Welcome!
Both Allison and Shawn are Evidence Based Birth® Instructors. We are proud to say that that we are the first (and to date, the only) Evidence Based Birth® Instructors in Ontario.
We are fiercely passionate about birth and helping inform parents about their options for birth.
We also know what it is like to work in a health-care system that is struggling. This is why we are teaching the Savvy Birth Pro Workshop.
Allison Thompson
I have had a lifelong fascination with wellness, peace and compassion. After the birth of my first child I became deeply enthralled with birth and realized that there was a need to bring respect to birthing people and the birth process.
I have been a certified HypnoBirthing® Instructor for the past ten years which alerted me to the need for reform within maternity care. I became an Evidence Based Birth® Instructor so that I can help birth professionals identify the barriers to evidence based and respectful care and identify practical solutions that we can implement on micro and macro levels.
I have three children who have taught me the importance of patience, presence and kindness. Having been a young single mother and an older married mother, I bring a wide array of experiences to my classes. I believe that giving birth can be a joyful experience and I have a passion for empowering families to experience birth with love and peacefulness. I am committed to personal growth and practices Qi Gong and meditation to expand my compassion to myself and others.
A researcher and analyst at heart, I never tire of learning about birth and I am continually reading about evidence based practices while being firmly rooted in the philosophy that birth is a normal, human experience rather than a medical event. I believe that the best possible births occur when medical expertise is brought together with a deep respect for our bodies and our i
nnate birthing wisdom. Birth is an aspect of our sexuality and as such, should be treated with love, respect, compassion and consent.
416 806 3809
Shawn Gallagher
I have been a Childbirth Educator for over 30 years and Evidence Based Birth® is the most exciting perspective on birth that I have seen to date.
As a Childbirth Educator (1986 to present), I created and teach the ChildbirthJoy Prenatal Hypnosis program.
I was a Registered Midwife in Ontario for over thirteen years (I was part of the group that was grannied-in with legislation in 1994) and attended births as a primary care provider in home, hospital and Birth Centre. I have attended many births as a Doula as well. Along with Heather Burton, we were the co-founders of Midwife Alliance in south-west Toronto in 1993.
I am a Board Certified Hypnotist (National Guild of Hypnotists) and a HypnoFertility® Practitioner and I train hypnotists in the Simpson Protocol and Hypnosis for Pain Management. I am a published author in the doula series, Bearing Witness & Joyful Birth and the mother of two, both born at home.
www.childbirthjoy.com
416 255 8333