As many practitioners who train and grow their experience in birth work, I experienced birth trauma as an infant and in giving birth to my own daughter. In the mid-90's I was a volunteer baby holder at Seattle Children's Hospital where I worked with NICU and failure to thrive babies. From there, I continued my training in craniosacral therapy, osteopathic approaches to treatment, midwifery apprenticeships, baby body language and more. My practice is not just  trauma informed, but supporting the healing mechanisms within the body to heal from trauma.
My experience has taught me the importance of treating the whole family. I often work with Mom's on their journey to becoming mother in preparation of their birth and follow them in treatment post-partum. I also coach the partner in how to work with their baby and treat baby from the impacts of birth.
My approach is gentle and holding a space of deep listening and empathic restraint. In my experience, there is not a one size fits all treatment. Each birth parent, partner and baby have their own unique story that may be integrated in a supportive gentle environment.

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It is hard to explain what I do and here is feedback from a client:

"Our family had the great privilege of receiving a postpartum session with Kirstie; a mix of birth story, birth mask, mama-baby cranial, and the blessing of mysterious impossible-to-anticipate deep healing that happens when held in the safety and care of someone who truly listens. We thought that this session would center around our 5 day old daughter’s birth story, but Kirstie immediately sensed the importance of including our 3 year old son’s story- he has a different biological father and the big transition over the last year of gaining a truly present second father and now baby sister has been a tender thing to navigate for him. Kirstie’s attention and kindness, specifically toward him, created an invitation for him to feel special alongside his sister, to organically reenact his birth story and effortlessly repattern some difficulty from the past reaching into the present, and also hear the similarities with his sister’s story, making her more relatable.  It was incredible to see his wisdom and inherent healing self initiation bubble forth under Kirstie’s subtle guidance. Our daughter was able to also release some trauma from her posterior birth and a subtle ease has persisted since. Indeed our whole family experienced a profound catharsis and coming together since this magical session. We are so grateful for Kirstie’s sensitivity, skill, and all the diverse tools she has cultivated in her long career to be able to meet unique needs as they arise, with grace and trust."