Our Story

Birth Love Family is focused on holistically birthing and raising families. Some of BLF’s features include live video chats with experts; educational and insightful blogs; and local meet-ups for families, including an amazing event called B. Love Family Festival!! We offer both professionals and parents an opportunity to share experiences and connect.

Shaina Levee, M.A., created Birth Love Family after more than a decade of research and exploration on birth and raising families, and their potential to positively influence health and wellness. Shaina is a therapist, educator, and event producer from Chicago. She has a private mind-body psychotherapy practice based out of Stowe Natural Family Wellness and works primarily with mothers and their children, and with individuals who suffer from traumatic brain injury.

She received a Masters in transpersonal psychology from Naropa University, and a B.A. from Arizona State University. She is as a trained labor doula with DONA International and continues her education with the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. Shaina’s personal exploration in healing from depression caused by birth trauma inspired the foundation of Birth Love Family.

Julia Alter, LICSW is a birth worker, clinician, and poet from Philadelphia. She completed her undergraduate degree in Literary Arts with Honors in Poetry from Brown University and received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. Her poetry has been featured in numerous literary publications. After spending years in the mental health field working with a diverse array of clients, she found she was most fulfilled working with women and the LGBTQI community.

With a move to Vermont came a move towards working as a birth and postpartum doula while maintaining a private therapy practice based in Burlington. Julia trained as a birth doula with Birth Arts International. She is committed to inclusivity and respect for individuals and their choices, both in birth and in life! In 2015 she became a certified Dancing Freedom facilitator. She holds a regular class in Burlington, and is excited about the prospect of using a conscious dance practice to work with pregnant women and families. Julia resides in Vermont with her partner and son.

Pippa Dorfman is a certified pre/postnatal yoga teacher, birth doula, and educator from Massachusetts. She received her doula training through DONA International and midwife assistant training through Ina May Gaskin at The Farm in Tennessee. She went on to apprentice as a homebirth midwife assistant with Midwife International at Manos Abiertas in Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala. She received her B.S. in wellness and alternative medicine from Johnson State College in Vermont. She has been attending births since 2011.

Pippa is the owner of Jeffersonville’s Stepping Stone Yoga Studio and the creator of Red Yurt Project – a community space for celebrating the sacred feminine. Her role as Birth Love Family’s web forum moderator draws on her skills as a birth and postpartum educator and doula. She aims to contribute toward conversations on birthing choices and be available to answer questions on birthing and parenting. Likewise, she helped create Birth Love Family Fest as a way to reach more families and assist with women’s empowerment through childbirth. Pippa resides in Vermont with her partner and daughter.