Practitioners

Includes:
Director Bio

©Lisa Gendron | Agroterra Birth

Founder + Director, Kaeli Sutton

Kaeli SuttonOpen Circle Founder and Director Kaeli Sutton has been in movement, bodywork and education fields for 35 years, and has specialized in work with over 3000 parents and families over the past 20 years, first at Motion Center and now at Open Circle. Trained as a dancer, bodyworker and yoga practitioner as well as in multiple pregnancy, postpartum and infant health and support modalities, her most significant learning has come through her experience as a woman, mover and mother, her close observation and celebration of the many parents and infants and clients and she has had the honor to work with, and through her ongoing independent study of pregnancy, birth, infant development, parenting, dance, yoga, bodywork and somatic arts. Kaeli is committed to supporting families, children and individuals to deepen their connection to their own lives and one another through curiosity and connection.

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Education

Kaeli regularly engages in professional education and conferences to further her knowledge of how to respectfully and skillfully care for parents, babies + children and grown babies. Her more significant trainings are listed below.

     Licenses, Certifications + Registrations:

  • Rhode Island licensed Massage Therapist since 2001 (MT01979)
  • Prenatal, Labor + Postnatal Massage (2005, Carole Osborne-Sheets)
  • Thai Yoga Massage Therapist since 2006
  • Senior Prenatal Yoga Teacher (teaching since 2006, e-RPYT since 2008)
  • Childbirth Educator (Teaching since 2007, Commonsense Childbirth Certification 2016)
  • Innate Postpartum Care Provider (certified 2020)
  • Infant Developmental Movement Educator (2023, Sonder Movement Project)


    Completed Trainings:

  • Birth + Postpartum Doula (ToLabor 2009); International Center of Traditional Childbearing (2016))
  • Happiest Baby on the Block Educator (2013)
  • Infant Massage Instructor (2014, 2017 International Association of Infant Massage)
  • Lactation Counselor (2016 – Healthy Children Project)

    Ongoing Study and Primary Teachers: 

 

Research

Kaeli is experienced in collaborating with research specialists in clinical settings and welcomes inquiries about study collaboration. Kaeli’s research experience includes  lead yoga-consultant in a National Institute of Health funded pilot and randomized trial study investigating impacts of prenatal yoga on women experiencing mood disorders in pregnancy. 

Advocacy

Kaeli is a community advocate and activist committed to options in childbirth, family centered care + racial and reproductive equity + justice. Kaeli has collaborated with local and national birth and family advocates and organization, and served as spokesperson and strategist for the Coalition to Save Memorial Birthing Center in 2017 and 2018. 

Kaeli works both within and without hospital systems to encourage system-wide changes which foster greater respect and partnership with birthing families. She has participated in multiple Women and Infant’s Hospital working groups, focusing on improving the provision of family centered care at WIH, and collaborated on workshop development and training for Labor + Delivery and Mom + Baby nurses at Women and Infant’s Hospital in Providence, RI, and at Montefiore hospital in the Bronx, NY.

Kaeli was an absolutely extraordinary guide through our intense journey of pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period. Kaeli worked with us as a doula, a prenatal yoga teacher, a childbirth educator, and a massage therapist. Her support was all encompassing—physical, emotional, and spiritual, really. I can’t imagine having navigated the wild and unpredictable waters of this transition without her and am deeply grateful for her tender presence, loving expertise, warm humor, and compassionate spirit. She is an absolute gem—one who I just can’t recommend highly enough to any woman or couple expecting their first, or fifth, baby.
E.D. + D.U., Providence

I am so grateful for the mindful practitioners at Open Circle. So many women and families we have mutually cared for have benefited from the intentional care available here.  In a time of “plug in” care, Open Circle offers reconnection to your heart space and priorities.

Michelle Palmer, CNM

PROFESSIONAL TESTIMONIALS

“I cannot say that I have ever met an individual more dedicated to the experience of birth than Kaeli Sutton.  She has spent her entire career ensuring that 1) women understand that they have choices in birth, and 2) that women have access to safe, supported, holistic birth. Ms. Sutton is extremely knowledgeable about gentle birth practices, with experience in teaching birth preparation, assisting with lactation issues, and in providing hands-on labor support. Her presence in Rhode Island has made an incredible difference for women here, as she continues to advocate for them, serve as a consultant on perinatal research studies, and advise women and medical providers.”

~Susanna Magee, MD, MPH
Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University; Director of Maternal Child Health/Chief of Family Medicine

“I first met Kaeli when she took the reins as the lead voice of community activists working to save the Birthing Center at Memorial Hospital.  Her leadership helped drive that mission.  She was a critical organizer for the messaging and social media presence, keeping the core message clear and centered.  She energized the movement tirelessly.  Since then we have worked together to continue Memorial’s core tenets of care at Women and Infants.  Despite the change in circumstances, she remained steadfast in her goals to promote family centered maternity care. She is focused, thoughtful, passionate and powerful.”

~ Katherine McCleary, MD
Medical Director, Care New England Medical Group
Clinical Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine