Sabrina Flack - Birthworker - Moon Sprout

11/18/2021

After a busy first year and a half in yellowknife doing front line birthwork stuff, I decided to pause for the rest of 2021, take a breath and not be on call for a little while!

It has been nourishing in a lot of ways but I’ve also been missing witnessing, holding space for and accompanying birthing folks!

Sharing with y’all some limited availability that I have for the first half of next year. Share with someone who you know is due in these time frames that may need some extra support! ✨

Accepting clients birthing in Yellowknife with due dates between Jan 31 - March 7 and May 20 - June 12.

Sliding scale/pro bono available for BIPOC/2SLGBTQ+ folks & fams. 🌱

10/26/2021

We have been quiet in this space over the last few months as we’ve been moving through transition, narrowing our focus, and planning our next steps.

We look forward to sharing more with you as we navigate our very own rebirth, but for now we wanted to share a little bit about language and why we will be moving away from using the term doula to represent our work & community as a whole.

The word doula has origins in the Greek language and translates to “woman servant” or “woman slave”.

While we understand that the term is now widely used to represent reproductive health support companions, we believe that this word doesn’t accurately represent the work we do or the communities we serve.

For now we have been and will be using the term Birthwork and Birthworker to represent the care we provide and the people who provide the care. While we recognize that not all support provided is for birthing, we believe that through all big transitions comes an emotional, spiritual and physical rebirth.

As always, we encourage people to use language that best represents them, and that for some reclaiming the word doula is what feels best and we honour that for each individual.

Our collective will always lean towards decolonizing and adapting all aspects of our work to be anti-racist, inclusive, and respectful of the communities we serve.

05/25/2021

friends - everything in me is calling for a break from social media platforms

my mental health really suffers from being on here too much and having to “use it for work” is not a good enough excuse to not take a break

I am pausing for now - not sure how long... my body/mind/spirit will let me know when it’s time to come back

also pausing on birth clients until october // available spaces for birth clients for the rest of the year is: 2 in october, 2 in november and 1 in early december.

other services still available!

head to my website to learn more (link in bio) or email me at sabrina@moonsprout.ca with any questions 🌿

xoxo enjoy retrograde/eclipse season! 🌝

05/07/2021

I haven’t introduced myself here in a while and the past couple months have brought some new faces! Hello hello 👋🏽. Thank you for being here 🙏🏽.

I’m Sabrina. A mixed race black, pansexual, q***r, cisgender woman & settler living in Chief Drygeese Territory, traditional lands of the Yellowknife Dene First Nation (aka Yellowknife).

Holding those identities, I’ve often felt “in the middle” and never quite settled or fully accepted anywhere.

Every day is a spiritual journey into finding that deeper acceptance and sense of home in my self.

My 🌞 is in Scorpio, my 🌙 is in Cancer and my Rising is in Libra. For those into Astrology this will tell you more about me than you ever really need to know!

I’m a full-spectrum doula which means I support & hold space for people through pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum, including all pregnancy outcomes (miscarriage, abortion, loss).

I’m also the Project Director for , a charitable project I co-founded with some amazing humans in the North.

My role in reproductive wellness support has my Cancer moon in my 10th house (of career/long term goals/public roles) written all over it 😅

I believe that collective community care is everything. I strive to create spaces and services that are inclusive, accessible and centre those who aren’t usually centred in our society. ✊🏽

I appreciate everyone who is here to witness this work I am doing and love to build community through conversation.

Comment or DM me with any questions or curiosities you have about doula work/support for yourself or a loved one 🌸

[ID: beige background w/ 2 images of Sabrina in a black dress with 2 decorative light green leaves around the photos]

05/04/2021

Join Dehga and I in a couple of weeks for a Pregnancy & Postpartum Sharing Circle for the BIPOC community in the NWT.

This is our first offering through the collective and we are super excited to get started on our programming/initiatives.

Many more events like this to come!

We are very excited to announce our first ever Sharing Circle for BIPOC Birth Givers in the NWT. Hosted by Sabrina Flack & Dehga Scott.

We have been wanting to share an offering with our community for a while now, and we figure that with everything going on with the pandemic in the NWT right now, there is no better time to come together and support each other through life’s big transitions.

This circle is for folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, Racialized/Persons of Colour, who are currently pregnant or up to around 1 year postpartum.

It will be a place for you to connect with other parents/parents-to-be, receive peer support from each other, and receive support/resources from Dehga and Sabrina who are both trained and experienced Birthworkers.

Overall, we want you to know and feel that you are not alone. Community is everything!

This first circle will have some conversational prompts, but will be pretty flexible and guided by whatever comes up when we share the space together.

LINK TO REGISTER: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIuc-yurT4uEtIm97cwhElyEPqJusNUN4qy
LINK TO FB EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/520708815612744/

Or EMAIL northernbirthworkcollective@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you!

04/22/2021

We believe that climate and reproductive justice are deeply connected.

Our bodies are made of this land and earth and we are reliant on and connected to the health of our planet.

We come to this earth surrounded by water before we are born and take our first breath.

We need this water & this air to be safe.

The birth givers who face the most challenges in reproductive health systems are from the same communities that face the most challenges with climate change.

Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice activists and advocates fight for the same thing: a safer planet to continue life on that is full of joy, health, and reciprocity.

By supporting families to birth in respect, dignity and with their cultural traditions, our communities walk further down the path of healing and that healing directly impacts the treatment and healing of our planet.⁠
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Our research and development lead Dehga shares this quote from her research on Indigenous Motherhood:⁠
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"Our treaties state that “as long as the sun rises, the river flows, and the land does not move we will not be restricted from our way of life”. If you look at the true meaning behind “the river flows” it is referring to a mother birthing her child and her water breaking because as mothers we are giving life to the next generation of leaders. We are resilient and powerful and it is with the next generation we will continue our culture and tradition."⁠
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[ID: a photo of NWT landscape with trees and a waterfall with a black border on a beige and soft red background, with text that says "climate and reproductive justice" in black and white]

04/12/2021

This week we celebrate the health, joy, liberation, resilience, power and strength of black women, mothers, birthers, parents, families, midwives, community organizers and activists who work every day the change the narrative around black perinatal health.

If you’ve been paying attention - you know the statistics are bad. I’m not here to reel those into you.

I’m here to remind you to do something this week to honour someone in your life who is doing the work of creating a safer world for black birth givers, and to make sure you are doing the necessary inner work to untangle your internalized white supremacy so that you become a safer person to all black folks.

04/08/2021

Birthworkers/doulas do a lot of things, but one thing we don’t do is promise any specific outcomes for your birth.

We do our best with the knowledge we hold to support you through the variety of situations that may come up during your labour and birth, but we cannot make decisions for you or save you from the decisions you make.

We can advocate for you to be informed about those decisions, remind you of your wishes, and support you emotionally and physically through all outcomes.

Navigating the L&D room is a constant learning process for me as a birthworker. I’ve had a lot of nurses and doctors disregard/put down the suggestions I give, and suggest other things that just lead to intervention after intervention. On the other hand, I’ve had nurses and doctors that just let us “do our thing” and honour the physiological process. I wish there was more of the latter.

I wish that care providers would realize that letting someone know you’re about to do something to their body is not the same as asking them if you can do something to their body. I wish more care providers understood informed consent.

Reminding my clients to take the space to listen to their intuition, asking them if they need anything else before making a decision, reminding them to ask about the benefits/risks/alternatives, and letting them know that no matter what they decide, they are supported, is the best I can do.

This has all been on my mind a lot lately, so I am sharing. I am sharing because I am always learning. The learning doesn’t stop in this work so I expect to still come up against challenging situations with every client I support/birth I attend and taking what I learn and sharing it with every client that comes after.

Ultimately - my hope is that whatever direction the experience goes in, that my clients feel cared for, supported, and listened to through all the moments of their labour and birth.

Any other doulas out there think about all this a lot?!?!?

03/31/2021

today is trans day of visibility.

do something today (and every day) to make the world a safer place for trans folks to show up visibly, as their whole selves, in safety and without fear.

my suggestion: donate to - who are doing incredibly important work in the nwt supporting trans youth.

also, not all people who give birth identify as women. period. 🏳️‍⚧️

03/22/2021

Happy World Doula Week y’all! 🎉

In celebration of this week, my new office space at Mermaid & Moon Boutique, and the upcoming libra full moon, we are doing a giveaway!

to enter:

🌕 follow me & on instagram and/or facebook
🌕 like this photo
🌕 tag 2 friends!

the winner gets:

🧜🏽‍♀️ a beautiful adult gift OR baby gift OR a mix of both! (swipe to see prize photos) - This gift can be shipped in the US and Canada
🌱 a labour and birth preparation session (explore comfort measures, birth preferences & more!) - This can be virtual or in person (if in Yellowknife), has no expiry and can also be gifted to someone else if you are not pregnant.

enter by March 28th, on the full moon in libra! 🌕
we will announce the winner the next day.

We hope you will join us in celebrating doulas, birth workers, birth keepers and birth companions near and far!

03/21/2021

Our next introduction is actually a re-introduction. In addition to her role as Project Director, Sabrina is also a practicing doula ()⁠:⁠⁠
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Hi again! I wanted to use this space this week to share a bit more about my doula practice. Something that I have spent the last two years nurturing, growing and cultivating.⁠⁠
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I completed my first birth doula training workshop in April of 2019, and have spent the last two years of practice on an eye opening, unravelling, inspiring, and dedicated journey of learning so that I can fully show up for the clients that choose me to be a part of their experience.⁠⁠
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In addition to that first workshop and completing certification as a birth and postpartum doula, I have continued to grow as a birthworker with the hands on experience that I have had supporting families in a variety of ways (birth, postpartum, and virtually) and with continued education (prenatal yoga and pregnancy and early childhood nutrition). ⁠⁠
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A training I am currently diving into is Birthing Beyond the Binary. I am committed to doing the important work of making my doula practice a safer and more inclusive space for all people and the wide variety of identities they hold. I will also be taking an Abortion Doula training in April, an offering I plan to provide for free to the community.⁠⁠
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While the priority in my work has always been supporting clients to have positive and embodied birthing experiences, this past year has drawn a lot of my attention to the political side of birthwork. I strongly believe that the two cannot be separated. Access to care and support that is grounded in cultural safety, anti racism, and inclusivity is a human right. It is reproductive justice. It is a huge why behind the Collective and a huge why behind my work as a doula.⁠⁠
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Decolonizing the way I practice and run my business is an ever evolving journey that I continue to engage with everyday. I look forward to the task and seeing where it all ends up!