Get To Know Dawn
Hey there, thank you for visiting!
My hope is that you find this space safe and beneficial.
Dawn V. Collins is a native of California where she met her husband Terryl L. Collins of 26 years and counting. Together they have three brilliant, beautiful adult daughters. Watching their daughters grow from pregnancy into womanhood has been filled with indescribable joy. The Collins Clan is a proud retired United States Air Force family who have made Louisiana home.
Dawn is the Founder of Birth Matters b/c Family Matters™ LLC established to provide nonjudgmental, perinatal support through advocacy, compassionate care, education, and evidence-based information.
Dawn sees this as a sacred and humbling experience with positive generational impact. Witnessing clients realize their power is why Dawn is devoted to perinatal education and advocacy that improves birth outcomes b/c Family Matters.
Dawn is one of the graduates from the 2020 cohort of Louisiana Healthy Birth Ambassadors. As Healthy Birth Ambassadors we are excited to make the C.A.S.E. for better births in Louisiana. We each are ready to work with you to improve birth in our communities and regions! Feel free to contact Dawn to teach healthy pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or newborn education classes for your organization or congregation in person or virtually and together we can improve birth outcomes!
Dawn became a Louisiana Count The Kicks Ambassador in 2022. Count The Kicks is an evidence-based stillbirth prevention program that provides educational resources to health care providers and expectant parents. Dawn is ready to spread awareness, empower and educate expectant parents, their support team and health care providers about the importance of fetal movement, how easy it is to track those movements and how that collected information can decrease stillbirths.
Dawn was honored to be the Chairperson of the Inaugural Louisiana Doula Registry Board from 2022-2024. We worked to create the Registry for Doulas to receive reimbursement via health insurances, promoting safe, and equitable care for every mother, and every birth in the state of Louisiana.
Since January 2022 Dawn has been a member of the Geaux Far Louisiana Steering Committee. Geaux Far believes in an equitable, unified early childhood system centering racial equity and ensuring families access to seamless, high-quality early child development, health, and educational services, and recognizes healthy mommas, babies, partners, and families are an important factor to that system.
In September 2023 Dawn was elated to join the Postpartum Support International (PSI) Louisiana Board as an Alliance Representative. The Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color (POC) bridges the gap in perinatal mental health services for communities and providers of color. Alliance Representatives lead efforts to increase Alliance and BIPOC representation within the chapter.
In an effort to broaden her knowledge base and skills as a birth worker Dawn completed training and officially became an Evidence Based Birth Instructor® in December 2023. She is looking forward to continuing to network with expectant parents, doulas, midwives, labor and delivery nurses, clinicians, and the perinatal healthcare community at large.
As of January 2024, Dawn is proud to be a member of the Louisiana Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (LaPAMR) Committee. LaPAMR Committee works to quantify and understand pregnancy-associated deaths in order to create actionable, comprehensive recommendations to prevent future deaths. This is accomplished through epidemiological surveillance and multidisciplinary case review.
Dawn believes establishing reliable interprofessional relationships is essential to sustainable change for the well-being of our clients, our communities, and our society.
Interested in partnering, contact me and let's dialogue!
Let’s Geaux!