I had Rebecca come to observe me and my daughter (4 1/2) twice. I have to admit, I only signed up…read morebecause I was required to as part of my custody agreement, but I'm so glad I did. Her observations were spot on, and she was able to communicate her thoughts clearly and gently, along with very practical advice for how to do things in a better way. My daughter can be a handful, to say the least, and Rebecca's strategies are already yielding fruit. I definitely recommend her to anyone who wants to be a better parent.

Rebecca Walsh, the director of Early Childhood Matters, is a client of mine. I spent a lot of them…read morewith her and her then three year old (and her husband Justin) when they were buying a home. They bought a fixer so we weren't always in the safest places, so keeping him out of trouble and happy was a big deal. Joey was the best managed three year old I have ever seen - very engaged and a great listener. My son was then about 9, and I remember thinking how much I wished I had been able to interact with him the way she did instead of my own "style" which tended to be much more "because I said so," in the end. I have twins boys who are now six months. I am looking forward to taking some of Rebecca's classes about toddlers, so that with the twins I can up my game. The woman has some serious skills.

Absolutely amazing class! Had so much fun learning and taking this class. Left feeling less…read moreanxious, reassured and with a birth plan! Would 100% recommend for first time moms, such a great experience.

Felicia is absolutely the best. This class is very informative! I'd say the best part is Felicia is…read morealso my birth doula, which I'm extremely grateful to have her. She helped with me the best birth experience I can ask for. I'd strongly recommend every expecting mama to take this class AND hire Felicia as your birth doula if you are considering a doula!

I really enjoyed attending the Girl Power Science Puberty Power Workshop with other mom friends and…read moretheir kids. As an educator, Konika is very organized and understands kids' attention spans, so we covered a lot: interactive games, how we're feeling about the transition, making bath-bombs from scratch, answering questions in a curiosity box. I appreciated her positive, "attitude of gratitude" approach that was science-based and also celebratory. As a result, our kids left feeling more comfortable and confident talking about and being ready for any changes to come. Highly recommend!

My daughter and I, along with five other mothers and daughters we know, had the most wonderful time…read moreat Ms. Rey's CuriosiTea workshop. Our girls are 3rd graders, a mix of 8 and 9 years old, and I feel like we are now so prepared to face puberty with confidence and curiosity. Everything the kids are learning is supported by science, with a framework of empowerment and autonomy. Both kids and moms felt encourage to ask questions and were met with enthusiasm and great insight from Ms. Rey. This workshop was worth every penny and then some. You also can't beat the location. Not only is Ms. Rey's treehouse itself a breathtaking, almost magical-feeling location, but the neighborhood is awesome, too! I grabbed lunch with my daughter before the workshop, and then during the kids-only section, the moms and I took a long walk in the nearby canyon and then grabbed coffee before coming back for the mom/daughter tea party and learning session. Our girls were all so proud to show off their crafts and what they'd learned, and I feel like all the moms learned something, too. It was also a fantastic bonding experience and made our community feel stronger, safer, and more loving for both us and our girls. Ms. Rey does period workshops for dads, too! Whatever your need, she is an amazing resource, and followed up with us after with even more helpful resources. This is a 10/10 experience and I've recommended it to every mom I know.

I took the 3-day birth preparation course with Amelia, and I couldn't be happier with the…read moreexperience! Her energy is truly unmatched. She explained every concept in simple, practical terms and made me feel so genuine cared for and we laughed a lot. While I expected the course to focus primarily on natural birth--and in many ways it did--it was completely free of judgment regarding medical interventions.

I reached out to Brilliant Births to find a birth doula. They offer a matching service and…read moreconnected me to 3 doulas who work independently (not employees of BB). We were really fortunate to find our birth doula (who we love!), but the other 2 candidates were not very impressive. The first doula missed our appointment with no follow-up communication. We were initially confused and thought she was the coordinator for BB, because she only communicated by text. The actual meeting was just by telephone so there was no face-to-face interaction, which felt strange. We could've easily FaceTimed or Zoomed. So communication and reliability were not great. The second doula abruptly canceled our half-hour appointment when we were 10 minutes late for a 30-minute appointment due to my husband wrapping up a Zoom meeting. During our appointment time, she was responding to my emails (in which I apologized for being late), but insisted she could no longer meet with us. I thought this was a really bad sign about what she would be like to work with - labor and delivery is rarely precisely timed and some flexibility is needed. In addition, her email said that she lives in Portola Valley, but we live Berkeley (also where Brilliant Births is located). This also struck me as strange, because it would take 1.5 hours for her to arrive to meet us at the hospital, which is not ideal.

Three cheers for Community Well!! This review is specifically about the lactation clinic and new…read moreparent support group on Tuesday mornings... When my son was born, I had a lot of issues with breastfeeding, including sore/cracked nipples, low milk supply (such that we had to supplement with formula), etc etc. We didn't find the nurses at Kaiser to be all that helpful and some of them even tried to tell us that "this is just how it is at the beginning." So I really thought that I just needed to buck up and power through the pain or stop breastfeeding altogether. I remember talking to my doula about this and on her recommendation, we decided to check out the group lactation clinic that Farrell Topham and Katie Howser offered at Community Well on Tuesday mornings before giving up on nursing. These two ladies changed our lives!! My son and I (and even my husband) literally became regulars at their clinic for our first few weeks postpartum. Farrell and Katie helped me troubleshoot every breastfeeding issue I had and they were able to solve every single one of them. They taught me alternate nursing positions for different situations, how to use a pump properly (that was apparently the cause of my bruised nipple and not my son!), etc etc. I'm SO proud to say that all thanks to them, my son and I are now a happy breastfeeding pair!! And even now, I still go back to the clinic every once in a while when I run into a question, such as when my son decided to stage a "bottle boycott" a few weeks ago and when I needed their advice on how to prepare for going back to work. Or when I just need a sanity check about how many ounces my son is actually drinking during a nursing session or whether he's still gaining weight, because they always have their high-resolution scale with them at the clinic. In addition to breastfeeding help, Farrell and Katie also taught us a bunch more stuff about being new parents. Farrell showed us how to use a Moby, a ring sling, and an Ergo properly and now, we LOVE wearing our baby! They also gave us lots of advice about our upcoming international trip with our three-month-old (eeek!). Thank you Farrell and Katie!!! And thank you Community Well for offering such great programs in the heart of Excelsior!!

Community Well true to its name, is an amazing well of resource for families in the Excelsior…read moredistrict and beyond. There are many classes and free programs that caters to mothers, babies and even fathers. Some of the classes they offer include lactation clinics, holistic life coaching, infant massage, prenatal and postnatal yoga and fitness classes and many more. I think there is a class for everyone in the family. This is such a wonderful addition to this neighborhood. The place is beautifully decorated and is inviting. Once you come through the doors, you feel like you are in someone's home. The practitioners are all knowledgable and experienced in their fields. I would recommend this place in a heartbeat.

I cannot say enough good things about Lindsey and her postpartum care. She has a wonderful…read moregrounding and calming presence. My husband, babies and I all felt immediately comfortable with her. The oil massage, pelvic steam and food she provides are all so nourishing and healing. She is an excellent cook and her food is truly delicious. I could honestly eat it year round. It also makes it easy to get enough to provide for baby, which can be difficult in the early days. Everything is not only tasty but provides those essential nutrients to help with milk supply, building iron levels and caloric intake. We hired her for both of my babies and it's so worth it! If we're lucky enough to have more we would 100% work with her again!

I am so glad I added Lindsey's offerings to my birth journey!…read more I rented her birth tub which was such a good pain relief method for my unmedicated birth. Pick up / drop off and deposit / payment stuff was a breeze. The abhuyanga massages were such a boon to my physical and emotional well-being. When you have a newborn to care for, even when you know how important self-care is, you can find yourself rushing through things like showering etc. It was so great to have one hour where I couldn't rush things, I just had to relax and enjoy. So grounding and centering at a pivotal time in your life. Also my hair and skin were fabulous from the sesame oil which smells amazing. Lindsey has a warm, nurturing and calming presence which is important when inviting someone in to your home during such a delicate time. She always had such a helpful and never judgmental perspective on questions we had about newborn parenting. Be good to yourself and choose Lindsey, she's awesome.

Absolutely amazing service! They came and picked up the placenta from me and within a week I had my…read morecapsules and they even added a cute little heart! Highly recommend them!

The items from Shawna are wonderful! Communication could have been better through the process, but…read morethings did get remedied after some back and forth.

I just completed a 4 week intuitive painting course with Claudia yesterday & it's been interesting…read more& powerful experience. I initially found the center through an instagram ad that was advertising their free open studio & decided to check it out. The intuitive painting course is not your typical course. The focus is being in community, learning to listen in & lean into your own intuition & creativity. There's no formal technique, no critiques or comments, but there is a lot of guidance & prompts to help you tap into your creative spirit. The goal is to create a painting from within & quiet the inner critic. It's about the process of letting go of "perfection" & to be create whatever comes up. It may sound a little woo-woo but the beauty of this process is that there's no right or wrong or good or bad painting - it's about your experience. If you're still unsure, I'd recommend dropping into a class to see what it's about. I definitely plan to take more classes in the new year.

I'm glad I experienced this they were so nice and the principle behind is pure…read more Not really my jam though, as an adult too much freedom and not enough structure. You're not allowed to talk or interact with other people. You are painting alone, together. But ironic that the facilitators can interrupt/critique you as they wish.

Shannon is everything we could have imagined for a doula--she is welcoming, warm, thoughtful, and…read morehas a lovely sense of humor! You get the whole package (and then some!) with her. As part of her doula services, she comes to your home for 3 prenatal visits, where you get the opportunity to try out practical exercises (from pregnancy massage techniques to pain alleviating exercises, talk through how your pregnancy is going individualizing our care and even review a manual binder that she provides for you. And of course, the main event, true labor and giving birth! Shannon has a way of just blending into your family during such an intense moment and your family's needs, stepping up and stepping down seamlessly, but always right there when we needed her. During labor/birth at the hospital, Shannon's belief and faith in me to surrender and brave through a natural birth never wavered. She really did it *all*--preparing bone broth for me to sip on in the midst of a contraction, acting as head cheerleader, setting the oxytocin mood in our delivery room with string lights, aromatherapy, and music. Oh, and not to mention, the hip squeezes and back rubs she provides in the most intense moments of labor. My husband and I had never been so impressed with a service before! Oh, I'm not done...she even did labor/birth photos for us, and a newborn session in our home two weeks postpartum. *cries happy tears* Thanks to Shannon, I experienced the most FUN and empowering birth. 12/10 recommend investing in her services!

For anyone seeking a birth doula, I wholeheartedly recommend Shannon. In our search, she stood out…read moreduring our initial meeting by not only trying to understand what we cared about but being able to reflect that understanding back at us with even more clarity. It was clear to us that Shannon's approach is personalized, recognizing that not every path to parenthood is the same. Having attended over 400 births, Shannon also brought a wealth of experience with her that shone through in her calming presence, well-balanced guidance, and the articulate birth plan she helped us craft. Her ability to address our worries without ever being dismissive, provide valuable advice at the right moment, and offer a diverse array of resources made our journey as first-time parents all the more enjoyable and helped us be prepared.

We feel so incredibly lucky to have had Marilou as our postpartum night doula. I ended up needing…read moreto be induced earlier than expected, so we had to arrange support at the very last minute. I was honestly pretty anxious going into it because we didn't have the opportunity to interview or even speak with her beforehand, and we were simply going off her profile that was shared with us. But from the moment she arrived, she immediately put us at ease. She was with us for those first few nights home from the hospital, when I was exhausted, emotional, and very newly postpartum. She had such a warm, gentle, and calming presence, and having her there made those overwhelming first nights feel so much more manageable. She was incredibly sweet and attentive with our baby, but she was equally caring toward me, always checking in and offering thoughtful tips for both newborn care and taking care of myself during recovery. She helped with feeds, baby laundry, and washing and assembling bottles and pump parts, and was always punctual, dependable, and proactive. Most importantly, we felt completely comfortable having her care for our brand new baby during such a vulnerable time. Our only regret is that we didn't find her sooner! Because everything came together so last minute, she was only available to be with us for a few nights, and we absolutely would have loved to have had her for longer. We're so grateful she was there when we needed her and would wholeheartedly recommend her to any family looking for a kind, knowledgeable, and genuinely caring postpartum doula. Thanks Marilou and Doulas by the Bay!

My wife and I had Jordan from Doulas by the Bay help care for our newborn overnight from 11 p.m. to…read more7 a.m., and she quickly earned our trust. Jordan is young, eager, and incredibly attentive. Throughout every overnight shift, she remained awake and alert, always ready when our daughter needed her. Most importantly, she cared for our baby with the same patience and gentleness we would ourselves, which gave us tremendous peace of mind as new parents. Her reliability was equally impressive. She was consistently punctual, arriving between 10:58 and 11:00 p.m., and was always respectful and ready to help. Trusting someone with your newborn is no small thing. Jordan made that trust easy. I would confidently recommend both Jordan and Doulas by the Bay to my closest friends and family, and we'd happily welcome her back into our home. Thank you, Jordan, for taking such wonderful care of our little girl!