Heather Ford
Meg
birth doula • Hakomi therapist
...this very body that we have, that's sitting here right now, with its aches and its pleasures ...is exactly what we need to be fully Human, fully awake, fully alive - pema chodron
My Story
Upon graduation, I developed my private practice and started a community based acupuncture clinic at the Wellspring Healthy Living Centre in Bristol, a community health centre serving low-income residents. During this time I also gave birth to my two sons, Ethan and Austin.
I delved deeply into the world of birth as a result of my desire to birth at home. The confident and continuous care I received no doubt contributed to my ability to have 2 un-medicated water births. Thanks to the british National Health Service, I was able to access professional nurse midwives who unquestioningly supported my decision to have a home birth at no cost to my family. Each birth experience was vastly different and incredibly intense, but at no time during either one did I feel alone or unsupported. In fact, I felt utterly transformed by them and intensely grateful for the freedom to birth on my terms.
When my family decided to move back to U.S in 2010, I saw an opportunity to refocus my work around birth by developing my doula practice and integrating my knowledge of acupuncture and chinese medicine. I have spent the past 10 years supporting womxn through their experience of birth and find each one draws me deeper into the verdant world of growth and transformation that birth offers to all her participants.
While home birth was the right choice for me and my family, I support clients wherever they chose to birth, with the majority of my clients opting to birth in hospital. I have established positive and productive relationships with midwives and OB's throughout Seattle and feel grateful to be able to freely support my clients in hospitals that understand the benefit of and openly encourage doula support.
Born and raised in San Francisco, I graduated from Columbia University in 1994 where I studied eastern religion and american history. My early work experience included Teach for America, assisting political consultants, supervising a group home for teenage girls and working as a development associate for a non-profit. After receiving regular acupuncture during this time, I realized that I had found the beginnings of my professional path.
I began my studies at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, however a year later I moved to Bristol, England with my fiance. I continued my studies there and received my professional licenciate degree in Acupuncture from the South West College of Oriental Medicine in 2005.