Barbara Vernéus
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Barbara Verneus is a first generation Indigenous Haitian American who comes from a line of ancestral midwives from her maternal side. After digging into her mother’s lineage, she realized that midwifery chose her more than she chose it. In 2003, she became a doula serving mothers in New York City. In 2006 , she traveled to Senegal, West Africa to volunteer with the the African Birth Collective, and decided then to become a midwife. Since, Barbara has trained in several states (NY, MA, PA, TX, and NJ).
In 2013, she discovered she was pregnant and birthed a beautiful baby girl the following year. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, she launched Tiny and Brave Holistic Doula Services in 2015, gained her masters in counseling with a concentration in Marriage and Family, in 2016, and began her journey towards becoming a certified professional midwife.
She has worked as a midwifery assistant in Brooklyn, NY at Dyekora Sumda Midwifery Services, MotherBloom in Austin, TX and currently, Baraka Midwifery Serving in the surrounding areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She has served as an advisor to teenage mothers at PathWays PA, an organization that helps women, teens, children and families achieve economic independence and family well-being. In pursuit of her Graduate Certificate in Maternal and Child Health from Boston University, Barbara conducted workshops in the Boston area on women’s, reproductive, infant, and adolescent health. She has led workshops, across the country, on topics such as racism, motherhood and mental wellness; breastfeeding and the history of Black midwives within radical birth work. She has also been featured in several social media platforms. To date, she has attended over 300 births since starting her journey in birth work.
Barbara desires to provide intentional comprehensive therapeutic continuity of care to families in urban communities and overseas that allows families to feel empowered, honored and safe. Grieved by the abuse of women and children and the lack of value of marginalized families; she seeks to reemphasize the importance of the family unit because all parties are vital to the development of one’s community no matter the makeup. She strongly believes that one’s sovereignty is their birthright to birth right. She hopes that her practice will seek to help in the movement of birth equity and sustainability for the midwife and the families they serve to purposefully thrive and not just exist.
To see a more in depth profile of her experiences and training click here.
