Our Team
Darline Turner
Executive Director
Darline Turner is a physician assistant by training with a BS in Biology from Tufts University and a Master of Health Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Duke University. She’s been a full spectrum doula for over 15 years and specialized in supporting high-risk mothers via her private practice Mamas on Bedrest & Beyond until 2019. She provided high-risk pregnant people with the care and support she didn’t have when she herself had 4 pregnancies, 2 miscarriages, 2 high-risk pregnancies, one traumatic cesarean section birth, and one uncomplicated cesarean section birth.
In 2017, Darline founded and established Healing Hands Community Doula Project, a 501c3 community-based full spectrum birth support project. Her goal was to train members of the BIPOC community to be birth workers to serve and support their communities and help lower Maternal Morbidity and Mortality. Darline realized that it’s not just medical care birthing people need, but also social services, resources, and support that enable people to live healthier lifestyles and better support their families. She not only wants this for the clients she serves but also for the birth workers she trains and employs as she believes that “wage equity” must happen if we are to be able to have a truly functional “care economy”.
Darline is mom to 2 college students of whom she is extremely proud, and one geriatric “furbaby” CJ who is her constant companion and support. When she’s not working in the community, she enjoys cheering on her kids on in their professional pursuits, walking with CJ, cycling, Inyengar Yoga, and cooking to cool Jazz and R&B.
Melissa Harner
PCHW Instructor
Melissa Harner is the Central Texas Program Manager for Healing Hands Birthing Community. Before being named Program Manager in August 2023, Melissa was a Doula and was responsible for providing resources that her clients needed both during and after the pregnancy.
Prior to joining Healing Hands, Melissa taught Health Sciences at multiple high schools in Austin Independent School District (AISD), during which she assisted in establishing two different healthcare pathways for students to learn during high school. She did this by creating her own curriculum and pathway, which led to greater student outcomes and retention. Her drive and initiative developed many partnerships between the school district and local healthcare providers.
Previous to her work at A.I.S.D., Melissa was a Pharmacy Technician working in both the community and hospital pharmacies. During her time as a Pharmacy Technician, she discovered her knack for teaching. As the Senior Pharmacy Technician, it was her duty to train all new employees and that was the start of a career path that she never considered.
Melissa earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health Education from Southern New Hampshire University and is currently working on her master’s degree for Clinical Mental Health Practitioner.
Lucretia Anderson
Houston Program Manager
Lucretia Anderson serves as the Houston Program Manager for Healing Hands Community Birthing Project. A doula, community health worker, placenta encapsulator and advocate for Black Maternal Health, Lucretia has dedicated her career to empowering women of color. Since becoming a doula in 2018, Lucretia has focused on training other women of color to become birth workers, educating them about pregnancy, labor and delivery and postpartum care, while also fostering a supportive community environment.
Tiffany Furr
PCHW & Data Manager
Tiffany is a community-focused and sustainability-minded individual with over 15 years of experience working in nonprofit management and the public sector. She naturally gravitated to birthwork as a way to actively participate in the communal practice of caring for Black women while also engaging in advocacy to further reproductive justice for Black women. Tiffany is the proud mother of two amazing children who she breastfed for 2 years and delivered unmedicated. She works for Healing Hands as a doula as well as a member of their management team.
Alicia Rivera Clemente
PCHW
Alicia Rivera Clemente is a dedicated and compassionate birth worker with a deep passion for supporting families through every stage of the childbirth journey. A breastfeeding mother of one, Alicia brings a wealth of experience and empathy to her work, offering both prenatal and postpartum care as a full-spectrum doula. She is committed to serving Black and Brown families of all sizes, advocating for their unique needs and empowering them with informed choices throughout pregnancy, labor, and beyond.
With a broad range of experience in hospital and home births, Alicia is skilled in supporting both medicated and unmedicated births, as well as vaginal and cesarean deliveries. She specializes in natural laboring practices and prenatal yoga, helping expectant families prepare for birth with strength, flexibility, and calm. Additionally, Alicia offers placenta encapsulation services, supporting postpartum recovery with a holistic approach.
Alicia’s approach is grounded in empathy, respect, and a firm belief in the power of informed consent, providing unbiased and culturally competent care to families of all backgrounds. She is committed to creating a safe, supportive environment where each family's birth experience is honored and celebrated.
Eva Roberts
Senior PCHW
Eva Roberts has been a Community Health Worker (CHW) for over 10 years. She began her public health career working with Austin Public Health’s Maternal Infant Outreach Program (MIOP). As a CHW for this city program, Eva supported childbearing black women and educated them about their healthcare and lifestyle choices.
Eva is a champion public health advocate, and is an expert helping black women navigate the healthcare system, and helping them to obtain the community and health resources that they need to have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
In addition to her case management, community outreach and community education skills, Eva also has over 10 years of experience providing direct labor and birth support, peer breastfeeding support and parenting and life skills support to the black childbearing women she serves.
Eva is also multiingual. Her mother is from Guadalajara and her father is Chinese and Puerto Rican. Eva is a mother of 5 children, all who were preemies, and a grandmother to 11 grandchildren.