- Rachel

Rachel is pleased to join the team at Shore Grace Family Wellness and brings with her two decades of experience serving children and their families on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. A native of Prince Georges’ County, Rachel studied at Trinity College, The University of Dublin before returning to the States to practice as a Licensed Veterinary Nurse. She’s always had a passion for medicine and helping even the tiniest creatures to thrive. She met her husband, Tony, in 1997, and they were soon married. After the birth of their son in 2000, it could not have been more clear that “Mom” would be the most incredible title she’d ever hold.
Rachel’s life experience brings her to this work. She shares her story with other families so that they may come to know the hope she has found. She is tenacious and resilient, and knows that every day presents the opportunity to pour goodness back into the community. After a high risk pregnancy with her first child, Rachel struggled for several years with secondary infertility before they welcomed their daughter in 2004. Doctors assured The Stoyanovs that they’d never conceive again without extensive medical assistance. They believed they’d been blessed with two happy children and that their family was complete, but while she was still nursing her fifteen month old, she began to experience severe hyperemesis, and her symptoms mimicked her first difficult pregnancy. Less than two years apart, Rachel & Tony welcomed a miracle baby boy, enduring a pregnancy rife with complications where day to day presented a life or death risk for mom and the baby delivered at 35 weeks. With each birth, Rachel learned more about the unique medical, developmental, and behavioral health needs of both herself and her three children. After battling Post-Partum Depression, the needs of her children were evolving, and it became clear that she’d been called to leave the veterinary field and begin to work where her children spent their days. While her youngest nursed, she taught breastfeeding classes for the Midshore WIC Program with her own “model” child. As the kids got older, she taught music and Pre-K classes at the private schools where her children attended. When it became clear that school best suited to meet the needs of her fantastic musicians and twice exceptional children, she shifted from teaching the wee ones to using all the tools she’d acquired to provide Family Support & Resource Coordination to families of children with special needs in the public school setting. Rachel loves the opportunity to teach and has enjoyed toggling between the support of families and teaching preschool in both private and public schools. She’s been so proud to watch as her first students have graduated college now. She’s been blessed to be included at their weddings and to hold their new babies. For the children she once potty trained and taught cursive writing, she’s now helping those new moms learn to breastfeed and become parents themselves. It’s been an unexpected but very rewarding journey, and she’s looking forward to the next several chapters of her life.
 Rachel is a vocalist and sings with several ensembles on the shore. She plays guitar and is often accompanied by her daughter on a variety of instruments including the harp and flute. Her Irish roots are strong, and she loves her faerie garden that extends in magical ways around her whole yard. She loves the sound of visiting children who enjoy writing notes back and forth with the garden faeries and gnomes. Rachel and Tony’s three special kids are now in high school and college. They live on the Midshore with their fancy cats. Rachel is certified by the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health in Family Peer Support, and serves on the Special Education State Advisory Committee and the Eastern Shore Schools Mental Health Coalition among the many ways she bridges the distance between families and the resources and supports they need to access. She is a certified facilitator of the critically acclaimed Active Parenting curriculum and teaches that workshop, and many others, supporting parents on the Shore throughout their journey from birth and beyond.

Active Parenting: 1-2-3-4 Certified 2019
Active Parenting: 4th Ed/Teen Combo Certified 2019
Family Peer Specialist
Child Development Associate

FORMALITIES:

rachel