Our Story

Serena is a grassroots charitable organization founded in 1955 in the beautiful province of Quebec, Canada by a husband and wife team. Gilles and Rita Breault were looking for a means of fertility management that would honour their values and uplift their marriage. They landed upon some research from Europe that showed how a woman could effectively track her cycle by observation of the basal body temperature. Over the years, they noticed the presence of cervical mucus and other symptoms. These findings became the early building blocks of what we know now as the Sympto-Thermal Method.

With limited access to any information on the subject, it’s no surprise that most couples lacked the faith to try this method at home; but this was not the Breault’s story. Faith they had and try they did with hearts full of gratitude! Together, Gilles and Rita gradually developed the methodology behind Serena’s Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning.

Gilles and Rita experienced such success with the method they practiced to both avoid and achieve pregnancy. In their 64 years of wedded bliss, they were blessed with 4 children. They couldn’t help but further develop and share what they had discovered (originally only for themselves!) with other married couples. Thus, Serena was birthed. Serena is an acronym for the Service de Régulation des Naissances (en français) or the Service for Regulation of Natality (in English). Desiring to bring a sense of peace of mind and heart to married couples and their families, the original founders of Serena were well pleased that "Serena" at its very roots connotes and denotes that which is "serene".

Gilles and Rita eventually sought the support of the Catholic clergy and of the medical profession. Though both initially received them with skepticism, in 1958, collaboration was made possible with both the clergy and medical profession by Jules Parenteau, a young chaplain at Hôpital Notre Dame -- one of the largest hospitals in Montreal! His influence and tireless dedication to Serena made expansion possible. Jules also happens to be the brother of Dr. Suzanne Parenteau, who remains today as Serena’s medical advisor, researcher and author of the organization's main publications. Over a period of 10+ years, each month, the large auditorium at Notre Dame Hospital was full of young couples looking for information on the Sympto-Thermal Method.

In 1962, after a brief interview on television and with an article published in a woman’s magazine, over a thousand letters were delivered within a few weeks to the Breault’s kitchen table. Gilles and Rita answered each one. With their collaboration, a book explaining the Sympto-Thermal Method was written and 65,000 copies were printed and distributed.

Eventually another inspired husband and wife team, Raymond and Marie-Paule Doyle, took up the organizational development of Serena. Together, they built the national governing body that is Serena Canada and travelled across the country to establish provincial teaching teams.

Today, Marie-Paule is still vitally involved and the science behind Serena is backed by the continued research of our long-time pioneer and well-loved medical advisor, Dr. Suzanne Parenteau. In the spirit of Gilles and Rita, Raymond and Marie-Paule, Serena is a national team of dedicated, trained, and accredited (not to mention super cool!) husband and wife duos, desiring to share the sweetness of the good life that they have all encountered in their respective marriages thanks to Serena.