Our Team
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Our team
LEAD COUNSELLOR, HYPNOBIRTHING® EDUCATOR & OWNER
Mercedes Ruiz
Mercedes is our HypnoBirthing® and Perinatal Mental Health expert, and she’s here to support you through everything from TTC to the postpartum period. Throughout her own journeys in the perinatal period, Mercedes recognized a gap in perinatal services and decided to create The Perinatal Wellness Centre.
Mercedes has supported clients in the perinatal period as a birth and postpartum doula, childbirth educator and counsellor since 2014.
Originally from Mexico City, Mercedes has been in Nova Scotia since 2013 and has grown her family in Dartmouth.
REGISTERED ACUPUNCTURIST
Julie Saint-Pierre
Julie discovered acupuncture after she was successfully treated for her severe food allergies in Montreal, Quebec.
Julie became pregnant only a few months after graduating. This gave her the opportunity to explore and study the beautiful and transforming path of the creation of life from both a personal and Chinese medicine perspective.
In 2019, Julie & her family moved to Nova Scotia, where she now practices a highly effective style of medicine known as the Balance Method. Operating out of Access Acupuncture, she is one of the 15 certified practitioners recognized in Canada.
Julie specializes in pain, women’s health and pediatrics. We are very excited to have her join the team and focus on fertility, pregnancy and postpartum care at The Perinatal Wellness Centre!
CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER
Heidi Meagher
Heidi is a social worker who has worked in areas related to parenting since 2009. Her personal experience with perinatal and postpartum mental health, birth trauma, pregnancy loss, and parenting a neurodivergent child has given her an extra level of understanding and empathy in working with birthing and non-birthing parents and those striving to become parents.
Heidi brings to her sessions a respectful sense of curiosity about the people she meets. She strives to create a safe and judgement free space for all.
REGISTERED ACUPUNCTURIST
Mylène Deschênes
Mylène is a registered acupuncturist known for her compassionate approach. She creates a safe, welcoming space where you feel truly heard and cared for. Her personalized treatment plans aim to relieve current symptoms while addressing the root causes of imbalance.
Having personally navigated the challenges of fertility, Mylène brings a deep understanding and empathy to her work. This journey inspired her to support others through every stage of life—from a young age, through fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, to menopause and beyond—helping with physical pain, hormonal imbalances, sleep issues, digestion, emotional stress, anxiety, depression, and more.
She graduated with distinction from the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, earning a Certificate of Clinical Excellence in recognition of her outstanding performance.
REGISTERED COUNSELLING THERAPIST - CANDIDATE
Gabriela Fonseca
Gabriela is a BIPOC psychotherapist originally from Managua, Nicaragua, who recently made Nova Scotia home after many years in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Since 2011, Gabriela has supported individuals through crisis and reproductive mental health counselling, with a focus on pregnancy and infant loss, infertility, prenatal anxiety and depression, medical trauma, and newcomer experiences during pregnancy and parenthood.
Gabriela works from a trauma-informed, feminist, narrative, and client-centred approach, creating a compassionate and non-judgmental space where clients can feel supported and empowered.