Julie Morel

Julie (they/she) is a full-spectrum doula that honors and holds families through transitional moments as they prepare to expand their hearts and lives. As a companion that tends to the entire spectrum of pregnancy and postpartum, Julie uplifts the full range of what the reproductive experience can encompass, including but not limited to birth, postpartum, pregnancy loss, and abortion. This journey - whether it's one's first time or fifth - can look marvelously different for each individual, and Julie envelops families in tender support as they prepare to navigate these paths. Utilizing a blend of approaches ranging from educational, physical, emotional, logistical, and advocacy support, Julie strategizes with individuals to create a care plan that best uplifts their needs, empowers them to feel prepared for the moments ahead, and assures them that they have a trusted companion to rely on throughout the process. As a queer practitioner themselves, Julie is always joyful to connect with queer, trans, and poly clients and uplift the many ways that family-building can look across the spectrum. Julie's approach is multifaceted and holistic, always infused with compassion, and is radical at its root. It centers family and well-being in all forms while prioritizing frameworks that are inclusive, accessible, and equitable; Julie knows birth and care work to be utterly revolutionary - and by nurturing the roots of a new life, the way families are cared for in these transitional moments plants the seeds for new worlds that we can imagine together. Well-supported children, parents, and communities are the revolution. A lifelong student of holistic approaches to care work, Julie's services also include pre/postnatal yoga, reiki, belly binding, postpartum herbal baths and herbal support, in-home postpartum food preparation, baby wearing support, and traditional Ayurvedic baby massage. They are certified and available to be covered by Carrot Fertility Insurance and are registered as a Medicaid practitioner for Healthfirst. Brought into this work at the age of 19 while working at the nation's only dual free-standing birth center / abortion clinic, Julie came to witness firsthand how integral freedom of choice in decision-making was to feeling empowered in these journeys. Continuing to follow this spark, Julie spent her early 20s in the birthwork sphere training as a doula and working at multiple community health centers, peer education centers, and a major perinatal mental health start-up uplifting postpartum people with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). She went on to spend a semester in India learning from traditional birth attendants and upon returning to Vassar College, wrote an undergraduate thesis on America's Black maternal health crisis. Following their undergraduate degree, they spent a year pre-pandemic learning about sacred birth traditions and rituals in Central/South America and Africa after being awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, and in 2022 they spent one year in India on a Fulbright Scholarship studying the implications of support networks during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Their full-spectrum doula work has found its way around the world for the past 7 years, and they are honored to now be planting roots back in their hometown of Brooklyn, overjoyed to connect with families and individuals in the place they call home.