Congratulations on your pregnancy!
My name is Melissa Harris (she/her), I am a birth doula, certified childbirth educator, breastfeeding educator, doula trainer, and I am excited to meet your growing family.
Becoming a doula is something that I thought about since I had a doula at the births of my first 2 children in the mid 2000s. Even though the births were so different from each other, they were both positive experiences for my husband and me. She was there to provide support, not only to me, but to my husband as well, who appreciated the help, especially the first time around. I worked in the pregnancy and fertility industry for 6 years before becoming a doula, after which we moved back to Victoria and I pursued this work. I want to help pregnant people and their support team find that strength in navigating their labour and in bringing their child into the world.
People often ask “what’s your favorite part of being a doula?” Well, it’s not the hours for sure! I love watching people navigate becoming parents. Watching them conquer a physically demanding event in their lives that forever changes them. If I can provide one ounce of comfort, confidence, anxiety reducing calm, or relief, I know that my job has been completed. It is always my goal for the people I worked with to have a positive birth experience in whatever way that looks like.
A few more things to get to know me:
- I love Christmas
- I’m a Swiftie
- I enjoy watching hockey
- I have 3 children
- I run a bookstagram account
- I love Gilmore Girls
- I love Gilmore Girls
- I don’t drink coffee or tea
- I support any type of birth
- I believe in bodily autonomy
- I believe love is love
Training
- Owner, Mothering Touch Prenatal Education – 2022
- DONA Birth Doula training – 2011
- Douglas College Childbirth Educator – 2015
- Breastfeeding Educator through Douglas College – 2011
- San’yas Indigenous Cultual Safety for Health Care Workers – 2023
- Doula Trainer at Camosun College – 2025
- When Survivors Give Birth workshop with Penny Simkin – 2012
- Acupressure for labour workshop with Elements of Health Centre – 2011
- Doula with the Doulas for Aboriginal Families Grant Program
My family works, lives, and plays on the traditional lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, and I acknowledge and respect the lands that I am on, and the lands that my children grow up on.
Melissa Harris Birth Services 