Meet your doula

Being a doula isn’t A job, it’s a calling.

ABOUT ME.

meet elisa

Perception is powerful

Birth is beautiful because it’s timeless, powerful, wild and transformative. For centuries, those who have come before us have been bringing their babies into this world the same way you will, through blood, sweat and tears. It’s wild and often requires surrender over planning. It’s powerful and transformative, for it’s the key that unlocks the next step in your journey, becoming a parent.

Birth is soul work, it requires our heart, body, mind and soul. Therefore, it is inherently vulnerable. For labour-land is foggy as we focus on enduring wave after wave. I offer care that is compassionate, respectful, and gentle because it is necessary in such an unforgettable experience. Your perception within labour-land is incredibly heightened. The goal is to help you feel empowered by your birth story, regardless of the outcome. I offer you respect, validation and active listening throughout the whole journey. When plans change (as they often do) or twists in the road occur, I am right there with you, bringing you back to your anchor, the core desires you have for your birth.

Birth is hard, no matter how you do it! It will ask to go further than you’ve gone before, and then beg you to go further. But do not fret, you are not alone.

This will not last forever, I see you, you can do hard things.

BOOK A CONSULT

core beliefs & values

your voice matters

dignity

Every human being has a unique story and deserves to be treated with safe, trauma-informed care. Though know that disclosing parts of your story is not necessary. Birth can bring some messy things to the surface, our babies have a way of telling us how we may still require some healing.

OUtcome

I do not promise outcomes, for I believe it isn’t the end-all be-all. Your mental health, emotional well-being, decision-making and encouraging you to use your voice are my top priorities.

Equality

BIPOC have needs that the system and or care providers don’t always get right, therefore, I hope to stand in the gap.

LGBTQ+ families are welcome here.

bottle vs boobie

FED is best. Your mental health matters. Your family is unique and may look different. Your desires are valid and personal. I’m all about cheering you on however that looks.

birth

Having a baby is hard work. Each type of birth deserves recognition. There is no judgment here.

Home or hospital, birth is best where YOU feel most at ease, safe and able to let your go.

physiological

Birth is inherently safe, natural and most often simply requires patience. But plans change, and babies can have their own opinion on the matter. When plans or birth pivots to require you to assess risks, there are still opportunities to secure personal desires in the midst of the unknown.

education & experience

I began my training with DONA in 2014. Eventually completing a cross-certifying program with Doula School Canada. I passed my exam and gained my official Birth Doula Certification in 2022.
2017 - I completed GoMidwife’s Modules of Midwifery program based in Kona, Hawaii. Their goal is to give students an introductory to all things birth before moving on to further apprenticeship training. Classes included guest speakers including practicing midwives from all over the United States. As well as a wonderful crew of volunteers who offered their pregnant bellies for students to gain clinical skills like listening to fetal heart rates and assesing positions. To reviewing birth emergencies, doula training, prenatal education, birth planning and an overview of basic clinical skills.
(Regardless of this certication, as a doula here in Canda can NOT provide anything medical such as finding fetal heart rates, offering out of scope advice such as diagnosing ect.)
2017 - I interned with Abundant Grace of God Maternity Clinic as a birth assistant, nestled among rice fields in Tabuk, Philippines.
This position allowed me to partake in many different roles. First observing, then charting, finally moving on to assisting in maternal and fetal care during labour and delivery. A time of intense learning in an incredible clinic that is striving to change maternal health care outcomes in it’s community.
2022 - Attended a weekend long intensive Spinning Babies Training Workshop. I highly recommend checking out their free resources, ask me anything and I’ll be happy to provide examples on how this has positively impacted my doula practice.
The Doula Services Association is a BC specific collective that offers a governing body for those who practice doula work. In order to be a member you must agree to their standards of practice policy and be certified. The DSA badge also then shows your birth team that I have received my certification. They have lots of resources on their site as well!
The Doula Aboriginal Family Grant Program is an amazing BC provincial resource for Indigenous families. Working together, we can apply for you to recieve the cost of your doula care fully covered, as their max amount of financial support is $1,200.
Whether you or your partner identifies as Indigenous, you qualify!
I have supported many different types of birth. Majority of my work has been for families choosing to have their baby in the hospital, but I cherish my home birth experiences greatly.
I’ve been a doula for high-risk pregnancies, babies who’ve decided to join pre-term, unplanned c-sections, unmedicated births and planned water births (at home). As well as births with intentionally planned use of the different pain relief options at the hospital and successful VBAC’s
Birth is like food…so many different flavours and options, and yet ALL food is good. Babies are born, and it’s hard work no matter how you swing it! There is no right way to birth, you are welcome here.

How it all began…

After binge-watching Call the Midwife at 19 years old. I stumbled upon my first doula training opportunity. Within less than a year, I attended my first birth, I was hooked.

Since then, I’ve travelled all over. First, training right here in BC as a doula. To studying midwifery in Hawaii, then helping deliver babies in the Philippines. Then, while living in Ontario, working with a doula collective and attending an incredible Spinning Babies Training Workshop.

After a few years, Sweet Peace Doula, the name and official business, was born. Since that first birth 11 years ago, I have worked on and off again throughout different seasons of my life. Although not always attending births, I have never stopped learning. After discovering doula work, my fascination with the scientific mechanism behind it and its deep connection to the most raw form of human emotion has never wavered.

No matter how many babies I witness enter this world, I am incredibly grateful to be invited into such a space where there is always something to learn!

Fast forward to 2025, I have worked with over 40 families. Some as a doula, and others within the clinic setting in the Philippines. Being back in BC, where it all began, and running my solo practice is a dream come true.

“Elisa is very passionate and knowledgeable about birth and she knows how to care for and coach both parents as they prepare for the big birthday party.”

I am so glad I got to have her present during the birth. It would not have been the same without her gentle, calm demeanour and positive attitude that helped to bring an anchor of peace into the birthing room. Also, she’s very funny.” -Danie

a midwife wanna be in Hawaii

Here I am wearing my graduation flower crown. GoMidwife was truly life-changing! It was an opportunity for me to explore birth work within a midwifery setting. Although I ended up coming back home to BC (to get married!) and did not pursue a Home Birth Midwife Apprenticeship in the States, I loved every minute of being a student.

Who knows, perhaps I’ll apply to midwifery here, again, someday!

For now, I feel I belong in doula work. There is so much emotional work necessary to bring our babies forth. Being a midwife keeps you busy in other ways. While offering support as your doula, I am able to make your physical, mental and emotional well-being my top priorities.

a FOREIGNER in the PHILIPPINES

GoMidwife emphasizes learning about how midwifery care can change maternal and fetal health outcomes in communities desperate to change statistics.

This led me to pursue working with an international clinic. AGOG Maternity Clinic works overtime to serve the families in their local community. I got to witness and assist in 15 births while interning. Students, midwives and interns all slept, ate and studied the few floors above the clinic itself.

This picture you see here was of a mountain village I got to visit and offer prenatal care to. Yes, the only way in is over that bridge (and your girl is not exactly a big fan of heights!). Regardless of where in the world you live, the food you eat, or how you plan things, babies grow and are born every single day without any concern over the things we tend to stress about here in North America.

I had the incredible honour to act as primary midwife and catch that 15th baby before heading back home!

i encourage you to learn more about the amazing work the director and midwives are doing in tabuk.

abundant grace of god Center

from apprentice to matrescence

What a whirlwind to have witnessed birth before my own pregnancies and the births of my sons. I could never claim that I understood a client’s discomfort or worry. But I got a front row seat as an apprentice, a mother in training, by being welcomed into birth at such a young age. 4 years ago now I entered matrescence; the unique transformation a woman goes through as she leaves behind who she was and steps into motherhood.

My boys have rocked my world for the better, but what a roller coaster it’s been! We entered COVID with a wild surprise; we were expecting a son to be born in the peak of lockdowns. My birth was far from normal, a complicated pregnancy followed by a difficult birth that left me with a long healing journey postpartum.

I couldn’t help but wonder, “Shouldn’t a doula, of all people, know how birth?”. If I could go back and sit with her for coffee, I’d say, Elisa, please, just focus on being a first-time mom. You don’t know everything, nor should you! Let go of being a doula who’s pregnant. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay that things didn’t go to plan. And as my midwife said to me, “Your birth was beautiful because you endured.”

It is, of course, my own story that has now paved the way to have a special place in my heart for high-risk pregnancies, babies being born after previous birth trauma and those who struggle with depression and or anxiety. I bring personally lived experience on how maternal mental health impacts pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

After slipping through the cracks and not receiving a Postpartum PTSD & Depression diagnosis until 6 months after my son was born. I have implemented conversations and ways to help give you the tools so that you are not forgotten.

No, my birth trauma shouldn’t have happened just so I could evolve and become a better doula. But I am so grateful to use my story, and rather convinced my son changed the trajectory I was on when it came to my birth philosophies and core beliefs. Cause goodness, he flipped that upside down with how he was born.

My second-born, whose name means “God has healed”, was born after a long 5-day attempt to have a “redemptive” birth via c-section. Babies know best sometimes, he taught me that we can have all the right people, plans and work in place, and birth is still wild and as much his story as mine. It’s hard not to put a certain kind of birth on a pedestal, but let me tell you major surgery is NOT the easy way out.

I am a doula who carries her c-section scar proudly and is continuing to show up for you to change the narrative and birth trauma statistic rate. I am here for you. But know, I keep a gentle but firm boundary that if you wish to hear my story in full…may it be after your baby is in your arms.

My story is different, but I believe it has a greater purpose. I love who I’m becoming, even if it’s been the hardest journey I’ve ever been on.