About us page
All of our teachers have completed their teacher training with the OCEA. Many of our teachers have related childbirth and parenting experiences. The following women are part of the OCEA team:
Erin Shaheen
Erin has been the registrar since 1998, responding to calls and online registrations. She has been teaching Childbirth classes since 1999 and teaches the Bringing Baby Home class. She is a retired La Leche League Leader, Heart and Stroke CPR instructor and a Ministry of Transportation trained car seat installer. She is a DONA trained postpartum doula. She is the proud mother of four children aged, 9, 6 and 4 year old twins.
Kim Yates
Kim Yates has been teaching with the Ottawa CEA since 1998. She has worked as a Birth Companion at Canadian Mothercraft and is a Breastfeeding Counsellor, La Leche League Leader and Certified Infant Massage Instructor. Kim is the mother of two school aged children aged 7 and 10.
Tabitha Bernard
Tabitha is a DONA trained birth & postpartum doula and a Canadian Mothercraft Birth Companion. She is currently writing her Master's thesis on the ethics and social policy implications of mainstream and alternative approaches to childbirth in North America. Tabitha is certified through the Ministry of Transportation as a car seat installer and works each Friday afternoon at Canadian Mothercraft's Breastfeeding Drop in.
Sabine Paagman De-Graaf
Sabine provides labour support as a birth companion for Canadian Mothercraft. She strongly believes every woman should have a great support team to help make her birth a positive and empowering experience. Sabine also coaches single parents and parents in challenging situations. Her main job is taking care of her two sons, aged one and three.
Brandie Lekovic
As a DONA-trained doula, childbirth educator, infant massage instructor and prenatal nutrition program facilitator, Brandie has provided individualized prenatal education and counseling, breastfeeding support, and nutritional recommendations to new and soon-to-be parents for close to a decade. She is the proud mama of two boys and passionately promotes positive, empowering birth experiences, believing that women intuitively know how to birth.