Thank you for sharing your story.

All done!

Hi folks. My name is Ashea Kastner and I became a doula because I found a passion for everything birth and baby when I was pregnant with my first child and my experiences with hospital birth and home birth led me into relationships with midwives in my community and led me into advocacy work and becoming a doula. I started an advocacy group, UConners for funded midwifery, to make midwifery accessible to everyone in the UConn and I also started a national advocacy group, mothers of change for maternity care, really trying to focus on centering the birthing person's experience and voice in the process and advocating for that at an institutional level, Canada wide. I had the privilege of doing doula training with a german trained midwife in the Yukon and attending home births with her, which was an amazing experience. And I also was a maternity care researcher through UBC and BC Women's Hospital for about seven years. My caregiving style is rooted in my values. I value attunement and sensitivity, so I'm tuning to the birthing person and encouraging them to tune to themselves and sensitive to their needs and to providing reassurances about the process I am bringing the value of assertiveness. I can be quite direct with my questions for healthcare professionals or for the birthing person about what's going on or what interventions are being offered and where the birthing person is at in that process. I also bring intelligent curiosity. I bring evidence based information and really see a big part of my job is supporting informed consent. I have expertise supporting home birth, natural low risk birth and that is what I'm available for is planned home births. That being said, I am a very strong advocate if we have to transfer to the hospital and we'll be asking questions of any health professionals about risks and benefits of interventions offered and providing the birthing person with the information I have about what the evidence is in the literature about risks and benefits and I am so excited to get to know you and meet you and talk everything birth and baby and support you and nurture you as you navigate this change, this huge transition and just walking with you on that journey and being a calm, reassuring presence.

Hello & What's Next

Hi. Lizzie here. We're so glad that you're part of our brood and that there's so many families who are curious to get to know you and a little bit about your story. We're using video in a creative way so families can see you, hear your voice, hear a little bit about your story, and understand if tour a good fit to jive. Jill's going to help you a little bit more with your setup and we're going to share a few questions for you to practice and think about when creating a really short, casual video to share with folks. Thank you so much for your energy and sharing a little bit about.

Getting Set Up

Jill. Here some quick ways to get set up. Grab your phone or your laptop with a video camera in it. Set it up somehow. Maybe you've got a stand or on a stack of books. You're going to find a natural source of light, like a window. Or if you're like me, you have one of those fancy ring lights. And then click record when you're ready. That's it.

You. So you're all ready to record. Your space is lit. You're looking great. Everything is calm and quiet. Now take out a pen and paper or a postit note, and you're going to think about these three prompts that you'll answer in your short video. The first is I became a doula because I became a doula because the the second is my caregiving style is my caregiving style is and the last my expertise is my expertise is we've created these three prompts, so you can share, pieces that you've studied, elements that you like to apply in your care work to families and anything that feels relevant and true to you. Anything that you would share in person. Make sure that you start all the prompts like you would in a conversation. My caregiving style is based on my cancer sign, I am a water sign. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever feels good to you. And our videos are under three minutes, so keep looking at a timer and keep talking and finish when you're ready to go. Good luck.

Thank you & get consent

That's it. You're all done. Thank you so much for submitting that video. It's really going to help our families get to know you a little bit better, more about your caregiving style, and help us set up the right pairings of doulas and families so they get the care that they need. If you have any questions or want any support in any of these things, do it again. Just want to talk it out with one of us. Get in touch with myself, Lizzie or Emma. That thank you.

Asheya Kassner