As a mother of two, born and raised in Ottawa with a degree in Early Childhood Education, becoming a Doula made perfect sense to me. I started my career as a nanny then trained to become an educator in childcare centres in Ottawa. I later trained as a birth Doula, most recently as a postpartum Doula and am part of Canadian Mothercraft’s Birth & Companion Program. This was a perfect opportunity to utilize my skills and background in child development. The love of families is something that brings me to a happy place. I believe that families should be given the tools they need to flourish and prosper rather than a strict set of rules that tries to be one-size-fits-all. I know that each family has its own unique makeup, structure, goals and I love helping families to identify and achieve those goals. I was a single parent with my son, struggled to find support and relied heavily on the local organizations to help me. For this reason I understand the struggles of both being a single parent and being part of a family unit. In the Birth and Companion program I support mothers that need assistance with their birth, do not have a partner or do not have a support around them during the birth process. With my experience I understand women in the prenatal, birth, after birth and the postpartum periods.
When I am not working with families I can be found walking/playing with my puppy, doing hobbies or cooking anything with carbs and cheese but it helps that my husband is Italian! I love also love continuous learning and am teaching myself to play piano and learning to crochet.

If I could give any piece of advice to new parents it would be to remember that it is ok to ask for help.

Stephanie Hammond
Labour Doula (DONA)
Postpartum Doula (DONA)
Parent Companion (Canadian Mothercraft)
www.ottawadoula.org
Cell: 613-797-9338