Who We Are
Doulas of SCV is a network of local birth and postpartum doulas that live in/serve the families of the Santa Clarita Valley, for over 20 years!
Additionally, Doulas of SCV has partnered with Affiliates that provide excellent complimentary services to pregnant, birthing, and postpartum families in the Santa Clarita Valley. You can see those professionals HERE
To see the Doulas of SCV Labor Doulas click on the Labor Doulas tab; to see the Doulas of SCV Postpartum Doulas, click on the Postpartum Doulas tab. Need a Childbirth Education class? A Breastfeeding Class? We have those too! Click on the Education tab to read more.
Want to read about our history, founder, and leaders? Scroll below
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!
Doulas of SCV History and Founders
2005: Yahoo group SCVandAVDoulas was formed by Darla Burns & Yvonne Novak and some other local doulas. In-person meetings were held.
October 2007: Yvonne Novak and Darla Burns formally began “Doulas of Santa Clarita” yahoo group after a desire to have the term “Santa Clarita” incorporated for ease of search. In person meetings continued to be held…usually monthly.
In 2011 Yvonne moved to Pasadena, so Tiffany Gallo began co-hosting meetings with Darla. Tiffany would soon begin her journey to become a licensed midwife.
In 2013 Charter College reached out to Darla about having the local doulas come and speak with their LVN students about the benefits of doula support. This became a 4x per year opportunity to speak at this college.
July 2013: Doulas of SCV Facebook Group began to support local doulas and families in their search for birth and postpartum doulas. This group was later made Members Only and we created a Doulas of SCV Page on Facebook.
October 2013: Darla created the website DoulasofSCV.com where the local doulas, educators, and other perinatal professionals could be listed. Also established doulasofscv@gmail.com. Any/all inquiries through the website or via email are forwarded to the group so everyone has an equal opportunity to interview for jobs.
June 2014: Cali Judson began co-leading Doulas of SCV meetings with Darla
January 2015: Cali and Darla began organizing the first Doula Speed Dating event.
March 28, 2015: The first Doula Speed Dating (later called Birth Baby Bonding Expo) took place at Spotlight Arts. We had several doulas and vendors participate and was a huge success!
January 2016: Cali and Darla legitimized Doulas of SCV by registering the business name, getting a tax ID number, opening a checking account, creating a Code of Conduct for our members, and starting a more formal agreement for our members. Members were required to pay membership dues to be listed on the website, attend the Birth Baby and Bonding Expo, be included in a Members Only Doulas of SCV group, and receive job leads. Those not wanting to pay the dues were still able to attend all doula meetings, were added to Birth Network of SCV FB group, and were still given ongoing support as needed/wanted.
March 2016: Birth Baby and Bonding Expo took place at Babies R Us with over 100 attendees and 16 vendors (including Henry Mayo!). Hugely successful and proceeds from the raffle benefited The Birth Foundation.
2017: Debra Osterkamp took on co-leadership duties with Darla and Cali
2020-2021: COVID made it very difficult for us to meet in person, but we continued to communicate through our members-only Facebook Group. Requests for doula support continued to pour in, despite the pandemic.
2021: Despite the ongoing pandemic, Doulas of SCV was able to support over 45 families in and around the Santa Clarita Valley. Cali Judson and Debra Osterkamp both took a more active and full-time role with the local birth center Pure Births (owned by Licensed Midwife, Tiffany Gallo) and have taken a step back from co-leading Doulas of SCV. The continue to offer support to local doulas when needed and forward all support requests to our Doulas of SCV Network.
2022: With Yvonne Novak back in the Santa Clarita Valley, she has agreed to co-Lead Doulas of SCV with Darla once again! We are supporting over 31 Members and Affiliate Members and have been holding great educational events for the doulas as well as the community. We are committed to growth and advancing the doula career!
2024: We had over 56 job leads for our doulas and hosted a Birthworkers Mixer with over 40 perinatal professionals in attendance! We have 31 Members (Doulas and Affiliates).
2025: We had over 42 requests for doula support; hosted a Birthworkers Mixer with over 30 perinatal professionals in attendance. We have 33 Members (Doulas and Affiliates). The doulas and affiliates gathered for Coffee and Convo meeting at Makenna in April; Had a Doulas Night Out at Pocock in May; Gathered for a Birthworkers Mixer in August (with over 30 perinatal professionals in attendance); represented doulas at the Bump to Baby Expo in September (many of our affiliates were in attendance too!)
