Our Team

Founder, Birth & Postpartum Doula, Yoga Teacher

Elyse Waugh (she/they)

I have been supporting families through their Birth & Postpartum journey for over 4 years now and it is a privilege to be a part of someone’s family in this way! I feel most at home when I am teaching, guiding and holding space for the people around me.

In my work as a Doula I gently guide the birthing person and their support team, amplifying the birthing person’s voice and ensuring they feel supported. Knowledge is power- it is important to me that you feel informed when making decisions for your baby and family. My care will always be intersectional, affirming and rooted in reproductive justice for all bodies and all birth outcomes. I have experience working with unmedicated/medicated births, hospital/home births, high risk pregnancies, IVF/IUI pregnancies, pregnancy after loss and planned caesarean sections. 

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I am thrilled to continue developing my practice as a birth worker while I work towards a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Midwifery at TMU.

In my spare time I love to be outside and move my body! I love the mountains, I love to travel and I love creating and building community.

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• Trained with DONA

• Trained with BADT as an Abortion & Infant Loss Doula

• CPR C & First Aid

• Vulnerable Sector Screening Check

• Breastfeeding/bottle feeding support

• 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, breathwork & meditation

• Bachelor of Health Sciences in Midwifery from TMU (IPR, Class of 2029)

• H.B.A., M.A., Theatre & Performance Studies from U of T

Prenatal & Baby Nutrition Consultant

Natalie Pierzchalski (she/her)

Hello! I'm Natalie Pierzchalski, a certified Nutrition Consultant specializing in personalized care for expectant mothers and growing babies. With a commitment to evidence-based practices, I provide tailored solutions to support your unique journey into parenthood. Let's connect for a consultation and ensure a healthy start for you and your little one.

Communications Manager

Caleigh Adams (she/her)

I've been with Art of Tula behind the scenes since early 2022 and being part of this growing practice is nothing short of inspiring. Outside of administration and communications I am a trained actor, standardized patient and a bartender. My work with this collective is the meeting of my creativity and love for working in community. 

Birth & Postpartum Doula, Yoga Teacher

Yaïza Décaudin (she/her)

I have spent many years living abroad which led me to appreciate the immense importance of community and the support it provides by creating environments where you are encouraged to ask and accept help from one another. 

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Movement, art, and expression have always been a part of me, one discipline constantly leading me into a new layer of myself. My approach to health and wellness is through a holistic lens, inviting clients to view their experiences as multi-faceted. 

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In birthing and postpartum care, my aim is to bridge the gap between Western medicine practices and the ancestral wisdom we all carry in our bodies, empowering clients to make informed decisions about their care. 

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• Certified Birth Doula through Doula Canada

• CPR C & First Aid

• Vulnerable Sector Screening Check

• Breastfeeding/bottle feeding support

• Rebozo Trained

• Trained in Breastfeeding protocols for healthcare providers

• IPR Prenatal Yoga Training

• 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, breathwork & meditation 

• Mat Pilates Training

• B.A., Communications & Design from TMU

• Speaks English, Spanish and French

Birth & Postpartum Doula, Registered Social Worker, Yoga/Somatic Movement Teacher

Mary-Dora Bloch-Hansen (they/them)

Hi, my name is MD (they/them) and I am a queer, non-binary millennial and second-generation settler of Italian and Danish ancestry. I show up in the community as a multi-disciplinary careworker and artist, practicing at the intersections of birthwork, somatic therapy and embodiment coaching. I am a registered clinical social worker, a birth/postpartum doula and a somatic movement and yoga practitioner.
 

Through the different forms of carework I offer, my support and advocacy is informed by both my personal lived experiences navigating mental health/health systems and my professional training. The frameworks that guide my work are rooted in firm values of intersectional feminist theory, including abolition, relationality and person-centered care. I aim to create inclusive, reflective, trauma-informed, gender and neurodiversity affirming space, while acknowledging the pervasive oppressive structures we all have to navigate on a daily basis. I am a firm believer in uplifting and recognizing the individual strengths of each person I work with, to support them in navigating their own healing and life transitions. It is my hope that I can support folks to cultivate inner resilience, re-membering and transformation at every step I may meet them in their journey.

• DONA Birth Doula Training

• DONA TENS Unit Training for labour 

• Childbirth Educator Training with Whole Body Pregnancy

• Birthing Advocacy Doula Training (BADT): Queer & Trans Reproductive Support

• BADT: Racism & Privilege in Birth Work

• Infant Feeding and Nursing Training with Lactation Consultants

• Trans Affirming Prenatal Education Training with Moss The Doula

• Pelvic Floor Education Training for Doula’s with Pelvic Floor Therapists

• MSW, University of Toronto (counselling/psychotherapy training in EFT, NT attachment and polyvagal theory)

• Registered Social Worker, OCSWSSW

• BA Psychology Specialization, Laurentian University 

• Body-Mind Centering®, somatic movement certification training program (250 hrs)

• Professional Member of ISMETA

• 300 hour yoga teacher training certification 

• Standard First Aid & CPR/AED Level C

• Vulnerable Sector Screening Check

• BFA in Performance Dance, Toronto Metropolitan University

• Other Continuing Education Training:

  • Grief Literacy Training Certificate (level 3), Being Here Human

  • 2SLGBTQ+ Foundations Course, Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO)

  • Trauma-Informed Care, RHO

  • Trauma Counselling for Mental Health Professionals Certification, SickKids

  • Certified Trauma Professional Level 2: Complex Trauma (Integrative complex trauma treatment certificate, EMDR, IFS & Somatic approaches)

  • Supporting Trans & Non-binary Clients with Transitioning, Gavrel Feldman

  • Empowering Trans Clients Through Affirming Care Training with OASW

  • Indigenous Approaches to Grief and Loss with Mary Anne Caibaiosai (OASW

  • Decolonizing Social Work with Shane Young (FIFSW, UofT)