Jesse Remer, BDT/PDT(DONA), CD/PCD(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, LCT

I am dedicated to creating an integrated healthcare system for families in the childbearing year for a far reaching impact on health across generations.
— Jesse

 

Jesse is a visionary in the field of integrated healthcare. She brings her skills as a doula, trainer, educator, speaker, writer, change agent, advocate and resource to support the creation of new models of maternity care. She specializes in the childbearing year but her wisdom is available to many modalities of traditional healthcare work.

Jesse is a leader in the doula field. She’s the founder of Mother Tree Birth Services the largest doula practice in Oregon, providing pregnancy, birth and postpartum support to families in the greater Portland and Vancouver area since 2001. She is a leading expert in the clinical design team for Providence Health Systems Pregnancy Care Package and became the first staff doula of their integrated healthcare model. She is a founding member of the Oregon Doula Association (ODA) and chair of the Policy & Advisory Committee. She is a liaison to the Oregon Health Authority Traditional Healthcare Workers Systems Integration subcommittee working on creating sustainable systems of doula support within the system.

She has supported thousands of families during her combined 20 years in private practice and as lead doula at PMCC. She is a certified birth and postpartum doula (DONA) and a doula trainer (DONA). She’s trained hundreds of doulas, nursing students and L&D staff in the art of doula care internationally. 

Jesse is dedicated to bridging models of care and has worked with many health systems including Providence Health Systems, Adventist Health, Legacy Health Systems, HealthShare of Oregon, Aviva Institute, Zenana Spa & Wellness Center as a childbirth educator, breastfeeding counselor, trainer and infant hearing screening coordinator. She has contributed her support and expertise to numerous doula organizations, educational institutionsand agencies including the Oregon Health Sciences University PDX Doula Program, Gateway Doula Project, Doula Love and Westside Doulas. Jesse speaks on behalf of the doula profession at numerous conferences, nursing schools and health care settings. 

For the past eight years she’s led the only 6-month doula intensive  designed to give doulas hands-on skills in a variety of modalities including 1-1 doula care, staff "shift" doula care, buiding a private practice, cooperative or agency model. Several successful doula groups and dozens of professional doulas have used The Mother Tree Internship as their foundation for crafting their practices. 

Prior to her work as a doula Jesse trained as a professional midwife and and completed a two year midwifery certificate program. She also worked closely with Waterbirth International founder Barbara Harper.Deepening her foundation in  physiologic birth she chose to bring these "home-like" principles to hospital birth. She herself was born prematurely at 2lbs 9 oz and received life-saving measures from the first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Oregon at what is now the Oregon Health Sciences University. She went on to attend over a dozen home births within her extended family as she grew up and birthed her own babies with waterbirths at home. 

Jesse has a diverse experience making her role as an integrated doula unique---including working  with change agents in the field of organizational development. She coordinated an annual Breakfast for Excellence for the Portland business community and international leadership conferences for delegates to the Performance Center, a Portland State based think tank best known for the Oregon Quality Award in Business and the Leadership Institute.

Jesse has 17 years in journalism, public relations, marketing, event planning and hospitality. She was the first marketing director that helped to open a community events center on the Oregon Coast that hosted over 300 events a year including broadway shows, conferences and conventions. She founded an annual Community Health Fair that is now in it’s 18th year running. She was the director of events for the Steve Martin Management Co. — owner of the Surfsand Resort and Stephanie Inn in Cannon Beach, OR specializing in corporate retreats. She earned the highest group sales record for the company in it’s history.

She receiving her Bachelors of Science in Journalism degree at University of Oregon and a certificate of Midwifery with Hands-On Midwifery. She is a DONA certified birth and postpartum doula and a DONA-approved Birth and Postpartum Trainer.

Jesse lives in Portland, OR at the Mother Tree Retreat Center with her two sons Dashiell and Juna on 5 acres of other assorted nature creatures in Portland, Oregon. 

As a trained life coach, it was so wonderful to see the aspects of life coaching, married with the birth doula training. Jesse demonstrated excellent listening skills. She was able to listen from an internal place as well as a focused listening place. She balanced the ability to share info about herself when appropriate and then to listen and focus on others throughout the weekend. Her biggest gift to us all is her level 3 listening. The ability to hear what’s not being said in the room using her intuition. She did an amazing job at reading the rooms energy and temperature to help guide us through the doula training.

I also was impressed with her ability to allow the group to answer their own proposed questions. This is a powerful coaching tool when a client is able to come to an answer themselves.

Another skill Jesse did an amazing job with us was, championing us as students. If we questioned our own abilities she was there to 100% support us. I really felt like she believed in each one of us as new doulas. Her positive energy radiates from her into others.

Yet another skill I saw was the ability to reframe. She taught us how to do this with clients. It’s so important to be able to hold the agenda for our clients and help them find a new perspective if needed.

This weekend was full of so many golden moments of information and Jesse paired that with an environment of love, compassion and warmth. She is a fabulous leader and trainer. I would highly recommend Jesse as a doula and as a trainer of birth classes.
— Jennifer Askew Trained Co-Active Life Coach