Our Classes

We are proud to offer

It Takes a Village: A class for Grandparents and other Supporters

The last 30 years have offered families more information on Infant Mental Health, Skin to Skin and strategies to support attachment,  which has resulted in changes in our day-to-day parenting techniques.  Our parenting values of unconditional love,  understanding, and parenting with intention have all remained. Still, the tools available to us have changed, and the work-life balance for families is different.  Leave with practical strategies to support your adult children and grandchildren, your extended family members, or your very best friend through the following topics and more!   

We will cover newborn sleep recommendations
Car seat use & safety
Babywearing
Infant feeding recommendations
Supporting a new family with practical tips (even during peak virus seasons)
How you can use technology to stay connected to your grandchild

Registration is per couple OR for one participant and their Plus-One (ie, Grandma-to-be and an Auntie ).

Leave feeling excited to be able to offer support for your family that reflects all of your family’s values.

Refund Policy: When cancelling a prenatal class after it has been booked, there is a $25 (CAD) administration fee. If cancellation occurs less than 14 days before the class, a 50% cancellation fee applies. If it is less than 7 days, there is no refund.  Requests for date changes within 7 days of class will reflect a $75 fee.  Please remember this when booking classes and plan to finish your session by 35 weeks.

People who took our class had this to say:


We dearly want to support the health of expectant families.

We took the Bringing Baby Home course. The course went over so many hands on and practical tips to help prepare us for daily life with a newborn and beyond. In addition, there were a lot of resources shared (including Ottawa based resources for new parents). We’re so glad we took the course. Highly recommend for any first time parents!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

Fantastic course for new to-be parents. The course offered essential, practical, and evidence-based information in an open and inclusive manner.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

As first time parents, we are wracked with questions and apprehensions to be the best parents we can be. Without courses like this, we would need to navigate a lot of disinformation and marketing on social media and be reliant on anecdotes from friends/family to assuage our concerns. Erin presented evidence-based current best practices in a calm, compassionate, and personalized way for the course attendees and empowered us in our parenting education. We are so grateful!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

My husband and I had the pleasure of attending prenatal classes this weekend, guided by the wonderful Michelle. Her kindness, expertise, and unwavering support made the experience truly invaluable. From Saturday to Sunday, we felt empowered and informed, thanks to her guidance. Without hesitation, I would wholeheartedly recommend these classes to any expecting couple. Michelle's dedication and warmth create an environment where you feel not only prepared but also genuinely cared for.

Pre Natal – with Michelle Morra

Erin was amazing and I would highly recommend her class. We found it incredibly valuable and she was just so lovely!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

My partner and I took a one-day condensed class and feel more prepared to recognize the stages of labour and techniques to cope when the time comes. I would suggest the course for anyone who wants to better understand the birthing process!

Pre Natal – with Brandie Lekovic

I feel empowered for the birth, and my husband feels like he understands everything better. The workshop really demystified the process and presented clear information and useful tips. We are so happy that we decided to attend.

Pre Natal – with Brandie Lekovic

We really enjoyed Erin’s style and appreciated the additional materials sent to us. There were lots of opportunities to ask questions and Erin is clearly an expert! Her demonstrations were very helpful and her attention to everyone’s unique circumstances (eg. Which neighborhood we live in, which car seat we have) was much appreciated!! Would definitely recommend this class to others!!

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen

The OCEA pre-natal classes are extremely valuable for first-time expecting parents. The information is shared in a very open, practical and fact-based manner without any judgement attached. It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the advice and research that is out there, but the OCEA classes really manage to distill this information and present it in a clear and structured way. The instructors are very experienced and knowledgeable and are great inter-personally. We were particularly impressed by how they handled giving online classes during the pandemic. They also provide a lot of Ottawa-specific information on the amazing resources that are available here. This was particularly useful to us as newcomers. We have many friends who have given birth in other countries, and when telling them about our experience with OCEA they have all said that nothing like this was available to them and it would have been so useful. Overall, we would highly recommend taking these classes.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Julia is an excellent educator. Doing online classes on this topic must be challenging but we found it to be a very engaging, interesting and practical class. Julia's experience and vast knowledge is very clear. We really enjoyed Julia's personality and sense of humour which made the class fun to attend. She is also very good at providing a lot of information in a clear and structured manner and at ensuring that the key points are highlighted and memorable.

Pre Natal – with Julia Wykes

Was very impressed with the educator, delivery, personal stories and experiences and neutral, evidence based opinions and attitude

Bringing Baby Home – with Brandie Lekovic

We would highly recommend this course to any new parents. I thought I knew a fair bit going in, but came away with a ton of new information. We feel more excited and more reassured about our ability to manage our new arrival than we did before the course. It really increased our confidence.

Bringing Baby Home – with Erin Shaheen


 
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  • Online

    It Takes a Village
    3 weekdays
    Mon, Nov. 3 · Nov. 10 & Nov. 17, 2025
    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    It Takes a Village
    3 weekdays
    Mon, Jan. 12 · Jan. 19 & Jan. 26, 2026
    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    It Takes a Village
    3 weekdays
    Mon, Feb. 9 · Feb. 16 & Feb. 23, 2026
    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    It Takes a Village
    3 weekdays
    Mon, March 16 · March 23 & March 30, 2026
    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now

  • Online

    It Takes a Village
    3 weekdays
    Mon, April 20 · April 27 & May 4, 2026
    07:00 PM - 09:15 PM
    Online Class Using Zoom
    Register now