Joan-e Rapine, BS, CCE(BWI), CD(BWI), CLC, CLE, owner of Mohala Birth Services, has a Bachelor's Degree in Maternal and Infant Health and Human Lactation and is a Certified Childbirth Educator, Doula, Lactation Counselor, Lactation Educator and a CAPPA Lactation Educator Trainer. She has completed RTS Bereavement Training in Early Pregnancy Loss, Stillbirth and Newborn Death and is also certified in Nutritional Therapy, Ayurvedic Medicine and Reiki (II). She is the Birth Works® Director of Education, Regional Coordinator (Ambassador) and is on the Birth Works® National Trainee Review Committee. Joan-e received related training and education from Birth Works®, Healthy Children, CAPPA, Union Institute & University, Bereavement Services and life itself.

Joan-e has worked for over twenty years with children of all ages, and came into the childbirth field because she feels that the place to improve children’s lives is in the way they are birthed and the way they bond with their mothers and families from their first moments of life. She also believes that the knowledge of how to give birth already lies within each woman and just needs to be rediscovered.

Joan-e brings together her creative-teaching experience and her passion for empowering mothers and families to create a compassionate learning environment. Her classes are interactive and experiential, combining art, play, group discussions, imagery, and music.

When counseling a breastfeeding mother, Joan-e brings her calm and peaceful nature, creating a comfortable environment for the new mother and her family to explore their feelings. Through her degree studies, Joan-e has received extensive education and training in various aspects of human lactation and breastfeeding counseling.

Growing up on a Kibbutz in Israel, backpacking in South America and working in Guatemala with the Peace Corps, provided Joan-e with a multicultural understanding of families and their needs.

Joan-e lives with her husband, Tom, and their daughters, Mia and Shani, at YMCA Camp Erdman, on the beautiful North Shore of Oahu.

She has been helping pregnant and breastfeeding families since 1999.