About Casie
Hello my name is Casie Menhinick. Recently, I have relocated with my family to Lillooet to pursue our educational interests. I lived in the Bridge River Valley just outside of the small rural town of Gold Bridge for the last 17 years. Gold Bridge is in the beautiful South Chilcotin, directly North of Pemberton and West of Lillooet. I am the mother of five children, Wyatt (13), Liam (11), my stepdaughter Megan (11), Jake (7) and my daughter Eligh Rose (4). For the last seven years I have helped my husband develop our family business, running an outdoor adventure tourism company which takes people into the breath taking wilderness of the South Chilcotin on horse back. This adventure tourism company has been a family owned and operated business for over 30 years. We very much enjoy our country lifestyle, living in the wilderness, raising a beautiful family and sharing our ranching life style, with many people throughout the year. I was raised in the lower mainland when Richmond was still just a small country town. I grew up with the benefits of my grandmothers and immediate family around me and supporting me. I was taught the value of simple living but also with the availability of central conveniences and facilities.
This year is an exciting year for me. I have decided to focus a little time on myself to further explore my own interests and goals as a woman living in a rural area. Part of my new venture is becoming a Certified Birth and Postpartum Doula with DONA International. I look forward to supporting mothers and their partners during this fascinating time when they become parents. I am very keen to encourage, support and counsel women, as they become comfortable with breastfeeding and as they discover the rewards of breastfeeding. In April of 2008 I participated in the Infant Massage Training Program to receive certification as a teacher from Liddlekidz Foundation. This intensive program was hosted by master teacher Tina Allan. I am enrooled in the Lamaze Childbirth Educator Program and will pursue certification through 2009. I am completely immersed in the reading materials required by DONA and Lamaze and cannot seem to stop buying more and more books on the varying topics of pregnancy such as, Gentle Birth, Midwifery, Teen Pregnancies, Single Mothers, and Expecting Multiples. I am keen to explore the diversity of cultural values associated with birth. Douglas College’s perinatal programs are a great way to gain the skills necessary to support expectant Mothers. Topics such as Reflexology and Massage also are an interest to me and I think a great asset to the doula care I will offer. I also think that projects, such as, the art of belly casting through the use of alginate – which enables exact impressions – will add a fun dimension to my business. Who wouldn’t want their torso cast or have a memorable object like a belly bowl? I continue to find the literature associated with the work of Doulas, fascinating, I am deeply moved by the loss that women have suffered since the institutionalization of maternity care. As a mother who has birthed in both a setting with labour support and without it, my goal is to support women birthing in rural areas, so that they can experience the same choices and comforts as mothers birthing in cities. As a parent I participated in Infant Massage and think it is one of the most wonderful experiences that you can have with your child. It is also an excellent tool for developing the mother child bond, a bond that may be even more crucial to nurture with young or single mothers and with working mothers, who may also need to create meaningful, quiet and alone time with their child.
As a mother of five children it is probably obvious that I love pregnancy and childrearing. Each one of my own births was unique. From dealing with PIH – requiring a month of bed rest – to birthing a very large (10lb11oz!) and a small baby; experiencing an extremely fast labour; experiencing a vacuum extraction an an episiotomy – the breadth of my experience enhances my ability to support others. My rural home has also necessitated the need to experience birthing in a variety of settings. All of my children were breastfed throughout the first year of their lives. My children were all birthed in hospital settings albeit in three different locations. This experience has enriched my perspective on labouring in different settings and with varied labour support. And it is the diversity of this experience that has made me so passionate about supporting women as they experience pregnancy and birth. As a Doula I will draw from my training with DONA and from my personal experience as a mother living in a rural area. I want to support pregnant woman and their families. I want to make sure that women receive the utmost support during this most wonderful time and feel supported and nurtured.
I believe that every woman deserves an amazing birth experience. The birth of a child is a day that you will always remember. Regardless of your age, you will always reflect upon that special day and willingly share your birth story with friends and family. Birth memories have a long-term impact on your life. Offering women birthing in rural areas and in smaller hospitals professional labour support will enhance their long-term relationship with their children and partners. Supporting partners will also help to create an exceptional birthing experience.
I am comfortable working with all cultures and I am eager to learn about traditions that families may wish to include and share during labour and birth. I am comfortable with all lifestyle choices and have a special interest in supporting mothers birthing alone, single mothers and teen mothers. I am willing to learn more about providing support to mothers with substance abuse issues and/or mental health issues. I would like to learn more about VBAC and the birthing of multiples. I think having Doula support for a Caesarean birth would be beneficial for all mothers.
It is my hope that unnecessary medical procedures will be eliminated and that local doctors will find it unnecessary to direct women away from their home communities, especially for normal low risk pregnancies. I wish to support all women as they choose the kind of labour and delivery they would like to experience. Helping women to articulate their birthing choices and communicating their wishes to doctors through the use of a birth plan will ensure that women can experience their birth of choice. I can see that by Mothering the Mother and empowering women through education we can allow every mother the chance for an amazing birthing experience.
As a Doula I will advocate for baby and mother friendly rural hospitals. I have an excellent relationship with my Lillooet doctors and I am exited to further develop professional relationships with other doctors and with hospital staff. My family physician is familiar with my interests and supportive of Doulas. I believe that the shortage in nursing staff our rural hospitals have that a doulas presence for a labouring mother will be rewarding for nursing staff and ease their mind that despite a shortage of time the maternity patient is being well supported. In our rural communities I see the need for an advocator and an educator for a mother friendly initiative and family support services. As a mother I have felt isolated. It is my wish to prevent this from happening to other women. There are services available for families but people do not know about the support or how to ask for it. I have struggled for 13 years to find these supports and now that I have them, I can see how much more positive traumatic situations could be, if support for families were found early. I am keen to bring childbirth education classes to small towns. I am willing to travel. I wish to establish breastfeeding support services in hospitals and communities. I wish to help develop community support for expecting and new mothers. I am a firm believer that the most healing tool can just simply be a non-judgmental person to listen to you. I am interested in helping to support mothers to establish good breastfeeding practices. I believe that the first moments after birth are crucial for the baby and mother and that a peaceful environment with immediate skin-to-skin contact and a resting period are of utmost importance. I also believe that fathers should have a period with the baby after birth with skin-to-skin contact, to make the father child bond strong.. I look forward to working towards this.
Other services that I am developing for my Doula care are antepartum support for mothers with complications and required to do bed rest. As a mother who has experienced the difficulties of bed rest I am very eager to help make bed rest a restful time with little anxiety. I would like to provide some postpartum care, such as additional breastfeeding support, ready made meals and emotional encouragement. I will offer my clients additional pampering and relief with foot massage and a mini pedicure. I may use a selection of relaxing aromatherapy oils and creams.
As a Doula I would be more than happy to offer birth stories, photography and whatever other supports are wished. I am very interested in promoting Infant Massage to families.
My personal strengths, which will assist me in my Doula work, are my strong communication skills, excellent organization, my clean and professional appearance as well as my friendliness and truly nurturing spirit. Living in an area with no close family, I lost out on the luxury of being mothered with my babies. I am a born nurturer and will openly admit that my nurturing nature can sometimes be a weakness. It has been my experience with my clients in the horse industry is that the only bad part of their holiday is going home, as my place always feels like home to them. I thoroughly enjoy sharing my homemaking talents with each of them. I truly enjoy creating a relaxing, nurturing environment for all around me. I think that my ability to keep even the most out of control situation in control and reduce anxiety levels around me is not only something I have had to learn as a mother but as an employer running a very hectic business. Again, as a mother of five and business owner I have overdeveloped my ability to multi task and prioritize. I have a good basic knowledge of some childhood mental Illness disorders. I have come into this with my experiences with my eldest child who has Tourettes as well as a severe anxiety disorder, which sometimes leads to oppositional defiance and panic. I have spent 8 years learning and supporting my child and our family as we deal with these challenges. Recently I have found an excellent support network with Ministry of Children and Families and have a very strong relationship with Helen Kormendy the local clinician for our areas. Anxiety can also play a big role in childbirth. I believe that a woman who is calm and anxiety free will have a much more successful birth and postpartum period.
I am currently exploring the options of working with the Aboriginal communities in our area and in developing a Prenatal Outreach Program. I would like to assist the native population in building trust in the medical community and to receive the services they deserve. I would like to learn more about how to support their culture not only in providing prenatal support but also family support. It is my feeling that the role of being a Doula could be used in so many ways, whether it is supporting the mother, the father or the elderly. It is my experience that a person receiving emotional support is a much healthier person all around which in turns spreads not only through their family but into the community as well.
As a Doula I am interested in serving the communities of Lillooet and outlying small towns of the Bridge River Valley, Seaton and Shalath, Lytton, Cache Creek, Ashcroft and Clinton. I am an eager and dedicated learner.
In conclusion, I am very interested in bringing Doula Support to the Interior Region. I hope that my first hand experience of living a rural life, birthing in rural hospitals and the knowledge of life after birth in remote locations will enable me to help develop my support services and initiate programs to assist our communities and hospitals in a very Mother and Baby Friendly way.
I hope this is just the beginning of women helping women. I look forward to meeting with you.
Sincerely,
Casie Menhinick