Personal Introduction:
I am a mother, a feminist and a doula, believing in every parent's right to access the birth support they need.
I am particularly interested in (and have experience of) working with queer, trans and non-binary families, as well as with sex workers.
I have practical experience of hospital, birth centre and home births, including water birth, and I am open to supporting parents in whichever way they feel most comfortable - natural or medical.
I am based in north London and can travel across the city.
Photo credit: Danielle Kalinovskis
"I'm incredibly grateful to our doula Shiri Shalmy for her calm, generous, kind, competent, consistent support, for doing a 30 hour shift without sleep or a proper meal, for her strong arms and hands, her patience and bottomless faith in my ability to endure. Thank you Shiri for working tirelessly to support us, and to create a calm, organised environment for the birth. If you're in London and looking for a birth partner, I wholeheartedly recommend her."
JL, August 2020
"Thank you Shiri for your tireless support throughout a long labour. I so appreciated having you there and you made the process immensely smoother for both of us. Thank you for your encouragement and handholding, your calm and supportive presence, your wonderful massages and thoughtful little gifts. It was wonderful to have your wholehearted support with our birth plan, and understanding and acceptance of our wishes and needs.
I'm particularly grateful that you were able to liaise with midwives and handle the logistics so much of the time, freeing up Leo to be in the pool with me. And it was so great having you there to lean on more directly too - often literally! I felt very safe with you as my advocate and representative when there were medical professionals to liaise with. Thanks for sticking it out through a missed night of sleep, a hospital transfer and far too many missed meals. I feel privileged to have had you assist my birth and it massively contributed to making the whole experience ultimately a positive one ❤️"
HD, July 2019
"Thank you Shiri for your wonderful skillful gentle generous support. You did so much to lift us up, especially when things were hard, and to help us create the harmonious and wonderful experience that this birth was.
LD, July 2019
"Shiri accompanied me when I gave birth to my second daughter, and her presence was extremely important in making it the positive and empowering experience that it turned out to be. She was very attentive to my needs, from practical matters (like helping to get my eldest daughter ready to school when contractions started), to invaluable emotional and physical support during the different stages of the birth. She was gentle and sensitive and knew how to stay in the background when I didn’t need her, but was always there when I needed her support. I felt she was extremely tuned in to the natural process of giving birth, and had a lot of trust in it, and I found this reassuring and empowering. She helped me liaise with the midwives in difficult moments, always staying calm. My partner also found her very reassuring and really valued her help."
NL, Dec 2018