the mind and body are always in conversation.

That interest goes back to her roots. Sara graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences, where her research focused on mood, pain and the neuroscience of women living with endometriosis. She has long been drawn to the experiences medicine sometimes overlooks.

Sara is especially passionate about walking alongside first-time moms, birthing people navigating anxiety or low mood, those living with chronic illness, and anyone who simply needs a steady presence and a warm heart to help them find their footing.