GOLD Learning Birth & Beyond Online Symposium 2022

Kamilla Gerhard Nielsen is as obstetrician and psychotherapist part of the delivery unit in Aabenraa in Southern Denmark. A unit that has worked towards minimizing intervention in a safe environment with good outcome for mother and child. After joint effort from doctors and midwifes the department now has a cesarean section rate of 13 %, which is the lowest in Denmark. The rate of elective cesarean is 3 % and the unit has a high rating of satisfaction in Denmark from women giving birth.

Kamilla teaches with Obstetriwise.dk in several countries on the Upright Breech Birth, Fear of Childbirth and Occiput Posterior workshops. All theoretical and practical workshops with the aim of reducing unnecessary intervention in childbirth.

Grace Abruzzo PT, DPT, CAPP-OB, CD(DONA), PYT-C, (she/they) is a licensed physical therapist and trauma healer specializing in pelvic health. A certified specialist in obstetric and pelvic physical therapy, Dr. Grace uses an integrative approach to treating people in preparation and recovery from childbirth, conception, menstruation and menopause. Dr. Grace also spends time in birthing spaces, supporting mamas during labor and birth.

Dr. Grace utilizes an integrative approach to wellness, which includes interventions like education; manual therapeutic techniques, including visceral, myofascial, and internal pelvic mobilizations; yoga therapy; meditation practice; Compassionate Inquiry TM, and Somatic Experiencing TM.

Dr Sylvia Murphy-Tighe is a midwife, public health nurse and Lecturer in Midwifery at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick, Ireland. Her research interests include vulnerability, maternal and infant health and community engagement. Her doctoral research was funded by the Health Research Board Research (Research Training Fellowship), and defended her PhD in 2017. She developed a grounded typology of concealed pregnancy in order to increase understanding of this phenomenon. She has brought The Spaces Between Us Visual Art Exhibition to Ireland from Australia in order to raise public awareness of concealed pregnancy and the tragic outcomes that can ensue and her research has featured in radio & TV interviews. Dr Murphy-Tighe has many practice-based links to maternity and community-based nursing and NGO services. She is a co- investigator on the PART-IM project (UL) which is a participatory health research projects involving migrants and is currently leading a pilot study of a training programme involving community nurses enquiring about domestic violence and abuse. She is also an active member of @CA18211 Devotion an EU COST Action working on birth related trauma and PTSD. Additionally she is supervising masters and doctoral researchers in the area of perinatal mental health. Dr Murphy-Tighe has several ISI publications https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sylvia_Murphy_tighe and is a member of the Health Research Institute at the University of Limerick.

Paul Florsheim is a professor of public health at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a Clinical Psychologist. He received his BA in History from Wesleyan University, an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Northwestern University. Dr. Florsheim’s research interests include public health approaches to supporting the development of adolescents and young adults, with a particular focus on healthy relations and the prevention of mental illness. He teaches courses at the that intersection of mental health and public health, including workshops on supporting young parents across the transition to parenthood. Dr. Florsheim has published over 50 journal articles and three books, including "Lost and Found: Young Fathers in the Age of Unwed Parenthood" and "The Young Parenthood Program: A Guide to Helping Young Mothers and Fathers Become Effective Co-parents, both published by Oxford University Press. Among his current research/intervention endeavors, Dr. Florsheim is co-directing the Father Inclusive Prenatal Care study in Chicago, which is funded by the Administration for Children and Families.

Mandy Irby, pronouns are she/her, is a board certified labor nurse with 13 years of experience supporting survivors of assault and trauma through pregnancy, birth planning, and at their bedside during childbirth and pregnancy loss. After experiencing her own birth trauma, she quickly learned that the birth care system is NOT centered on human rights, patient choice, and the individual experience. In 2020, Mandy made education a full-time career. She now teaches and supports parents and nurses how to better center voice, choice, and physiology in birth. It's Mandy’s mission to change birth culture so that it's parent-centered, trauma-informed, and safe for all.
Mandy enjoys teaching in-person, in whole-team learning: Peanut Ball, Labor Support Skills and Trauma-Informed Care At the Bedside workshops. She also supports local parents with small-group Spinning Babies® Parent Classes when in-person learning is safest. Mandy is also an international educator through her online, on-demand childbirth ed classes and she supports anxious parents-to-be with virtual, one-on-one trauma-informed birth strategy sessions. She’s the co-founder of Fearless Birth, Delivered, founder and owner of The Birth Nurse®, and a proud co-creator of the BRAND NEW Trauma-Informed Birth Nurse Program. As a creative educator, Mandy is also the co-author of an Amazon best-seller, Baby Got VBAC, and reaches millions of viewers each month through her engaging, tongue-in-cheek social media platforms.
When she’s not working from home, Mandy might be found at any local plant nursery adding to her, some may say, out-of-control house plant collection. She’s a serial craft starter and non-finisher, loves walking her doodle puppy, and playing in the creek with her 2 kids.

Kimberly is a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Experiencing trauma resolution practitioner, Structural Integration practitioner, culture worker, and single mom. She specializes in helping women heal from birth injuries, gynecological procedures and sexual boundary ruptures. She is the author of the early mothering classic The Fourth Trimester: Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions and Restoring Your Vitality and Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power and Use It for Good- a feminist nervous system treatise, as well as the newly released Reckoning, co-authored with Stephen Jenkinson. She is the host of the Sex Birth Trauma podcast.

Monika Patel, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Strength and Conditioning Specialist has a passion for empowering women to prepare mentally and physically for a well-balanced parenthood. She is currently undergoing the American Physical Therapy Association's Certificate in Obsetrics. She has applied her knowledge toward preventative medicine and established Train4Birth, an affordable online education and beneficial movement course with a built-in accountability feature. She is also the mother of a truck-loving toddler and couldn’t be happier than digging with him in the backyard.

Dr. Amal El Taweel is a graduate of Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, class of 1986. She obtained the Masters of Pediatrics in 1992 from Faculty of Medicine, Cairo university, and the Doctorate of Pediatrics from Al Azhar university in 2002. She became an IBCLC in 2003. Since 2004 she has been providing a pre-exam course for the Egyptian Lactation Consultants' Association of which she is a board member, treasurer and education coordinator. This program has been helping hundreds of Egyptian and Arab health care providers to certify as IBCLCs. She is also a member of the Advisory committee of IBFAN Arab world since 2012. She is a member of ILCA since 2008 and a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) since 2009. She became a fellow and Board member of ABM in 2021.

Dr. Fayrouz Essawy is a pediatrician, neonatology consultant, an international board-certified lactation consultant, Neonatology Egyptian fellowship trainer, a baby friendly health initiative coordinator and Associate alumni, Harvard medical school. Fayrouz works as a neonatologist in El Mounira NICU. In 2016, she joined the LCCC course as a trainer, lecturer and course developer to train and qualify the medical team for IBCLC certification under the auspices of ELCA along with her work as a lactation consultant and a baby Friendly Coordinator and Trainer for a 20-hour course since 2019 in Rofayda maternity Hospital. She became a Neonatology Egyptian Fellowship trainer in 2020. She received the Egypt TOT (Training of Trainers), Harvard Medical School in 2020, and Research Training for Egyptian Researchers, Harvard Medical School in 2021. She is a member of the Egyptian Society of Pediatrics, the Egyptian lactation consultant association (ELCA), the academy of breastfeeding medicine (ABM) and the international lactation consultant Association (ILCA)