“Supporting people of all identities through transitional moments in their lives with mindfulness and intention brings me tremendous joy. I look forward to working together to find the ways I can support you in whatever journey you are on.” - Elana Baurer, Embracing Liminality
About Elana
Elana (she/they) is a postpartum doula, breastfeeding support person, and abortion doula. She is passionate about supporting birthing people and new families in their fourth trimesters and deeply loves the parents and tiny babies she helps care for. She believes that safety comes through solidarity and community, and that all kinds of birth work and abortion support are essential to a more just and caring world.
As a postpartum doula, Elana is honored to provide emotional and physical support for new parents and growing families as they bond and establish their new normal. She provides a non-judgmental listening ear, hands ready to pitch in to any task, and information to connect new parents to resources where she cannot help. Elana takes a gender-affirming, trauma-informed, and evidence-based approach to helping new parents and families find healthy and peaceful rhythms. The fourth trimester often comes with many unexpected challenges for all family members, and Elana is there to support in whatever variety of ways your particular family might need.
As an abortion doula, Elana will support you before, during, and after your procedure to focus on your emotional well-being and to provide you with any and all information you need. She is deeply committed to the rights of all pregnant people to make their own decisions about their bodies, and will advocate on your behalf or just sit and listen to your story, or any range of support that might fall in between.
Elana has completed Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) courses and is a daily mindfulness practitioner. She brings a mindfulness approach to all of her work, and uses mindfulness as a tool for supporting clients in a variety of life transitions.
Elana completed her doula training with Birth Arts International in 2021. She has personally attempted a vaginal breech birth ending in a C-birth and is well equipped to support families facing the challenges of breech delivery and C-birth. She also struggled with postpartum depression and is well equipped to help new parents navigate the postpartum mental health landscape.
Elana completed her abortion doula training with Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings in April 2021.
Elana has also completed trainings with Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings in Racism and Privilege in Birth Work and Birth and Disability.
She is passionate about radical empathy and transformative justice as lived values including in this work.
Elana’s work has been covered in GO magazine - you can see the article here.