Blessings and Greetings of Love!

I am Lauren Bradley, a wife, and mother of 5 (one on the way and currently in the womb). I am an aspiring traditional birth worker. My purpose for traditional birth work began with the experience of birthing my eldest son while I was transitioning out of active duty service in the military. My pregnancy was under military care and I gave birth to him in a Naval Hospital. Although I had a natural birth, my experience was still heavy with stress, anxiety, and a lack of autonomy as a woman and first time mother.

All Praises Due to The Most High, through out the journey of birthing my three youngest children, our family has been blessed by the traditional care of Black and Indigenous Mothers, Elders, Midwives, and Doulas who have guided my family and I through more positive birth experiences. We were able to birth our youngest three children at home and these birth experiences empowered me as a mother, while supporting and acknowledging my husband and our family unit in divine way. From these experiences, my heart has grown a deep desire for birth work and my prayers have been that The Most High May use me as a vessel to facilitate more positive and empowering birth experiences for women and their families. I desire to be of service to women and birthing families in this way with an emphasis on Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color.

God has been recently making a way for me to step into birth work opportunities real time. This past summer, I was blessed to be part of Unveiling The Journey- A mentorship for birth workers and aspiring pateras (midwives). This mentorship was through La Matriz Birth with Licensed Midwife (LM) and Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) Tema Mercado.

I have also been blessed with the opportunity to begin SMC (Shafia Monroe Consulting) Full Doula Training with Master Midwife Shafia Monroe. This program honors African American Midwifery traditions and it is the premier dual certification training for the labor and postpartum doula. I will have two years to certify and with program completion, I will be able to practice as a labor and postpartum doula, improve birth outcomes, and increase breastfeeding rates with cultural competency. I have received a scholarship to register for this training program for %25 of the cost of the program which equals to $380.00, Praise God! I still need to pay the remaining training cost balance of $1,142.55 over the course of the next three weeks. I am reaching out to my friends, family, and anyone willing to support my birth work journey to help me to achieve the goal of funding the cost of this training program. The program begins this upcoming November (around my birthday) and I am deeply grateful for any contribution toward the training cost. Your support is a beautiful gift that cultivates my Divine Soul Work in this new year and chapter of my life!

*When 50 people donate only $22.22 I will reach my goal of $1,111.00

Other ways of donating:

Venmo: @Lauren-Richel

Cashapp: @lidlulu

Much Love and Gratitude for your time and consideration.