Instructors

Geneviève (Genie) Henry (she/her), CD, CCE, CMT

Originally from Quebec City,  Genie taught English and Spanish to French-speaking children. After giving birth to her first child in New Zealand, she returned to Montreal where she managed a health food store and studied naturopathy. Years later, she moved to Vermont and pursued her passion for birth care.

As the co-owner of Birth Journeys, Genie is a certified childbirth educator and labor and postpartum doula through Birth Arts International. She is also a certified massage therapist through Touchstone Healing Arts, specializing in prenatal, labor, and postnatal massage with Carole Osborne at Body Therapy Education. Her massage business is Massage Journey

Genie and her husband live in Burlington with their four children, who are the light of their world, and are grateful to raise them in the beautiful state of Vermont. Genie is a black belt in Self-Defense Kempo-Jujitsu, a certified Empowerment Self-Defense instructor and trainer and the Executive Director of The Safety Team. She is also currently studying for a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling.

Rachel Stanton (she/her), CD, CCE

For over a decade, Rachel has had the pleasure of supporting hundreds of families on their paths to parenthood. As co-owner of Birth Journeys, and through her work as a labor/postpartum doula and childbirth educator, Rachel offers compassionate, intuitive, and evidence-based support tailored to the individual families’ needs.
Rachel is committed to supporting equal access to birth and postpartum support in the community. As such, she spent nearly a decade as a Peer Breastfeeding Counselor for the Vermont Department of Health’s WIC Program and is the Program Coordinator for the Volunteer Doula Program at UVM Medical Center, where she manages and supports over 100 amazing volunteer doulas.  Rachel holds a BA in Human Services and Psychology, is a certified doula and childbirth educator (BAI), certified in MotherMassage ® for pregnancy,  labor,  and the postpartum period, is a CAPPA trained lactation educator, a Certified Calm Birth instructor, and is a Certified Yoga Teacher (CYT200) through Yoga Vermont.
Outside of work you can find Rachel spending time with her husband and two children, in the yoga studio, hiking, or enjoying live music.

 

Kurt Poulin(he/him), NREMT-P, IC

Kurt has been working in the healthcare field since 1983 and has been a paramedic and working in EMS since 1993. He works full-time as a critical care paramedic for a local ambulance service and has three children of his own. A Vermont State licensed instructor coordinator, he runs his own training business teaching babysitters courses, CPR, first aid, and bloodborne pathogens. You can reach him at nemsta.co

 

Alice Norris (she/her), RN, IBCLC

Alice is an internationally board-certified lactation consultant. She has been working with mothers and babies for over 20 years as a maternal-child health nurse and a certified HypnoBirthing instructor. You can find more about Alice at Blooming Babies.

Mary Kate Shanahan, Labor & Postpartum Doula, Perinatal Educator

Mary Kate is a trained and experienced birth and postpartum doula with a background in maternal and pediatric medicine, behavioral and mental health, emergency medicine, and bereavement.  She has specialized training in multiples, high-risk, and medically complicated pregnancies, and specialized postpartum care. Mary Kate is also experienced in education (childbirth, postpartum, infant care), photography (birth, postpartum, pregnancy loss), and NICU families (transitions, coping, bonding). You can learn more at The Vermont Doula Company which she co-founded.

 

Carolyn Lewis (she/her)

Carolyn Lewis of The Wellspring Hypnotherapy Center is certified in hypnotherapy and hypnosis for birth. She offers a three-class hypnobirthing series and we offer the childbirth education classes to provide a complete childbirth education experience. For more information on Carolyn’s course please visit her website.