Support, Education, Advocacy Through Life Transitions
Who We Are
We are guardians, advocates, mentors...
Those of us drawn to the work of the Doula are care providers by design. It is who we are. It is what we do. We are individual practitioners working cooperatively to provide highly experienced, custom tailored care. Over the years, as we supported, educated and advocated for expectant and new parents throughout the childbearing year, the concept of custom care provided by mothers who self advocated and self educated themselves, birthed and breastfed their own babies, evolved. We quite naturally became the ones called upon by and made ourselves available to family, friends and neighbors to provide support for those who were dealing with illness, injury, disability as well as end of life care. This evolution of care grew through word of mouth. With many years of professional involvement, impeccable references and on going continuing education, truly it has been each of our own personal experiences with pregnancy, birth, postpartum and close participation within our respective families and communities that brought us to and initially informed our work as care providers.
What We Are Offering
This is the unique work of DoulaKind...
We are here to provide support for that which we have become known for as Doulas. Caring for expectant and new parents and their families throughout the childbearing year and to now offer that same experienced, compassionate care for our broader community needing support through the shifts and challenges of life transitions.
Take your time, have a look at our detailed offerings and feel free to reach out to ask questions.
When To Consider Doula Support
When support is needed and a custom tailored experience with greater choice and autonomy is sought...
Whether it be support for expectant and new parents or for an individual or family dealing with a circumstance that would benefit from custom care that an experienced Doula can provide, DoulaKind remains a solid alternative. Perhaps support from friends and family is limited or may not be a viable option, a Baby Nurse or Home Health Aid just doesn’t feel like a good fit due to not being able to choose a specific care provider or an agency simply does not meet your preferences. Here is where DoulaKind can be an option to consider. The Doula, as an independent practitioner, works with you to create a plan that suits your needs and is neither bound by protocols nor needs to adhere to or uphold any particular philosophy or schedule other than that which is mutually agreed upon and best supports your unique circumstance.
Why DoulaKind
With a lifetime of both personal and professional experience...
We are expert care providers each with extensive personal and professional experience. We are committed to providing support custom tailored to your needs and preferences. DoulaKind Doulas bridge the gap between family and friends that may not be an option and professional support that is simply not a good fit. Just ask the folks we’ve worked closely with over the years.
What’s Next
If what you have discovered here resonates with you...
Reach out and give us a call. If all feels right, we schedule an in home consult to discuss your needs, ask questions and get acquainted. Once a decision to move forward is made, we work together to put in place a plan of support to suit the unique needs of the individual or family we care for.
Let’s Start The Conversation
These days much if not most communication takes place online, through text or email...
We encourage speaking directly to make a connection on a more personal level to see if the care we offer is right for you. All involved in the care of an individual or family has to feel right to both those receiving as well as those providing support.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU
Loretta Jordan
Mother of three Home Educated Children Born: 1984 , 1986 and 1994
Grandmother of a Grandchild Born: 2009
Labor Support, Postpartum & Life Transition Doula, Certified Lactation Counselor,
Family Care Specialist, Fertility Awareness Mentor, Placenta Craft & Education
A Native New Yorker born into a large family from a close- knit neighborhood in Brooklyn, Loretta grew up within a multi-generational extended community. Much of what she brings to the work of Doula was formed by having the blessing of experiencing firsthand what it is to be brought up within such an environment. Presence and participation with family members who were sick or injured, care of aging relatives, home and hospital care of dying family members and friends were interwoven within Loretta’s personal life experience.
Her journey as an Educator, Advocate and Doula began in 1984 during the pregnancy of her first child. Loretta felt intuitively that natural birth was mutually beneficial for both mother and baby. With nothing but a strong desire to discover what “natural” entailed, she set about - pre-Internet/Google - to find out.
Loretta became frustrated with the overall lack of attention and support from medical care providers, where questions and concerns regarding choices and preferences, apart from what was being offered within standard maternity care, were either minimized or simply not addressed. Self-advocacy and further research to find more supportive care was necessary. Not exactly sure where to start, Loretta came across Suzanne Arm's book, Immaculate Deception. The radical information in Suzanne’s book opened up a world of understanding. Broader choices in childbirth were indeed available - but not easily accessed. Once begun, the search for more supportive possibilities were uncovered. This “discovery” of possibilities allowed Loretta to birth, breastfeed and raise her own family according to her preferences as well as come to see how women and their families really had little to no support to access options and truly informed choices.
“Experiencing firsthand the lack of support, education and advocacy within the self-same system meant to provide care during my own journey throughout pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and breastfeeding lead me to continue to further seek out information and education to bring to the fore, essential information regarding the facts about women’s choices, the possibilities available, and resources to tap into.”
Wanting to be a resource, upholding women’s reproductive choices lead to continuing education within the childbirth as well as the Fertility Awareness field and the road to becoming a Doula. Back in the late eighties and early nineties, what was then guiding individuals and families to little known options now has become guidance sorting through an overwhelming amount of information to find what best suits each experience.
Then and now the work Loretta offers remains the same...providing support, education and advocacy so that any who seek fact-based information and custom care to support their unique personal preferences can do so with highly experienced counsel and support.
Going forward as Loretta’s family and work grew, she continued to be a resource to family and friends needing care. Within her community of family and friends, Loretta often became the one called upon to provide support, education and advocacy, not just during pregnancy and childbirth but also for those dealing with challenging life transitions.
“True support can only be granted when offering care for those in need - whether it be women facing decisions regarding pregnancy, birth and lactation or the broader community dealing with life transitions - is based on the unwavering observation of, listening to, and carrying out of the preferences of the individual being cared for. Singularly...this is the most important aspect of custom care.”
Loretta’s commitment to providing support based on what each sees as best for their unique circumstance is a hallmark of the care she offers.
Debra Lord-Dagostino
Mother of Three Daughters Born: Summer 1989, Spring 1994, Summer 1999
Grandmother of a Granddaughter Born: Late Autumn, 2013
Life Transition Doula, Postpartum Doula, Newborn & Family Care Specialist
Life Transition and Postpartum Doula, Nanny and Family Care Specialist since the late nineteen nineties, Debra holds providing support, education and advocacy to edify and empower women and their families as the foundation of the care she provides. Her experience spans a lifetime. As the oldest of three children, a Native New Yorker born and raised in Brooklyn, Debra grew up in the “Old School” neighborhood culture of caring for her younger siblings, extended family members, as well as friends' and neighbors' children from a very young age. It was during these formative years that she developed a deep appreciation of mentoring and providing supportive care.
As she grew her own family, Debra continued to make herself available to provide support when needed for family and friends. However it was only after the pregnancy and labor experience of her youngest child - a breech baby culminating in a unexpected Caesarian section after being assured by her care provider that a vaginal delivery was not only possible but probable, yet not even attempted, even though all was well with Mother and Baby - that she began to seek out information to further educate herself about childbirth and the various methods within it with a keen focus on postpartum. Fully trusting and believing her preferences would be upheld by chosen medical providers but in no way were, Debra very much felt that there was an extreme lack of understanding and empathy regarding her own experience. Wanting to learn and understand more about hers as well as other women’s pregnancy, birth and postpartum experiences, she began researching the subject. Once armed with solid information and understanding, Debra made it a priority to make herself available to become a resource for new mothers and their families.
Thus began Debra’s work as a Doula.
“It cannot be stressed enough, the importance of having someone present during the early postpartum weeks to provide unconditional support and advocacy for the well-being of mother and baby.”
Personal as well as professional experience, self study, and work/study with some of the most experienced care providers in the NYC Childbirth Community has brought Debra to where she is today.
As a Family Care Specialist, Debra’s expertise has included extended postpartum care of home birth families, births that included post operative circumstances, families with twins and triplets as well as single parent households. Her attention to the details of custom tailored care also encompass broad knowledge and vast experience in the preparation and cooking of whole foods, vegetarian, vegan as well as gluten-free meals. Drawn from her own postpartum experience after her youngest child was born and she had to also deal with major surgery, Debra intimately understands what it is to go through unexpected shifts - and how best to accommodate care accordingly.
“Over the years, I have made it my primary goal to help in maintaining the wellness of both mother and baby. I open myself to you mother to mother, in order to help you learn how best to care for your newborn according to your own unique experience.”
Like each of DoulaKind’s Doulas, Debra has also attended births as a support person and found each experience to be both an honor and a privilege, yet postpartum and the support of individuals and families seeking custom care remains that which she feels most intimately connected to.
Over time, Debra continued to find herself drawn to the the care of not only childbearing families but to the broader community as well. When doing so, she found herself naturally giving her utmost and undivided attention to upholding the choices and preferences of the individuals and families she supported and how compassionately facilitating such provided great benefits to those receiving custom care according to their own specific needs.
Debra’s unwavering regard for uncompromising support for those who not only desire but truly require such, underscore her commitment to providing the highest standard of care.
“It is my heartfelt promise to be as helpful and available as I can to ensure that every individual and family I work with is taken care of in every possible way to allow for the greatest efficacy of support.”
Lijah Friedman
Mother of Three Daughters: Kaiya, born 1998, Isabella, born Autumn 1994, Anika, born late Summer 2001
Labor Support, Postpartum & Life Transition Doula, Newborn & Family Care Specialist, Placenta Encapsulation, Life Documentation Photography
Certifications include: DONA - Doulas Of North America, Healthy Children’s Project CLC - Certified, Lactation Counselor, CPR
Labor Support, Postpartum & Life Transition Doula, Lactation Counselor, Newborn and Family Care Specialist since the mid nineteen nineties. Lijah brings to the work of Doula a profound appreciation and unyielding respect for the hard work pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding and parenting requires, as well as the significant challenges Life Transitions bring. This understanding is what her approach to support is based on.
Growing up in New York City as well as extensively traveling within the States and abroad, Lijah’s life experiences allow for a wide perspective of various cultural practices and nuances. These experiences have greatly informed her work. In her time working within the childbirth community, Lijah has nearly two and a half decades' worth of experience as a Doula and has supported over a thousand families, thoroughly enjoying the process.
“It has been very satisfying helping families through the challenging transition of parenthood.”
As a well-seasoned Lactation Counselor, Lijah has a talent for recognizing where the problem lies, works on smoothing it out, and, most significantly, guides parents as the experience unfolds so that they are left with the tools to troubleshoot issues with the know-how and confidence required to support the ongoing breastfeeding relationship.
“An integral part of my job as a Doula includes getting new parents to trust in themselves. When my time with any given family comes to an end, parents are confident in their abilities to care for their newborns.”
Lijah’s expertise includes having worked with multiples, premies, home birth families, families dealing with post-op as well as single parent households and parents with disabilities. Lijah specializes in overnight doula care and is an amazing cook with an eclectic repertoire. She prepares meals for taste and optimum nutrition. Big pots of yummy soup are always a hit in her clients' homes!
Before becoming a Doula, Lijah studied at The International Center for Photography in NYC, traveled abroad extensively, lived in Italy for several years and is fluent in Italian. Her Life Documentation Photography is an expression of her great respect and appreciation for life transitions which has been a thread woven throughout her personal as well as professional experience.
Photo journaling of her own personal experiences as well as her family and friends grew to include clients and continued throughout the years. Recently she has started a small photography business specializing in Newborn and Family Photo Documentation.
In Lijah’s own words..."It is the perfect compliment to my doula work."
Throughout her career as a support person and advocate with such a wide knowledge base within the Childbirth Community, Lijah has been and continues to be a Mentor and Teacher to her friends, family members and clients. And like each of the DoulaKind Doulas, Lijah’s work over the years has quite naturally extended outward into and included the care within the broader community of those dealing with life transitions.
Whether it be providing support and mentoring families as they find their own way through the childbearing experience or easing challenges for individuals and families dealing with illness, injury, disability, post op, elder as well as end of life care, Lijah’s knowledge and experienced coupled with an upbeat personality, strong intuition, and ability to adapt care to any given circumstance to discern what is needed and when, make her an invaluable resource.