Hi, I'm Jessie Harrold
I’m a coach, doula + author.
I guide women through life transitions and rites of passage.
When I began practicing as a doula nearly twenty years ago, I found myself becoming increasingly fascinated by matrescence, or the transition to motherhood, as a rite of passage. I witnessed women for whom motherhood catalyzed an accompanying landslide of other changes to their lives, and started to get curious about how all women navigate the process of becoming.
Since then, I have supported thousands of women to traverse the threshold between where they lose themselves and where they find themselves once more.
And here’s what I know in my bones:
When people are deeply witnessed and held through a rite of passage, they grow capacities that our wider world desperately needs right now.
They become more able to hold paradox and complexity. They learn how to navigate in the darkness of liminal space, and they draw from a confident well of inner knowing. They understand the power of a good ritual, and they lean more readily into interdependence and relationality with the human and other-than-human world. They awaken to the oppressions of our modern culture, and they become tender stewards of their own liberation – and that of the world around them. They apprentice themselves to leadership and eldership, and they harvest some deep wisdom along the way. In short, they become the kind of people that I want to step into the future with.
And so it is that this work is really my prayer for and blessing upon that world we’re stepping into, that we may become the kind of people who can meet it squarely, with creative minds, wise hearts and resilient bodies.
Who I am and how I got here…
Heart-led Researcher
In my work with women navigating life transitions and rites of passage, I have come to learn that women and people socialized as women – and, honestly, most humans with two feet and a heartbeat - “do” change uniquely and in ways that haven’t been deeply explored or well-recognized by adult development psychologists, neuroscientists, mythologists and self-help gurus alike.
Owing to the influence of the decade I spent as a qualitative researcher and my graduate degree in women’s wellness, I responded to this by developing an evidence-based model that is deeply attuned to the complexities of modern-day women’s lives and how they navigate change and transition. I call it the Four Elements of Radical Transformation – because radical comes from the word for root, and every life transition or rite of passage asks you to remember your roots; to reconnect with who you are and what matters most to you.
Animist Earth Steward
I gratefully tend, work, play and am deeply held and supported by Mi’kmaq’i, the unceded Indigenous Mi’kmaq land colonially known as Nova Scotia, Canada. I am a student of herons and chickadees, a lover of beach roses and metronomic seaweed. My apprenticeship to the living world began early, and I have sought the solace of evergreens and ocean tides my entire life. From my years as a scuba instructor until my work now, as an ecotherapy-trained coach, herbalist and outdoor guide, I have seen the potential for embodiment, healing, connection and clarity that reverent and reciprocity-centred earth connection offers us.
I have also seen, time and again, that we become more ourselves when we reconnect with the wild and with our own wildish nature – when we remember that we are nature.
Aspiring Wise Woman
My elders are the womb-to-tomb midwives who were skilled in the art and science of being with women as they stepped across the threshold of transformation. In the way of these wise women, times of tectonic shift in our lives were known to be normal, cyclical processes that held tremendous potential for personal, spiritual and collective growth, even when they were deeply challenging. These guides skillfully partnered and communicated with the numinous so they could hold ground at the epicentre of transformation.
And so it is that I am ever-deepening my capacity to do the same. I am guided and supported by mentors, ancestors, a steadfast search for magic, and by the rigorous and ongoing initiation of motherhood.
Teacher + Alchemist
There is nothing that energizes and enlivens me more than teaching what I’ve learned; what I’m still learning. I am most at home leading + facilitating curious, courageous humans on new adventures of the heart, body and mind.
And alchemy? That’s the poet in me, saying I am exquisitely skilled at the art of getting shit done. Because hand-in-hand with the soulful work of reconnecting with your truth and your values is the part where you decide What’s Next, and put one foot in front of the other toward transformation.
Writer
I am a writer. Maybe before anything else, I was a 10-year-old penning novels on the dodgeball court, fending off flying balls as I worked on character development.
Writing is my spiritual practice, my preferred therapeutic modality, my self-care, and, as they say, my original medicine – the way in which I have been called to offer healing and support to others, too. I do this every day, in poetry and prose and well-researched articles alike; in the reflections I share in my newsletter, on social media, in heartfelt notes to my clients, and in the books I write.
The Stuff Not Everyone Knows…
I am a Post-It Note poet
voracious reader | born + bred science nerd | magic seeker
partner to a gentle, patient man I met underwater
and a mother of two humans.
I have been a swimming instructor, professional scuba diver, cook, health policy analyst, food writer + breastfeeding educator (in that order).
I broke a world record for long-distance ocean swimming, and I’ve been known to deliver breast milk donations on my motorcycle.
I have more scarves than is sensible, and am a coffee-loving tea drinker.
I am an obsessive adventurer / knitter / car singer...
... and the caretaker of a small cottage, aspiring flower farm and a miraculous hive of bees on the wild east coast of Canada.
Ready to dive in?
Take the quiz and find out what phase of life transition you’re in. When you do, you’ll receive an e-book and 5-day mini-course customized to support you with exactly what you’re traversing right now.
Read my blog. There are hundreds of articles there about life transition and rites of passage, motherhood and matrescence, ritual, community-building, self-care, creativity, earth connection, embodiment and body love and more.
Listen to the Becoming Podcast, where I share conversations about life transitions, rites of passage, and other times of becoming in our lives.
Sign up for Imaginalia, my monthly newsletter, and receive my reflections and musings on life transition as well as resources, prompts, and other supports.
Hang out with me on Instagram.
Explore working with me, either 1:1, or in a program or other event. You can find out more about working together here or book a connection call here.
“I discovered Jessie's work when I had been struggling for a while with a huge transition in my life, as my daughter went to college and I decided to end my marriage, leave my career, sell my house, and travel for a year. I worked with Jessie for slightly more than a year, and I'm not sure I could have made it through that tumultuous year without her. I'm not just drifting along anymore. Jessie helped me find my compass, and I'm forever grateful for that!”
– Anne
“I had a very potent series of sessions with Jessie at a time where I felt almost like a character in a fairy tale who had accidentally fallen asleep in the wrong life. My waking up from that felt like life force coming back online – like my fire rekindling.”
–Annie Bray, Somatics Educator + Bodyworker
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the space you held for me this year as I walked through some of the final fires of this long initiation into motherhood. When I reached out to you I didn’t know how on earth I could ever find peace with this journey. My motherhood journey is far from over, but I can say now that my feet are firmly planted in this new world I have found myself in. I now feel a grounding in myself that I had been longing to experience.”
–Hannah Milkins
“Jessie is the perfect mix of evidence-based, funny, well-articulated, and filled with down-to-earth ritual wisdom. Every single session had me pivoting my life in a more wholesome and sustainable way. My career, my family life and my experience of motherhood has been forever changed."
–Kelsi Ludvigsen, Postpartum Educator and Founder of After Birth School
I tend to, live and work on Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people, also known as Nova Scotia, Canada. The work I do and the person I am becoming would not be possible if it were not for this land, which I am ever-endeavouring to be in right relationship with.
© 2024 Jessie Harrold | Privacy Policy | Site by ELQ Creative