MEET LAUREN

Lauren Thompson, MHS, CLC, PMH-C

Lauren is a postpartum doula and lactation counselor who holds a master's degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. There, she researched perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, lactation, and community-based models of care. She co-founded a local nonprofit, Community After Birth, to close gaps in postpartum support in Maryland and raise doula funds for families unable to financially access that care. 

Most important to her, she is mom to 3 wonderful kiddos. She came to this work after a frustrating and painful pregnancy and postpartum experience with her firstborn when she was a young parent. She struggled with several breastfeeding issues as well as bouts of postpartum depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She wishes she had known what a postpartum doula was then!

After birthing her first two children within an OB/GYN-led hospital system, she decided to have a Midwife-attended home birth with her third. Each birth and postpartum experience taught her something new, and she welcomes all families to her doula practice, regardless of their choice of medical care or arrival to parenting. 

When she's not busy researching and working with families welcoming new babes, she loves being outside in nature, singing in the car with the windows down, crocheting, and reading.