REACH
perinatal support
REACH.
We are a space for support, resources, movement practices and so much more, created especially for people making their way through pregnancy and into early parenthood. All are welcome here, from pregnant and birthing people, to non-gestational parents, to those already parenting and caring for little ones.
What we do.
REACH is becoming many things, but, some of what you can find here includes: postpartum and birth doula support services, virtual and in-person support circles, childbirth, postpartum prep and other educational classes and workshops, recorded yoga practices and so much more.
Our mission.
REACH is a space of support and resources designed for people on the path of early parenthood, from pregnancy to toddlerhood. Our intention is for all who are interested in our offerings to feel supported and welcome. For that reason, we prefer inclusive, non-gendered language, and will always strive towards representation of various kinds.
We acknowledge that full inclusivity and representativity is impossible, therefore, not only do we commit to constantly work and grow in this regard, we also commit to continuously engaging in conversation with, highlighting and including contributors that can begin to fill the spaces we leave open.
We are not only open to, but encourage comments, feedback, questions, requests and call ins. We are glad you are here.
Kim Ritley
Mama / Childbirth Educator / Birth Worker / Yoga Instructor / Placenta Encapsulator / aspiring Herablist (she/her/they)
Kim is fascinated by birth and bodies in general, and her love of babies and new families goes way back. For her entire adult life, she has been working with new and expecting families in some capacity. The journey started long ago as a nanny and preschool teacher’s assistant, and eventually the road led her to yoga teaching and birth work. Her love of movement began back in toddlerhood when she started dance lessons.
Kim first trained as a yoga teacher (Yoga Blend) a decade ago, and shortly after began specializing in prenatal yoga (Ma Yoga). That interest led her to become a birth doula (Childbirth International), then later a postpartum doula (DONA), and most recently a childbirth educator (Whole Body Pregnancy). Kim has e studied with various other amazing teachers and mentors along they way, but she continues to learn the most from the people she has had the pleasure of working with. She feels very passionately about the importance of accessible education, resources, and support when it comes to navigating the journey into new parenthood. And she regularly dreams of a world where people can go through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum without having to deal with the adverse affects of racism, patriarchy, and capitalism that are so deeply embedded within our medical system and beyond.
In 2019, Kim became a parent herself, and had her second child in the summer of 2021. Kim enjoys spending time with their family and close friends, preferably doing something outdoors, and also finds great joy in listening to music, cooking, learning about plant medicine, ritual and honoring the cycles of the earth and the moon, a good fiction book, and playing with her toddler, baby, partner, dog and cat.
Postpartum doula / yoga instructor / translator / queer / half-Brazilian, half American / from the space between (she/her).
Joana has traveled the unconventional path of formal education as a social worker, environmental manager, yoga instructor (One Down Dog) and postpartum doula, with bouts of translator, environmental educator, nanny and server sprinkled in over time.
She came to yoga to find a place to pause from what was an increasingly overwhelming work life and stayed because of the way it made her feel, the ability to be at home in body and breath, to leave the chatter aside. Teaching became a way to translate this feeling to others, to support student’s process of finding the space to breathe and feel in their bodies, to form connections and hopefully find a few smiles along the way. When specializing in prenatal yoga (One Down Dog and Alice Sicuro Yoga), she discovered her love of the pregnant body and the magic of pregnancy, birth and parenthood. She also learned that what she had always offered to friends and family (support in that delicate time just after a baby is born) had a name and was something she could do for work; she would become a postpartum doula.
As a postpartum doula, Joana strives to support families in feeling empowered and full of agency as they adjust and learn their new baby and new selves, focusing on helping each family to feel comfortable and confident in their decisions and to trust their intuition in their role as caregivers. She sees her work as postpartum doula and yoga instructor as the place where her experiences, expertise, pieces of herself, overlap, intertwine, converge, expand and grow.