Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawna Mertens.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Shawna. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My professional background is in art; specifically Professional Photography, so this was a pretty big career change for me. I will say though, that having a creative background has been such an asset to working in a field where I am constantly thinking on my toes, and having to work in a variety of settings with a variety of tools. My desire to support families through pregnancy, birth, and their early years with new children really began when I was having my own babies. I was fortunate to have a good community of friends, and family that lived nearby, but still had this constant feeling that, though everyone around me loved me and wanted to help me, they had no clue what I needed from them. Despite the fact that my husband suggested working with a Doula for our first birth, I was hesitant, and ultimately opted not to go that route. I have vivid memories of certain moments during our birth where I realized “Ah, this is why a Doula is so valuable”. After my second child was born I had a light bulb moment. I remember driving in the car with my husband, and saying out loud “I think I want to be a Doula” I expected him to laugh at me, but instead he said “yes, you should do that”. And I had that same conversation with my closest friends, still expecting them to laugh, and no one did. So I signed up for a to Labor Birth Doula training that would be held locally a couple of months later. In that training, I met my now business partner, Margarita. We worked together for a couple of years before fully jumping in and Launching Third Coast with the goal of offering comprehensive support for growing families in Chicago.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Things have gone fairly smoothly for us, but as with any business, we have had to do some problem solving along the way. One of the biggest challenges has been that our model of care is very different than other Doula Services. Because of this, there wasn’t an existing model for us to implement, we had to build everything from scratch. It took us a while to get the service to a place that was cohesive, and there was a lot of trial and error involved. I was thankful to be able to pull from my creative background so that the problems and puzzles didn’t scare me away, but we looked them in the face and ended up creating something really unique and very cool. We are now in a place where I am confident that we are offering exceptional care, and providing our clients with additional avenues for community building and education.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Third Coast Birth & Family – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Third Coast Birth & Family exists to reduce the rates of perinatal mood disorders through authentic community in a safe and welcoming space. We believe that community, along with evidence-based, professional support removes fear and isolation, allowing parents to trust themselves and parent with confidence.
We believe that this confidence begins before birth; that birth is a microcosm of parenting. As such our prenatal services seek to help parents build confidence and trust themselves as the experts on their body, their baby, and their family.
At Third Coast we offer a full spectrum of prenatal and postnatal support services including: Childbirth Education, Birth Doulas, Child Development Consultations, Parent Groups, and a myriad of community events. All of our services operate from an unbiased, evidence-based, community-focused perspective. This means that we have no agenda for the families we work with in terms of their birth options or parenting choices. Our only agenda is that families feel supported along the way as they seek out the information and confidence necessary to making any decisions that come their way on their parenting journey.
We are extremely proud of the community that we have helped to foster with and among our clients. We have a number of families that have worked with us prenatally, and now continue to come back for family events, to continue friendships or build new ones, or just because they know that we will be there to listen and help them process whatever they are facing that week. It feels like a huge gift to be able to walk this path with people. To be the person that offers unconditional support in a world where parents are constantly second-guessing themselves.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
As we look to the future, we hope to continue to grow our community of families. Our family programs have the capacity to grow and we would love for more people to enjoy the benefit of joining with others who can commiserate, encourage, and walk alongside them on this parenting journey.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2624 W Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647
- Website: https://www.thirdcoastbirth.com/
- Phone: 872.829.2935
- Email: shawna@thirdcoastbirth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirdcoastdoula/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thirdcoastbirth
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/third-coast-birth-and-family-chicago
Photographed by Thomas | © 2017 TK Photography | www.tkphotographychicago.com
Photographed by Thomas | © 2017 TK Photography | www.tkphotographychicago.com
Image Credit:
TK Photography
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