Who we are
Board
Natasha Hines
Chair
Natasha (she/her) is a registered nurse working in abortion care in Halifax (K'jipuktuk), Nova Scotia who graduated from the Dalhousie University Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. She is passionate about providing accessible reproductive care and creating a safe environment for her patients. Outside of reproductive healthcare, Natasha's nursing background includes working in oncology and medicine services. She also helps to teach the Interprofessional Care of Surgical and Medical Abortion Course at Dalhousie University.
Sara Tessier
Inreach/Outreach Director
Sara A. Tessier is a social justice advocate with lived experience who has spent the last seven years working with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized, and institutionalized men, women and youth in Canada. She currently works as the Impact Manager- Formerly Incarcerated Persons with the Northpine Foundation. She worked as a Peer Mentor with the Coverdale Courtwork Society and Outreach Worker with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland. She has worked on the JEC project with John Howard, Elizabeth Fry, Mainland Nova Scotia, and Coverdale Courtwork Society in supporting people exiting provincial jail during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is an advisor for the African Nova Scotian Affairs Mobilizing Partnership Program, a committee member for YWCA's Trafficking & Exploitation Services System LGBTQ+ cultural group, and Co-chair- of the Scientific Advisory Committee – WW. She sits on the CAEFS Lived Experience Committee. Sara sits on the Board of Directors for the 7th Step Society of NS and Dalhousie Legal Aid Society. Sara will be attending law school at Dalhousie University shortly.
Dr. El Jones
Dr. El Jones is a spoken word poet, an educator, journalist, and a community activist living in African Nova Scotia. She was the fifth Poet Laureate of Halifax. In 2016, El was a recipient of the Burnley “Rocky” Jones human rights award for her community work and work in prison justice. She is a co-founder of the Black Power Hour, a live radio show with people who have experienced incarceration on CKDU that creates space for people inside to share their creative work and discuss contemporary social and political issues, and along with this work, she supports women in Nova Institution in writing and sharing their voices. El was named the Nancy's Chair of Women's Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University for the 2017-2019 term. Her book of spoken word poetry, Live from the Afrikan Resistance! was published by Roseway Press in 2014. El would like to pay tribute to the many nameless and unrecognized women whose work makes it possible for her to be here today.
Dr. Martha Paynter
DIrector of Research/Past Chair
Dr. Martha Paynter is the author of Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick, where her research examines the intersection of reproductive health and the justice system. She is a faculty member of the Contraception and Abortion Research Team in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and with the Health Law Institute at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. The founder of Wellness Within: An Organization for Health and Justice, Dr. Paynter received the Senate of Canada 150 Anniversary Medal for her volunteer service to the country. Her clinical practice focuses on abortion and reproductive care.
Kristen Turtle
Treasurer
Kristen is a registered nurse who provides abortion care. She is passionate about ensuring people have accessible and compassionate abortion care and contraception. She is an instructor in the Interprofessional Care of Surgical and Medical Abortion Patients course at Dalhousie University.
Stevie Fort
Vice CHair
Stevie Fort, BA, is a fat liberationist, prison abolitionist, and birth doula. Her journey to birth work started with the Volunteer Doula Program and has brought her to the full-time position as the Prenatal and Postnatal Educator at Chebucto Family Centre. She has been a member of Wellness Within for over 5 years and looks forward to coordinating impactful group work for the communities we serve.
Jeanine Goulet
Clinical Director
The team
Grisha Cowal
Membership Coordinator
Grisha is a fourth-year Bachelor of Arts student completing a combined major in sociology and gerontology with a minor in women’s studies at Mount Saint Vincent University. Grisha is a client support worker at two Halifax shelters for women and gender-diverse individuals. She is a feminist with a special interest in prison abolition, housing, and reproductive justice.
Clare Heggie
Research Coordinator
Clare Heggie is a health researcher and health promoter, currently working as a health promotion specialist at IWK Health. She has a MA in Health Promotion from Dalhousie University and has been a volunteer doula for three years.
Juniper Littlefield
Merch Manager, Communication & Campaigns Coordinator
Juniper is a licensed urban planner living and working in Halifax. She has a Bachelor of Community Design from Dalhousie University and is interested in how careful and empathetic policies and practices can shape communities.
Julia Hutt
Artist
Julia Hutt is a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist residing in K’jipuktuk. Inspired by her own experience with pregnancy, birthing and baby-raising, Julia works with both traditional and digital illustration to create anecdotal scenes that portray snapshots of early parenthood. Common themes in her work include lactation, body positivity, and birthing people’s body changes. This work aims to challenge the capitalist devaluation of child-rearing work and traditionally gendered work such as housework and feeding kids.
Julia regularly does commissioned portrait work for new mothers and families. Her ongoing collaborations include album artwork for local singer Aquakultre and promotional portraits for artist Elise Peterson’s podcast ‘Talk Cool Moms’ based in Brooklyn NYC. In 2019, Julia was the artist in residence for Wellness Within’s conference “Confronting the Carceral State: Autonomy, Community, and Liberation”. Since then, she has produced work with Wellness Within and Martha Paynter to raise awareness about reproductive justice in the Canadian prison system.
Jahtaya Skeete
2023 Junior Artist in Residence
Jahtaya Skeete is the owner of Taya Ties, a tie-dye apparel company based in Halifax. Her passion for tie-dyeing began with making clothes for herself for fun during the pandemic lockdown. Interest grew on social media which led to her launching Taya Ties officially at the North End Business Association's Taking BLK Gottingen Market in September 2020. With the support of her community and her family, Taya Ties quickly grew and enjoys giving back to the community. Her proudest accomplishments include being nominated for new business of the year through the Halifax Chamber of Commerce 2021 and 2022 and teaching tie-dye classes to children across HRM in partnership with Black Business Initiative and St. George's Youthnet. Jahtaya's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to "just do it and not wait to perfect it". You can find Taya on Instagram @taya.ties
Lisa Bland
Lisa Bland is a Black woman hailing from the historic black community of Five Mile Plains, Nova Scotia. She is an RN, and IBCLC (lapsed). She has over 12 years’ experience in maternal-newborn care, gynecology, breast health, trans health, elder care, and as a nurse educator. Her focus on diversity, equity, and social justice has led to an internship with the Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle (Auburn Seminary). Mother of 2 children, 27 chickens, and a cat, Lisa has an interest in food security and self-sustainability.
Hilary Marentette
Nova Institution for Women Doula Co-Coordinator
Hilary created and established the first Volunteer Doula Program in Atlantic Canada at the Chebucto Family Centre in 1996. She gained the support of the IWK Health Centre and Public Health and also developed connections with several agencies who provide services to marginalized communities. This allowed the program to support a wide variety of families have a more positive birth experience. In addition to supporting many birthing families, she has trained hundreds of doulas. Since her retirement, Hilary has continued to volunteer as a doula.
Danielle LeBlanc
Abortion Coordinator
Danielle LeBlanc (she/her) is a registered nurse working in abortion and reproductive health care in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Aside from her clinical work, she co-created and co-facilitates an interprofessional health education course on abortion care and contraception for undergraduate health profession students at Dalhousie University, provides educational workshops in the community through Wellness Within, and is involved in abortion research. She is currently working towards a master’s degree in nursing (Nurse Practitioner) at Dalhousie University.
Anja McLeod
Knowledge Translation
Anja (she/her) is a master's student in Sociology at Dalhousie. She is a third-generation birth worker, with a passion for mobilizing health research into accessible community resources.
Aishwarya Heran
Reproductive Justice Intern
Aishwarya Heran is a second-year BSc student and Loran Scholar at McGill University from Vancouver, BC. She is interested in the intersections of social advocacy and medicine, specifically reproductive rights and justice. Aishwarya is involved in many equity-based initiatives and hopes to work towards positive change in her community.
Clark MacIntosh
Queer Doula Coordinator
Clark MacIntosh, BSc, BSW, is the Finance and Resource Centre Coordinator for the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group. They are a graduate of the Dalhousie School of Social Work, where they focused on anti-oppressive, queer-centred practice. As a disabled, non-binary parent of two, Clark is an advocate for accessible, equitable policy design who has consulted with non-profit groups across the province.
Grace Szucs
Website Developer, Comms
With 10+ years of experience in administration, communications, event planning, and community development, Grace is always seeking to learn new skills and make connections between people, resources, and issues to push organizations and communities forward.
Emily Peter-Paul
Doula Coordinator for Paqtnkek First Nation
With funding from the Canadian Women's Foundation, Emily is the coordinator for Indigenous-led doula practice initiatives at Paqtnkek First Nation Health Centre. Emily is the Health Centre nurse and a Master's of Adult Education student at STFX
Wanda Cox
Nova Institution for Women Doula Co-Coordinator
Wanda Cox is Wellness Within’s lead doula trainer and Nova Institution for Women Doula Co-Coordinator. She trained as a birth doula in 1999 and has been expanding the ways she serves families ever since, including completing training/ certification as a Lamaze Childbirth Educator, Infant Massage Instructor, Postpartum Doula, Lactation Educator, Evidence Based Birth® Instructor and she is a DONA Approved Birth Doula trainer. She has been a long time volunteer with the Volunteer Doula Program in Halifax and has worked with community groups and family resource centres across NS to enhance services to families.
Jordan Johnson
2023 Artist in Residence
Jordan Johnson is a 27 year old multidisciplinary artist from Fredericton, New Brunswick. She is new to the art community here in Halifax but has had a paintbrush in hand for as long as she can remember. Her art is a direct representation of her internal and external influences such as music, fellow black artists and nature. With Jordan’s bright and soulful colour palettes, her use of texture and movement take you on a visual journey across the canvas. All of her pieces derive from an initial in-the-moment feeling; but, she really encourages people to interpret and resonate with her art however they choose and to feel a part of the piece they are viewing. Jordan wants to inspire others to tap into their full creative potentials in whatever form that may look like to them. You can find Jordan’s paintings on Instagram @supportyourlocaljordan