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About Us

Welcome! Are you looking for an empowering birthing experience? So were we! GentleSurge’s expertise comes both from training and lived experience.

Portrait of Maria Gohdes, owner of Gentle Surge.

Maria Gohdes

Owner of Gentle Surge

Hello! I’m Maria Gohdes. I’m a partner, mom to 4, certified HypnoBirthing® Educator – The Mongan Method, certified doula, breastfeeding advocate and lifelong student. Through attending classes, conferences and lectures, I continue to add to my education and have enjoyed gaining knowledge and techniques from HypnoBirthing International, Spinning Babies, Evidence Based Birth, and on fertility issues, postpartum care (including breastfeeding) and nutrition.

I am passionate about bringing evidence-based information to families at every stage, from fertility to parenthood. I teach and support families who want to have an informed, confident and gentle fertility journey, pregnancy, birth and parenting experience and who are looking for someone to walk the journey with them.

Maria is a proud accredited HypnoBirthing- The Mongan Method gold seal instructor.

HypnoBirthing- The Mongan Methed certification seal

Kerstin Smith

Partner Provider

Kerstin Keber Smith, MA, EFT, Reiki Master, is a partner provider for GentleSurge. Kerstin is a mother to 3, and her second and third children were born at home using HypnoBirthing techniques. She is passionate about empowering families to make informed decisions regarding all aspects of parenting, especially birth- related decisions. Kerstin provides doula support, reiki, trauma care, and EFT. Kerstin was formerly a HypnoBirthing practitioner for over a decade and continues to be an asset to our community.

Portrait of Kerstin Smith, partner provider.

Meghan Sweeney Will

Partner Provider for Photography

Meghan Will is a partner provider for photography. Meghan is a HypnoBirthing mom to 3 and specializes in photographing all things family (couples in love, maternity, births, newborns, and childhood) both posed and documenting the moments in between that are often overlooked. Meghan studied photography at Rocky Mountain School of Photography.