Meet the Transitions Team

Renee Forred

Owner, Transitions: Doula & Life Services

Birth & Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Education, Lactation Support

Renee spent several years in social work before she found her true calling as a birth doula in 2016, when she founded Bloom Birth Services & Design.

Since then she has been certified as a birth and postpartum doula, lactation counselor, and HypnoBirthing educator.  Renee has supported over 100 families in the great endeavor of childbirth, and she has a true love of nurturing families as they make their way through the newborn and postpartum period.

Renee is certified through Childbirth Professional International (CPI) for birth and postpartum doula work. She is certified through the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice (ALPP) for lactation counseling. She is certified through HypnoBirthing International as a childbirth educator.

In continuing her education, Renee has taken special interest in Spinning Babies as a way to better support her clients understand the physiology of pregnancy and birth.

Renee lives in Sioux Falls with her partner, four children, and dogs.  Renee believes that birth and postpartum are unique to everyone, and experiences to be had (not just something to get through). 

Kelsie Thomas

Owner, Transitions: Doula & Life Services

Birth Doula, Placenta Encapsulation, Elderly Caregiving

After graduating from the University of South Dakota in 2015 with a Bachelor of Health Science, minors in biology and studio art, Kelsie trained to be a birth doula at the Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations at Bastyr University near Seattle, Washington. She is certified through DONA international and Association of Placental Preparation Arts, Childbirth Professional International (CPI) and has additional training through Spinning Babies.

Personal experience as a caregiver and patient, professional experience within a private-practice physical medicine and rehabilitation office, and formal education contributes to Kelsie’s unique and comprehensive understanding of the doula role as it fits within the healthcare team. She brings a wholistic perspective to healthcare navigation and healing, and has a passion for healthcare literacy and patient caregiving.

Kelsie believes in the power and benefits of doula role when navigating major transitions, especially when it comes to natural processes such as life and death within a system of disease care management. To date, she has worked with over 100 birthing families and has over four years of elderly caregiving experience.

Kelsie believes that working to nurture and empower an individual, allows for support and enhancement of the family unit, and cultivation of a community.

The Doula Team