Bear Root came to me in a dream in 2017, and so began the journey that has led us here…

Traditionally, the Great She-Bear, Ursa, is the Healer archetype. When she came to me, she was nursing a bear cub and feasting on a dandelion root she held in her massive claws. Soon after, she began speaking herbal recipes to me, often waking me in the night to write them down.. one for postpartum bleeding, one for exhausting prodromal labors, and years later, one for the mass anxiety of the pandemic. These recipes were old, simple, and effective. I collaborated with a local herbalist and dear sister, and she made my formulas, fresh from her gardens, as she does to this day. All the years I served as midwife in a busy freestanding birth center, Bear Root was gestating in my belly. I didn’t know what her final form would be, or when she would be ready, so I made her recipes and learned all I could from women and plants and birth.

In 2022, with the sudden and great power of the bear, I found my way home to the ocean, hung my shingle, and here we are! I am so very humbled by the warm welcome I have received from this community, thank you for your trust. I hope to be of service to you for many years to come!

Experience

I began my midwifery and herbalist journey during the pregnancy and homebirth of my 2nd child in 1998. I apprenticed as a direct-entry midwife in the homebirth setting with 2 midwives over 8 years in Boone, NC, and Eastern TN. I partnered with one of those midwives and we had a lovely homebirth practice for several years. I worked with many skilled homebirth midwives and herbalists during this time. In January 2008, I moved to the triangle and began my journey toward legal practice as a CNM. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing in 2012 from UNC Chapel Hill and my Master’s degree in Nurse-Midwifery from ECU in 2016. In May of 2016, I became a birth center midwife at Women’s Birth & Wellness Center in Chapel Hill where I served for 6 years as a staff midwife in a free-standing birth center with admitting privileges at UNC Hospital. I served as the Director of Midwifery there from 2021-2022.

Over the last 24 years, I have attended well over 1000 births in the home, birth center, and hospital setting. I am part-time faculty at ECU, where I teach in the midwifery program. I am also a doctoral student at the ECU College of Nursing, pursuing my Ph.D. in midwifery education. Most of my herbal education has been informal self-led study and apprenticeship with experienced herbalists. I did attend the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine for a period of time. I offer herbal educational workshops for midwives and birth workers, as well as women in my community several times a year.

Philosophy of Practice

Bear Root Midwifery is built on the Midwifery Model of Care, seeking to partner with clients in a spirit of true informed decision making and shared-governance. I believe that women are the experts regarding their bodies and their needs. As a midwife, it is my honor to support, guide, and affirm the inherent knowledge, intuition, and knowing of women. The woman’s life cycle is marked by many rites of passage that deserve to be held sacred, including menarche, pregnancy, birth, motherhood, and menopause. I rely on my training & experience, plant medicine, and when needed, western medicine, to support these transformative times in the woman’s life cycle.