Meet the Staff

img_00162Patty Brennan, Director/Owner of the Center for the Childbearing Year, LLC has been an advocate for childbearing families for nearly 30 years as a childbirth educator, doula, and midwife. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College and serves on the faculty of Washtenaw Community College. In 1999, Patty established the charitable Doulas Care community-based doula program serving families throughout southeastern Michigan, and oversaw the development of that program through 2007. She is also the founder and former executive director of a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. She is the author of The Doula Business Guide–Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business (2010), Vaccines & Informed Choice (2009) and Guide to Homeopathic Remedies for the Birth Bag, 4th Edition (2004), and editor of Whole Family Recipes — for the Childbearing Year & Beyond (2007). Her work has been published in the Journal of Nurse Midwifery, Midwifery Today, The International Doula, and many other publications. Patty also produced the DVD Trusting Nature: Today’s Traditional Midwife (1989). She is a DONA-certified birth and postpartum doula and approved doula trainer through DONA International. Patty has been married to her husband Jerry for 31 years, has two sons, two daughter-in-laws, and two delightful grandbabies.

Barbara Robertson staff photoBarbara Dawn Robertson, MA, IBCLC, has been involved in education for over twenty years. She received a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education in 1988 and her Masters in Education in 1995. Barbara left teaching elementary students in 1995 to raise her two children. She got involved in La Leche League, becoming a leader in 1998. She then went on to become a board-certified lactation consultant in 2004. Barbara established The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor, LLC (located on site at the Center) in early 2008 and serves as its director. She teaches breastfeeding classes for parents, runs support groups, trains professionals, and is in private practice as a lactation consultant. Barbara serves on the Board of Directors of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA). She loves working with mothers and babies, helping them with breastfeeding problems in whatever way she can.

jaminda1Jaminda Springer has been working in child care and education for nearly 20 years. Before graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1995, she worked as a nanny for many families and at several day cares centers and preschools. After receiving her degree, she became the education director for an emergency children’s shelter and also served on staff at the IHN Family Homeless Shelter. In 1997, Jaminda founded her own company, Nato Bello, and began manufacturing baby slings. She currently sells her ring slings online and at The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor and other retail stores around the country. Jaminda is a long-time proponent of babywearing and breastfeeding. She currently serves as a support member of her local La Leche League chapter. She shares a home in Hillsdale with her husband, Bryan, and takes great pleasure in mothering her three children.

Kate Stroud is a certified birth doula (DONA), a DONA-approved birth doula trainer, certified childbirth educator (ALACE), certified massage therapist, and mother of two children. She has been working with pregnant women and their families since 2000 and teaches Childbirth Preparation and DONA Birth Doula Workshops at the Center. Kate has a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Eastern Michigan University and enjoys making pregnant belly casts. She is also the publisher/editor of The Birth Project, a quarterly magazine that talks about and normalizes birth and issues around birth. Kate has a massage therapy practice on site at the Center.

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