Sonya Duffee

Since 1998, Sonya has accompanied women and families in labour to ensure a safe and satisfying birth experience. She received various training through Elmont Professional Birth Services, where she attended DONA Certified Doula Training, Advanced Doula Training, Birthwise Midwifery and Labour Support Skills workshops, as well as Mother Wellness Massage for childbirth. She was also a volunteer birth companion at the Peter Lougheed Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. Sonya is the owner of Full Circle Birth Collective and Full Circle Postpartum Doula Care, one of Edmonton's first doula agency for postpartum care. She is an approved CAPPA Doula and Postpartum Doula training and has trained close to 350 doulas within Canada. . Sonya studied midwifery through Maternidad La Luz in El Paso, Texas, she was supervised through a variety of midwifery apprenticeships, attended the Prior Learning and Experience Assessment (PLEA) as well as the International Midwifery Pre-Registration program at Ryerson University in Toronto. Sonya completed and passed many oral clinical exams along with the Midwifery Registration National Exam. Prior to the regulation of midwifery services in Regina, Saskatchewan, Sonya was the home birth primary care provider for over five years, servicing those who desired a family-centered birth experience. Her past work experience working in the Simulation Learning centre at SIAST, in Regina, Saskatchewan, where they trained EMT and nursing students on emergency medical skills in a simulated scenerio and being appointed by the Saskatchewan Health minister to sit on the transitional council which later became the Saskatchewan College of Midwives, helped to develop a further understanding in procedures and protocols, along with her wisdom of the medical realm of birth with a wholistic viewpoint, provides the ability to balance the two approaches to provide a full range of options and choices that parents feel is best for them. Sonya is also a certified CAPPA Childbirth Educator and conducts her prenatal visits with clients as a completed childbirth education, providing classes on all things new parents want to know. Each session will uncover finding your birth values, what is important to you, coping techniques and strategies, mindset for labour and birthing and what to expect in the postpartum for you and your baby. All of our sessions are done in private, so you can feel free to ask questions and discuss details on how things have been unfolding for you, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Sonya draws upon her knowledge and experience to provide exceptional emotional support and physical comfort, while communicating with your birth team to ensure you have all the information you need, to make an informed choice throughout your labour. She provides reassurance and perspective to you and your partner, offers suggestions for labour progress, aids with relaxation techniques, including massage and positioning, among other comfort measures. Over the years of practice, Sonya has specialized in Surrogacy, working with surrogacy and intended families, VBAC and higher risk clients. She has vast experience working in home birth settings, hospitals and our birthing center here in Edmonton. She has attended many workshops related to birth over the years, including the Spinning Babies. As a mother of two adult children and now a grandmother, Sonya draws upon her life experience and knowledge base to support and guide families through the maze of information and resources as they navigate the best experience for each family, however they define it.