Wanted so badly to Volunteer as an Ombudsman for Elderly. As a Retired Nurse that was one of my…read moregoals to help Protect our most vulnerable. Met with the person and after I was ready to start, I was hit with a shocking statement. He said " once you start as an Ombudsman you can never visit a friend or relative who happens to be on any facility". My response was "even my own Mother"? He said yes, even my own mother. I then told him that I felt that was unjustified. His excuse was privacy to protect the resident 8 may be advocating for. Just don't get it because if I was helping, say 3 people on one facility how is that different from visiting my own friends and family. Of course I declined being a Volunteer as I'm not going to penalize my own mother or other loved ones just to help unrelated persons. It broke my heart but felt it was a slap in the face to me, my partner who was going to volunteer also, my loved ones and all the Precious Elderly that I could have helped. Someone needs to make some changes to that rule they would get many more volunteers instead of having to advertise for volunteers.

The great folks at FSA have been helping the Santa Barbara County community for over 111 years!…read moreTheir assistance programs for at-risk youth, elderly and families are well established and effective. Probably the most recognizable charitable organization they work with is Big Brothers Big Sisters. If you are in need of assistance or are loaded and looking for a charitable organization to fund, you can't go wrong with FSA!

Mitsuko is an amazing teacher! She has been practicing Yoga for many years and she is gifted at…read moreleading classes and sound therapy. So thrilled to have her at Energy Of Jade Studio! She brings love and light to every room.

Mitsuko is the real deal! Every time I take her class I feel refreshed and centered. She has a ton…read moreof training and experience in the Kundalini practice that is felt when practicing with her. On top of that she is such a delight! Always with a smile and I love when her kiddos are there - so precious to expose them at an impressionable age. Of course the gong she plays is magical. I highly recommend her class! A must try when you're in Santa Barbara.

Sheri is an absolute lifesaver for a first-time mom. Our baby is barely 10 weeks old and sleeping…read morethrough the night thanks to Sheri's wisdom. She's helped us navigate all of these changes and we're so grateful for everything she's done for us and our baby. All of us are healthier, happier and more well rested than we ever expected thanks to her.

Sheri is the Crème De La Crème in this industry. She is honest, hard working and just overall the…read morebest of the best! There are honestly not enough words for me to describe how truly amazing she is at what she does, and how important this work is to her. Whether you need her concierge services to be the "how to take care of my newborn" manual that the hospital does not give you, help finding a Postpartum Doula, Newborn Care Specialist or even a Nanny, Sheri is your go to! Most, if not all concierge placement agencies only care about the money involved and will not hesitate to fit round pegs into square holes. I can assure you, that Sheri is the exact opposite. She cares so incredibly much about always finding the right fit for both the family and the newborn care professional that she will not stop until the right match has been made. Sheri, you are an absolute Gem, and I myself am so grateful to know you. I appreciate you more than you will ever know!

Carla has been a tremendous help listening and sharing tools that helped me navigate a clear and…read moreunderstanding relationship with my now Fiancée. She empowered us to save our relationship and grow forward.I highly recommend her services! Thank you Carla. :)

Clean concise communication. Cuts right to the heart of the issue and offers thoughtful and direct…read moreno nonsense dialog.

My husband and I took Tracy's eight week long course as we prepared to welcome our first child into…read morethis world. Her class was extremely informative and helpful, and I wish everyone could take Tracy's course. Tracy is the kindest human and is incredibly generous with her time and knowledge. Take this course. You will not be disappointed. It is worth every penny! :)

My husband and I attended one of Tracy's birthing workshops and it was incredible! She was so kind…read moreand knowledgeable and we left feeling so much more prepared and supported. We love her holistic approach and would 10/10 recommend working with her. She is wonderful in every way! Thank you so much Tracy

I contacted Motherways for a Birth Story Medicine session after the homebirth of my first daughter…read more There was a small moment in my labor that I had spent 3 months postpartum obsessing over as a failure. In one hour, Virginia helped me transform it into a triumph. I now appreciate that I intuitively knew exactly what to do to birth my baby, including being open to help when the time called for it. Receiving love turned out to be an integral part of motherhood! I recently gave birth to our second daughter, and when we encountered a true obstetric emergency, my husband and I readily accepted the assistance we needed to birth her safely at home. Not only was I not traumatized by the situation, I feel completely empowered by her birth! Thank you, Virginia, for helping me to honor my inner love warrior! Ashley Guntkowski Mast, Nurse Midwife and Mother

Virginia was an intregal part of my childbirth preparation. My husband and I took so much from her…read moreBirthing From Within class. It helped us to really connect in a spiritual way before the baby came. I had no idea what having a baby would be like but I used many of the pain coping techniques she offered and I managed to make it thru 24 hours of back labor with no epidural! She went on to be an amazing contributor to my successful breastfeeding experience. I was so distraught in the first week because I was having so many issues with latch, confidence, timing, etc. Like most first times Moms- I was having a very difficult time nursing. She came to my house and helped me to understand the logistics of breastfeeding. After her visit my confidence soared, my heart was at ease, and I never had a problem with breastfeeding again! Never had to supplement another bottle! In fact, almost 2 years later I am still successfully nursing. Also, she knew that I was new to the area so she offered to hook me up with a like-minded Mama-to-be who she thought I would hit it off with. Well, sure enough, she's been a great friend of mine ever since and we love having playdates with our little ones! I feel forever grateful to Virginia and am so lucky to know her. She truly is an amazing woman, and I HIGHLY recommend any of the services she has to offer!

As first-time parents, we had limited knowledge about what to expect as we prepared for childbirth…read moreand a baby. When we hired Kaitlin as our birth coach, we were so grateful to have someone as knowledgeable, encouraging, and patient as she is to support us as we embarked on this exciting yet terrifying adventure. Kaitlin listened to our concerns, shared resources and information - including giving us the name of the best Obgyn when we unexpectedly needed to move cities only a couple weeks before the birth and needed a new doctor - and gave us helpful guidance before and after the birth of our daughter. We are so grateful for her help and highly recommend Kaitlin and her services!

Kaitlin was a wonderful birth doula for us when I gave birth to my son at home almost three and a…read morehalf months ago. She helped my husband and I feel comfortable and confident going into the birth and super supported. Kaitlin and I hit it off immediately; she is warm, very knowledgeable, passionate, and intuitive. During labor, she was a calming, steady presence for both me and my husband. She tirelessly helped me cope and ride the waves of contractions, assuring me every step of the way. When I needed it, she suggested helpful ideas to both mentally and physically shift things, and I can still hear her smart words in my mind when I think about my birth. She was there when I searched for her eyes, and she answered even my most impossible questions during intense labor. She had my back and my heart every step of the way. As our son was born, she whispered beautiful words into the space, which still gives me chills to think about. In the days following, she was a great support, especially in helping my husband and I navigate early postpartum and in breastfeeding. She helped us so much in getting off on the right foot with breastfeeding. We felt cared for, supported, and in excellent hands. I definitely recommend Kaitlin as a doula, educator, and women's health advocate. Her knowledge runs deep, and her contribution to this field is already and will be vast.

Nothing Short of Magical…read more We joined the Child's Play (CP) family in January 2014 when our oldest daughter turned two. I say "family" because that's exactly what Child's Play has become for us. We've felt so lucky to meet and connect with the teachers and families of CP. Our oldest daughter has since "graduated" to kindergarten (but still comes back for the occasional half-day) and our youngest daughter is in her second year there. Some things you'll notice when first tour the school: - Creativity seeps from every nook and cranny. Glitter, paint, straw from the play yard, and student artwork cover every inch of the CP Westside cottage. If you need a sterile institutional like environment, this is not the place for you. - Messy = Learning & Fun. It's always been our philosophy that if the kids aren't getting dirty they're probably not having fun. The CP students dig in, get their hands, hair, face, everything dirty, learn a ton and love every minute. - Donna saves it for the kids. You'll read some reviews describing Donna as "jaded" or "curmudgeonly," which makes us laugh. True - she suffers no fools and could care less about giving parents rainbow covered warm-fuzzies (you're an adult, get over it). What's also true - Donna adores and respects her students (and they respect her in return), her focus is on the health and safe development of her students, and she does it all with an air of whimsy and magic. This is the same woman who painted green footprints on her shirt and across her face to convince the kids she'd been run over by a leprechaun, who goes ALL-OUT for the annual Halloween festival, and when the kids are inspired to create something helps them execute their idea no matter how big or seemingly impossible, like turning the front room into a sloth habitat, building a huge cardboard robot monster, or creating a circus where students choreographed their own performances and organized ticket and popcorn sales. No school is perfect though - it's a little unorganized and if you have a group of parents not willing to pitch-in, it drags down the school's ability to execute on some of the bigger events like Fiesta Parade and Halloween. Additionally, the teacher turnover is high (with the exception of Daniel, who has been there for years and is the embodiment of music and fun). Every teacher at CP has been awesome, we only wish some of the really great teachers would stick around longer. That being said, this is what my children have learned during their time at Child's Play: - They were both potty-trained by 2.5. Woohoo! - How to recognize emotions and express them with words (instead of acting out). - How to navigate social situations where they might feel left out. - The importance of self-reliance (cleaning up, putting on shoes, getting your lunch out - doing lots of little things on their own). - That if they keep trying they are capable of incredible things they never thought possible. - That maybe, just maybe magic is real and all around us. We were a little concerned by the lack of formal teaching of numbers and letters, but all of that has come with time (my kindergartener is reading first grade level books already). What's been most impressive though is how Child's Play has helped teach our girls just to be kind and helpful little human beings. We will forever be grateful for being invited into the Child's Play family.

Child's Play is truly a hidden gem. We're on our 2nd child growing up in this wonderful little…read morespace. There is a big focus on outside play and creative arts/crafts and cooking (pre-Covid) that our eldest son really enjoyed and thrived within to include weekly art and dance classes for the kids. The teachers really encourage independence and creativity within the confines of a group setting of children that really learn the important early lessons of respect and appreciation for one another. Our oldest son was wonderfully prepared and ahead of kids at the Kindergarten level entering pre-K and knew how to read/write his name, count and do simple math in this program that carved out a "K-class" for the older elementary school transitioning kids. Donna, Daniel, Laurel and Lindsey are wonderful teachers and I would HIGHLY recommend this program for any parent looking for well rounded loving learning environment for their little.