Joanne Flaherty completed her birth doula training and certification through Doulas of North 

American International (DONA) and has worked with Birthing Gently since 2018. 

 

Joanne is passionate about helping her clients feel safe and empowered, both prenatally and 

during labor and birth. She brings maturity, experience, and calming guidance to pregnancy, 

labor, and birth. She is collaborative in nature and works seamlessly with the entire care team, 

including all family members and medical staff. Joanne strives to provide an environment in 

which her clients feel safe, loved, and empowered. Joanne has attended almost 200 births and is comfortable supporting all types of births; such as natural births (unmedicated), medicated births, and VBACs (vaginal births after cesarean). Joanne has attended Spinning Babies® Workshops and is certified as a HypnoBirthing® Support person. 

 

Joanne has two daughters, who were born in the hospital, without any medical intervention. Her two positive birth experiences led her to doula work. Her joy of working with birthing people, and their loved ones, has kept her on this journey and she wants to convey that same positive experience with other families. Joanne had the honor of being the “Nana” doula at the birth of her first grandchild and still is chasing around a very active toddler (the love of her life).  

 

Before her calling as a birth doula, Joanne earned her Master’s Degree in the Arts and 

Humanities and had worked for over twenty years with a historic preservation organization. 

 

Joanne believes the skills she has learned in her over 20-year practice of yoga and meditation, 

such as breathing, linking breath with movement, clearing the mind, and focusing, has shown to be very useful with birthing people.  

​

When not supporting Birthing people, Joanne stays active with hiking, skiing and working on her figures, ice dancing, and jumps and spins on the ice.  

 

Joanne is looking forward to hearing from you and will be honored to guide you in the birthing 

process.