Angela was recommended to me by a friend. I wasn't sure how a phone consult would be, but I was…read morepleasantly surprised by how easy she was to talk to. I won't get into personal details, but Angela really helped me when I needed it. I am sad Angela no longer works in the Bay Area, but Austin is lucky to have her.

Over the past few months I collaborated with therapist Angela and a few other Bay Area…read moreprofessionals to compile a mini guide about pregnancy and new parenthood. Angela wrote a heartfelt and helpful article about how to keep the relationship to your partner strong after you've become a new parent. I look forward to getting her expert input on future projects around maternity, post partum, and growing family life.

Ciarra has been our doula twice and my wife had two very beautiful births. Our kids both came…read morequickly and Ciarra was there both times to support us through the process but also in dealing with the hospital staff who did their jobs but needed to be reminded to allow my wife the space to have the births she wished to have. I didn't know what to expect when my wife first approached me about wanting to practice hypnobirthing and have a doula but I am completely sold on the idea at this point. I'm very grateful for the work that Ciarra did for us and for teaching both me and my wife about the practice of hypnobirthing. Should we have another child, we agreed that we wouldn't change a thing.

Ciarra is an amazing doula that really puts her heart and soul into her work! I had a very…read moretraumatic birthing experience with my first baby, so the second time around I knew I wanted a natural birth with a doula. Ciarra took the time to listen to my first birth story and was very compassionate and supportive of all of my wishes leading up to the birth of my son. My husband and I even took hypnobirthing classes with Ciarra. I ended up with an unmedicated VBAC with my son and Ciarra played a BIG part in that! We had an amazing experience with Empowered Beginnings!

Lauren is amazing! She is such a positive spirit and an insightful coach. She is a compassionate…read morelistener and wants to help you reach your goals. I feel hopeful and uplifted after each of my sessions with her. I am so grateful for her services and support and I look forward to working with her in the future!

Lauren is, first of all, an incredible, extremely intuitive person. I saw her once a month for 2…read moreyears. Unfortunately for me, I see her on a need to basis now when I truly am in a situation that I feel I can not heal/fix on my own. Every time I see her, it is always the day that I need her help and guidance the most. I love her as my Life coach, as my friend and she is someone that I would gladly have in my life forever! Thank you Lauren for all that you do...most importantly for returning some peace and tranquillity to my life!

Becca's counseling services were instrumental in helping us repair our relationship and build new…read moretechniques to grow our marriage. Becca's schedule allowed us to find convenient dates and times to meet. Becca provided us tools to address our love languages, conflict resolution, and how to apply the Gottman method to our marriage. We strongly recommend Becca for all couples looking for help with their relationship.

My wife and I cannot recommend Becca any higher! Her non-biased, non-judgemental perspective helped…read moreus to ease tension, more appropriately handle general life complexity/stress, learn about and act according to our individual love languages, better deal with inevitable conflict, the list goes on and on. She equipped us with real-world tools to help navigate our relationship and lives and our only regret is that we didn't seek her services sooner. She truly changed our lives for the better - stop thinking about it and take the first step toward a happier marriage!

We found Anya through the Central Texas Doula Association and she was the first doula we met with…read more My husband and I felt almost instantly that she was the doula for us! Her passion for her work, for mamas and babies, is contagious and so comforting -- we knew we would be in the best hands through the prenatal journey and birth of our first child. And we were right! Anya was there for us every step of the way. She dedicated herself to getting to know us, getting to know our worries, wants, and wishes. I loved preparing for the arrival of our little one with her -- she shared so much wisdom and made me feel at ease both physically and mentally (the one-on-one yoga session included in our package was such a nice treat!). We were so ready when the day arrived to deliver our baby! By day, I really mean days... Anya was with us through an incredibly LONG natural labor that ended at the hospital. (But we still delivered vaginally and I owe so much of that to her!) Our journey began at the Austin Area Birthing Center on Monday night and ended on Wednesday morning. She spent every minute of that time encouraging me, supporting me and my husband (literally, like physically supporting me), standing up for and reminding me of the things I wanted and needed, and helping us make some really tough decisions. She was basically like family to me for all those days. It was bittersweet to go our own ways at the end -- sad because she had just shared with us the most momentous occasion of our lives and that kind of connection is so real, but sweet because she needed to rest too!!! Could we have done it all without her? Sure. Would we have wanted to? Absolutely not. I cannot recommend Anya enough if you're looking for a little extra support through your own prenatal/birth/postnatal journey. She's a force. You'll get so much more from your relationship than you ever expected!! We sure did.

Anya is an AMAZING force. I interviewed several doulas, but I went with Anya because of her energy…read more-- she was the perfect balance of confident, non-judgmental, calm and wise. I wanted someone who would help prepare and support me through a natural birth, but who wouldn't judge me if I changed my mind in the end. I'll never forget the thing she said to me in one of our prep meetings that really put me at ease, "There IS something -- a position or a technique -- that will help bring you relief during birth. We'll practice some options now and when the time is here, we'll find the exact one that will work for you." And we did just that. I can say for certain that there is no way we would have been able to avoid an epidural without all the prep she did with me and my husband ahead of time and without her calm, supportive presence in the room. We met with her several times ahead of the birth and she was super thorough with us, never rushed the process and made sure that we as first time parents were as confident as we could be going into this. She lent us books we could peruse if we wanted, but honestly her guidance ahead of time was so thorough and we were so ready for the big day even without taking a formal birthing / breathing class. She even did a prenatal yoga class with me in my home a couple of weeks before our baby arrived. We also hired her for the placenta encapsulation -- it was wonderful having someone who already knew us well do that for us and we opted for her to do it at our home, which sounded strange to us at first, but she scoured the kitchen before and after and in the end, it was a really cool learning process!

Margaret is trained in facilitating The Work by Byron Katie. She's very talented at facilitating…read moreand letting you come to your own conclusions instead of passing judgments. She's very genuine. I found the work to be deeply revealing about what we can and cannot control as well as bringing a sense of peace through understanding our suffering comes from within. I've continued the work and recently gotten really into it. Highly recommend. In my opinion she teaches the tools that you can use at home, which means you don't have to go to therapy for the rest of your life. Out of ten or so therapists I've met through my life she was my favorite. Thanks Margaret

I worked with Margaret for 7 years and was constantly impressed by her clinical skills and warm and…read morewelcoming demeanor. She has fantastic skills with trauma as well as working with couples and I continue to refer to her for both of these issues. You want a therapist who continues to learn and train because the field of psychology is changing fast. You also want a therapist who is interpersonally open and knows how to build trust and make therapy not only effective but comfortable. I feel confident that Margaret can do both and I recommend anyone looking for counseling consider working with her.

Austin Baby Guru's Postpartum Doula Training program is unmatched. As an agency owner, I prefer to…read morecontract with postartum doulas that have taken this particular training. There are a few things that set this program apart from others I have seen. 1 - The mentorship provided by the owner of the company, Allison Coleman. The unrelenting support she gives and the way she lifts people up are unique and refreshing. 2 - The comprehensive material covered. This program provides a wide range of information and produces postpartum doulas that not only understand how to care for families in the postpartum period, but also the ethics of running a business in this industry. 3 - The way the materials are presented is clear and thorough. I appreciate the mix of video education and reading so it keeps the participants engaged in the program. I highly recommend ABG Postpartum Doula Training to anyone looking to enhance their understanding of all things postpartum doula!

When I was less than two months pregnant, I contacted Allison to get on her calendar for postpartum…read morecare. At first I thought this was going to be such a luxury service, but I quickly realized that Allison was going to be an absolute vital piece to my mental, emotional, physical and spiritual postpartum health. She worked with us for the first 8 weeks of my daughters life and I seriously wouldn't be where I am without her! She provided an invaluable amount of knowledge and experience and was a non-judgmental soundboard for me. I can't recommend Allison enough! I now truly believe Postpartum Doulas are a necessity, not just a luxury.

I can't recommend Vanessa enough! We originally sleep trained our son at 3 months because he…read morewouldn't nap for more than 30 min. That worked well but right around 5-5.5 months something changed and he had trouble sleeping again. We started rocking him to sleep again and it was so frustrating. We finally found Vanessa at 6 months and am so happy we did. Our struggles were naps and 530am wake ups. In just one week we saw such a huge improvement and those early morning wake ups started to fade away. We decided to add on another week to make sure we were in good shape for our upcoming vacation, and she was so invested in us it was amazing. She did everything she could to coach us and help us reach our goals with the tight timeline. (we leave this weekend, fingers crossed!) The time she spent with us was above and beyond, and I can say it's such a great value and investment, especially since we worked with someone else prior. I loved the sleep log and the comments she made daily to help encourage us along the way. Thank you Vanessa!!

I'm not a first time mom so I thought I had this whole baby sleep thing figured out and apparently…read more*NEWS FLASH* I didn't! I used Vanessa's "pick my brain" help when my baby decided it was time to wreck havoc on the wonderful nightly pattern I thought we had going. We needed a fresh set of eyes on our situation to give us some clarity on what the root of our discourse was, and that is exactly what she provided. We tweaked what she recommended we tweak and lo and behold it worked! And everyone's sleep became markedly better in a matter of a few days. Thank you Vanessa for helping us get back on the right (and well rested) track!!