Kensington Midwives
A great and inclusive option for a midwife practice, Kensington Midwives is located in Toronto and offers primary care to low-risk clients throughout their pregnancies and up to six weeks after birth. Many of my clients as a Toronto newborn photographer have recommended this wonderful practice to me.
What to Expect
Kensington Midwives is a practice that works as a team, therefore you can expect to be assigned a primary team for your care. You will have two midwives at your birth, one that will be from your care team and another who is a “backup” from another team. If for some reason neither of these midwives are available when you go into labour, an on-call midwife will come to your side until one of your primary or secondary midwives are available. Rest assured, you will always be taken care of.
Kensington Midwives is a teaching practice that is affiliated with the Midwifery Education Program at Toronto Metropolitan and McMaster Universities. They also work with TMU’s International Midwifery Pre-registration Programs. Students accompany midwives through everything they do, giving them an opportunity to learn hands-on and giving clients an opportunity to always receive an ample amount of care.
Education
All midwives at the Kensington Midwives clinic are registered with the College of Midwives of Toronto, hold active certifications in Neonatal Resuscitation, CPR, and Emergency Skills, and are members of the Association of Ontario Midwives.
Languages
There are midwives on staff fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Inclusion
Kensington Midwives takes pride in its inclusive stance on midwife care. They do not use gender-specific terms for clients (such as mother, woman, etc.) on their marketing materials, to ensure that they are inclusive of all of their clients and respectful of their gender identities. Midwives are trained on ensuring you are comfortable and will use the pronouns that you tell them you use.
They even pledge an equity statement, reading “Kensington Midwives has a broader commitment to social justice. We recognize that discrimination and systemic marginalization of people based on, but not exclusive to, ability, age, class, economic status, educational background, ethnicity, race, language, religion, sexual orientation, and reproductive and parenting decisions, perpetuates social injustices. We try to foster an equitable, anti-oppressive environment that is welcoming, safe, accessible, and inclusive to all of our clients and midwives.”
Uniquely, Kensington Midwives has male midwives on their staff. This ensures that everyone is comfortable with whatever midwife that they will be working with.
Preparation Classes
Kensington Midwives is more active on Facebook than their website, which is great if you want to stay up to date with all of their latest classes! They post collaborations and programs on Facebook for a variety of different classes. One of their past offerings includes a collaboration with Infinity Chiropractic & Wellness and Alia Donato, HOM, DCHM, BSc(Hons) titled Natural and Homeopathic Support for Pregnancy.
Their Facebook page can also be a great place to view birth stories from other parents who have chosen to work with one of Kensington’s Midwives. They even post monthly stats that show how many babies they’ve delivered, where they were delivered, birth weights, and other fun pieces of data.
Privileges
Similar to other midwives in the area, Kensington Midwives has privileges to assist with births in your home, or at the Toronto Birth Centre or St. Joseph’s Health Centre.
Location
Kensington Midwives is located at 340 College Street, Suite 450 Toronto, ON M5T 3A9. They operate Monday-Thursday from 9 AM-5 PM, though specific midwives may have alternative schedules and see clients at other times.
