What's on My Mind?

Stories from a birth pro, writer, road-tripper, marketer...

Image of flowery obituary heading on pale background with dark blue title: Setting Goals by Writing Your Own WHAT?!?!

Setting Goals by Writing Your Own WHAT?!?!

Goal Setting In last week’s vlog, I wrote about mission statements. One of the things about a mission statement is it doesn’t include goals. A mission statement should not be specific, measurable, or time-bound. Its point is to be lofty and paint a picture of what you are working toward. But this week, I am…

Mission Statement, Vision Statement

A Mission Statement That Actually Means Something

Mission Done Right If you’ve ever worked in a business, you’ve probably been involved in or heard about a mission statement. Often, mission statements are incredibly boring, confusing, and pretty much pointless.  If a mission statement doesn’t instantly guide the actions of the people within the business, it’s not done correctly.  I want to tell…

A birth doula with long dark curly hair stands in front of a yellow background wearing a dark yellow jacket. She holds both arms and fists up in the air with an expression of joy and triumph.

You Can Do Better Than ‘Junkie’

The Words We Use When you’re passionate about birth, you want to learn about it. You dive into books and podcasts. You search for blogs and videos on YouTube. You scour social media for people to follow. What should you be called for doing that? A birth nerd? A childbirth junkie? That’s what I see.…

Green fading to blue header with the words 'So You Want to Be a Doula?' and the 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' logo, with the word 'millionaire' replaced by the word 'doula' on the right

So You Want to Be a Doula?

So You Want to Be a Doula? Twenty years ago, few people knew what the word ‘doula’ meant. Now, most people know what a doula is But there are so many kinds of doulas…birth, postpartum, death or end of life, full spectrum, even divorce or surgery doulas. What is the difference between all these types…

A young Carrie Kenner holds her newborn son shortly after he was born at home.

Getting Started and Finding My Voice

This is my journey of finding my voice in a society that silences women, starting with my mother’s subtle but unsuccessful rebellion. How do you bring an idea to life if your passions are silenced? Dedicated to my mom.   My mom was born in 1929, when women weren’t known for having their voices heard.…

Two clinicians are talking to a laboring person while their partner looks on.

Decision-Making Part 3: Skills for Doulas

Decision-Making in Real Life: Role Plays and Reality This is the last of a 3-part series on decision-making. In this post, I outline the process I used with my clients when working as a doula. The Decision-Making Role Play This process is done in a prenatal visit – a meeting done with clients at the…

A colorful background with the words Decision Making and related words in the foreground

Decision-Making Part 2: Tools

Part 2 In a 3-Part Series In last week’s blog, I shared about decision-making and how it’s not what we think it is. We tend to think it’s very logical, analytical, and reasoned, when in fact it’s a very emotion-based process. Check out Decision-Making: Faking You Out Big Time! to learn about the parts of the…

a brain is centered on a background of neon squiggles on the right and math calculations over a dark background on the left. The words 'decision making' are superimposed on the left side.

Decision-Making Part 1: Faking You Out Big Time!

A new series of blogs on how we make decisions I read a newsletter article this week by Anne-Laure Le Cunff of Ness Labs. It was called “Why Smart People Make Dumb Decisions.”  Her article reminded me that I wanted to blog about decision-making, so here we are. Decision-making is the process we use to…

Arms of a white woman reach toward the camera with a ball of gray clay in her clay-covered hands. She wears a gray apron.

Neuroplasticity: Our Brains Are Like Clay

It turns out I have a lot to say about families… And it appears that you – my audience – like to hear what I have to say about them as well. I received so many comments after my last blog about your own families of origin, their impact (good and not-so-good) on who you…

family-as-first-teacher

Families: The Training Ground for Small Humans

Note: The author is well aware of the range of dysfunction within families. This blog post intends to focus only on the phenomenon of families as “first teachers,” not on the content – supportive or destructive – that is being taught to children. The reader can extrapolate the profound impact of both helpful behaviors and…