Aleksandra Henderson

The miracle of birth has made an everlasting impact on Aleksandra’s life and for this simple reason she chose to become a doula and prenatal class instructor. Her aim is to make birth an experience rather than a process.

A mother of three, she has been a doula since 1996 and in that time has attended over seventy births. In 1998 she finished her training as a Childbirth Educator through Vancouver Community College and has been teaching for Lower Mainland Childbearing since then.

She currently teaches all of Childbearing’s weekend workshops out of her home, as well as taking on the occasional evening series and the training of new teachers. Her enthusiasm for birth is contagious, and she receives rave reviews from her prenatal class participants and doula clients alike.

Stephanie Ondrack

Registrar, Secretary, Instructor, Newsletter Content Editor

Stephanie’s interest in birth began with the birth of her own first child in 2001. With an academic background in English Literature and Women’s Studies, Stephanie attained certification as a Birth Doula and as a Childbirth Educator through Douglas College in 2002. She has been pursuing the topic with passion ever since, attending conferences, reading journals, and constantly upgrading her knowledge.

Stephanie is honoured to cross paths with so many families at such a pivotal juncture in their lives. As the mother of three children, she is personally familiar with the unpredictable nature of pregnancy, birth, and parenthood. Her goal is to help empower parents to make their own best choices according to their own circumstances and beliefs, and to help promote the best possible experience for the new baby within that context. She believes that the birth of a baby can be a joyful and transcending experience for the whole family, made better with accurate information and a sense of confidence. Stephanie’s enthusiasm and compassion shine through in her teaching, as does her genuine love of the topics.

Katy Thomson

Katy graduated from Fanshawe Collage with a Fine Arts and Photography degree in 1998 then embarked on a metamorphic journey in life. Katy worked, lived and volunteered with many families and various organizations while travelling through the U.K., Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, from the east coast of Canada up to the Yukon and finally settling in beautiful Vancouver to further establish her career as a Doula. Being away from her own family Katy really got to see and feel the importance of family and learn how other cultures embrace each other and support a new mother and her family during the child bearing year. Drawing her closer to her Doula nature Katy has been privileged to witness and participate in births all over the world, giving her a wealth of information on pregnancy and the birthing process. Katy is a certified Birth and Postpartum Doula, who is always continuing her education, attending workshops and seminars gaining experience in Acupressure, Visualization Techniques, Massage, Multiple Births, Postpartum Exercises, Infant Massage and courses as a breast feeding counsellor working towards a lactation consultant certification.

Melina Auerbach

Melina’s passion is to help new parents have a smooth transition to
parenthood whether it is to welcome a first child or a sixth! Ever
since the birth of her son in 2003, Melina has been finding ways to
support new mothers with breastfeeding information and practical
advice. She was a breastfeeding counselor in the Netherlands, where both her children were born, and has been a post partum doula since
2008. Melina keeps up to date with current research and always seeks
to expand her knowledge base and training. With a background in
social anthropology and community health, Melina has lived and worked
in Arctic Quebec, rural India, the Netherlands and Vancouver. Melina
is thrilled to be a part of the Childbearing Team.

Jennifer Landels

Jennifer fell in love with birth when her eldest daughter was born in 1995. She attended her first birth as a doula in 1997, and certified to become a Childbirth Educator in 1998.

Since then she has been privileged to be welcomed into many pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. The birth of her own twins in 1999 increased her appreciation of the miraculous nature of childbirth and expanded her expertise; her years of teaching prenatal classes, both at Burnaby Hospital and with Lower Mainland Childbearing have given her a broad base of knowledge which she is continually enlarging.

Jennifer joined Childbearing in late 2000. After six years as registrar, she recently passed the task on to the capable hands of Stephanie, and is now the newsletter editor.

Diane Donaldson

Past President

Diane Donaldson has more than thirty years of experience as a childbirth educator within the lower mainland in a variety of hospital and community settings.

A nurse and mother of two, she co-founded Lower Mainland Childbearing in 1973 and the Childbirth Educators Certificate Programme at Vancouver Community College in 1985. She became the coordinator and instructor for the CBE Programme in 1989. In January 2001, the Childbirth Educators Programme moved to Douglas College where Diane continued as coordinator and instructor until March 2006 when it was phased out.

During the past fifteen years, Diane has written a variety of curricula and independent study modules for childbirth educators, nurses and perinatal outreach workers.

As a perinatal nurse she has maintained her clinical skills by working in the delivery suites and postpartum areas of Saint Paul¹s Hospital and at BC Women¹s Hospital for the past twenty five years. She continues to work most often in the Single Room Maternity Care area at BC Women’s.

She has presented workshops to childbirth educators and nurses in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Her commitment to childbearing families and their educators is a lifelong passion and finds her involved in many ways as an advocate for the highest quality perinatal experience for all involved.