In 1990 my world was forever changed when serving in the US Peace Corps in West Africa, I discovered women and infant health. Working with the “accoucheuse” or “Sage-Femme” which means “midwives” in French in Togo, West Africa reached into and grabbed my soul and changed the trajectory of my life. After five years in Africa, I returned to the United States to pursue massage therapy, graduating in 1996 from the Chicago School of Massage Therapy and from nursing school in 1998 from Loyola University in Chicago. I also started building my own family by having my own daughter unmedicated and having labored in the tub in the hospital I was a labor and delivery nurse in. I was always the nurse to work with the certified nurse-midwives and likewise had the goal to get my master’s as a CNM as well. When my family and I moved to Florida in 2005, I started my own practice From the Roots Up shortly thereafter working to support women and their families through pregnancy, birth and beyond with massage therapy, labor support, breastfeeding counsel. I was particularly passionate about working with marginalized folks that were pregnant or newly postpartum that were in recovery from substance use disorders, incarcerated, and homeless. Due to the early exposure I received to the innate wisdom of the birthing person when left undisturbed, I formed a strong spiritual sense surrounding pregnancy, birth and beyond. In the perfection of transition from maiden to motherhood, women essentially “die” to themselves to be reborn in a new role as a mother. The same for the father or partner. My passion incorporates a full holistic view of how to support the women and family during this time. I became an IBCLC in 2018 to provide lactation support. In 2018 I also started teaching HypnoBirthing to enable women to achieve unmedicated births with this powerful, life-transforming tool. I officially became an APRN and CNM in 2021 and have been supporting women in both the birth center and home ever since. Being a nurse practitioner also allows me to offer continuity of care for my patients to stay in care or enter care post-birth. The practice offers yearly well-women exams including Pap testing, STI testing, contraceptive care (family planning) including Fertility Awareness Method, fertility counseling and more.
My passion is fueled by providing patient or client centered care. This is the foundation of the care that you can expect. It becomes a partnership that allows for all experts in the care including yourself to be the expert in you and your family’s needs. From the Roots Up believes in co-collaboration in the community including maternal fetal medicine for ultrasounds, doulas, other child-birth educators, chiropractors, family doctors or pediatricians, pediatric dentists and more.
