Perinatal & Newborn Care Continuing Education Course Bundle #4 (22.5 Hours)

American midwife lives between Saudi Arabia and Delaware USA and who travels globally providing workshops and lectures for birth workers and trains AMANI Birth Teachers and Doulas. She is an advocate for normal physiologic birth and the rights of parents to education and preparation for birth and the responsibility of birth workers to compassionately support them. She is the International Relations Coordinator for the Saudi Midwifery Group and is supporting new midwifery curriculum development with the Saudi Ministry of Health. Additionally, she provides cultural competency for workshops. Her credits include a variety of published articles and books, many lecture topics, and conference organization. She is a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) as designated by the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM); has completed her of her Bachelor and Masters of Science in Midwifery and is a licensed midwife in the United States and registered as a Midwifery Specialist by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS).

Betsy Schwartz is a pioneer and a visionary. She established Tenth Month Doula Services in 1994, the first of its kind in South Florida. She has trained hundreds of postpartum doulas. Betsy is a former CAPPA and DONA International Postpartum Doula trainer, and is an active member of both. She now offers online courses at BirthElearning. Betsy’s most recent accomplishment is the creation of Down the Canal –The Game of Birth. Betsy continues to pioneer in Citrus County Florida as a committee member of the Florida Healthy Babies Initiative. Betsy holds a master’s degree in management of human services. She is also a Reiki Master and a yoga enthusiast.

Brian is the Provincial Coordinator for Dad Central Ontario, which is devoted to promoting responsible father involvement in Ontario, Canada and has acted as a catalyst for other provinces and territories within Canada to form their own regional father initiatives. He has taught and trained extensively on understanding fatherhood and ways to engage men as parents. He is also a Marriage and Family Therapist in Toronto. He brings an important perspective to the couple relationship in families, where trust and respect are key elements to building strong families. He is married with three teenage daughters.

Fayth M. Parks, PhD is an associate professor and licensed psychologist in the Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development at Georgia Southern University. Fayth is a counseling psychologist whose scholarship and research focuses on ways diverse cultures interpret mental health, healing, and illness recovery to prevent misdiagnosing as psychopathology culturally significant beliefs and practices that can facilitate personal strengths, positive emotions, and behavior change. She has published journal articles, essays, and book chapters on this topic as well as given numerous invited lectures, TEDx Talks, and workshops. In 2009, Fayth was appointed the David B. Larson Fellow in Health and Spirituality at The John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress. You can follow her on Twitter @FaythParks. And visit Fayth’s website for more cultural strength-based strategies for healthy wellbeing at www.faythparks.com

Dr. Lori Brotto is a Professor in the UBC Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and a registered psychologist in Vancouver, Canada. She has recently become Executive Director of the Women's Health Research Institute of BC. Dr. Brotto holds a Canada Research Chair in Women's Sexual Health (2016-2021). She is the director of the UBC Sexual Health Laboratory where research primarily focuses on developing and testing psychological and mindfulness-based interventions for women with sexual desire and arousal difficulties and women with chronic genital pain. Other major lines of research include exploring psychosocial versus hormonal predictors of women's sexual response, asexuality, sex and cancer, and genital self-image. Dr Brotto is an Associate Editor for the Archives of Sexual Behavior, has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, is the Sexual Health expert writer for the Globe and Mail, and is frequently featured in the media on topics related to sexuality.

Melissa Bartick, MD, MSc, FABM works as a hospitalist at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge MA, is an internist and is an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She has numerous breastfeeding publications in peer-reviewed journals. She served as the chair of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition from 2002 to 2014, where she was also a founder of Ban the Bags. She served on the Board of Directors of the United States Breastfeeding Committee from 2009-2015. She has served on the Board of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine since 2019, where she has coauthored clinical protocols, including the 2020 Bedsharing and Breastfeeding protocol. She was founder of the Breastfeeding Forum of the American Public Health Association, where she served two terms as chair. She is founder and co-chair of her state’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Collaborative. She has blog contributions to the Huffington Post, the WBUR CommonHealth Blog, among others. Dr. Bartick received her BA from the University of Virginia and holds an MSc in Health and Medical Sciences from University of California, Berkeley and an MD from University of California, San Francisco. She works as a hospitalist at Mount Auburn Hospital and is the mother of two grown sons. As of June 2020, she is pursuing an MPH at Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Mottola is a Professor with a Joint Position in the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Sciences and the Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. She is the Director of the R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation – Exercise and Pregnancy Laboratory (www.uwo.ca/fhs/EPL), a Scientist of the Children’s Health Research Institute and a Fellow and a Board of Trustees Member of the American College of Sports Medicine. She is an embryologist and exercise physiologist who has conducted research on the effects of maternal exercise on both the mother and the developing fetus, with follow up into the postpartum period. She is co-lead author on the 2019 Canadian Guideline for Physical Activity throughout Pregnancy which was based on rigorous evaluation of the current scientific literature through 12 systematic reviews published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. She has received over $2.5 million for research on exercise during pregnancy and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers. Her current research focuses on the impact of a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy on chronic disease risks such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease for both mother and her offspring.

Miriam Zoila Pérez is a Cuban-American writer and activist whose work has focused on the themes of race, gender and health for over a decade. Pérez has spent much of the last ten years writing about these topics for outlets like Colorlines, Fusion, Rewire and Talking Points Memo. They recently gave a TED talk about how racism impacts maternal health.

Pérez is trained in the healing modalities of doula and massage therapist, and has helped foster the movement of full spectrum doula work. Pérez is the founder of Radical Doula, a website that connects the dots between social justice and birth activism, and the author of the popular Radical Doula Guide: A Political Primer for Full Spectrum Pregnancy and Childbirth Support, which has sold over 2500 copies.

Myrna is a teacher and clinician in Pre and Perinatal Health and Psychology. She has been working with people therapeutically as a nurse, and family therapist and psychotherapist for 45 years. Myrna practices early trauma resolution work with babies and young children and their families, as well as adults. This work is focused on developing secure attachment relationships and healing disruptions in attachment, such as prematurity, low birth weight, hospitalizations, adoption, postpartum depression and other misattunements. Myrna is a graduate of the University of Calgary Family Systems Nursing program (MN) and has trained extensively in early trauma resolution work. She is an accredited teacher of Integrative Body Psychotherapy, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, a Registered Clinical Counsellor. She teaches a professional training in pre and perinatal /attachment therapy internationally and has produced a Video Series of this training, which is spreading knowledge of the primal period and its impact. Myrna offers summer residential intensives in British Columbia, Canada.

Dr. Byatt is a perinatal psychiatrist focused on improving health care systems to promote maternal mental health. She is an Associate Professor at UMass Medical School in the Departments of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her research focuses on developing innovative ways to improve the implementation and adoption of evidence-based depression treatment for pregnant and postpartum women. She has federal funding to test interventions to help women access and engage in perinatal depression treatment in obstetric settings. Her academic achievements have led to numerous peer-reviewed publications and national awards. She is also the Founding and Statewide Medical Director of MCPAP for Moms, a statewide program that addresses perinatal depression in Massachusetts by providing mental health consultation and care coordination for medical providers serving pregnant and postpartum women.

Natashia Conner is a graduate in Health and a Lactation Consultant at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. She is a member of Black Breastfeeding Research, Education, Awareness, & Support Team, Southwest Ohio Breastfeeding Coalition, and Trinity Mother & Baby Outreach. She became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2015 and has worked with numerous mothers and infants supporting them on their breastfeeding journeys. As a graduate, she is heavily involved in research. Her research interests are: Investigations to improve infant mortality among minority and vulnerable population; Attest racial disparities to eliminate health care biases that systematically oppress breastfeeding equity. In the local community, she has volunteered and served as content expert for the Annual Black Family Reunion, NAACP Annual Conference, First Ladies Health Day. She is a breastfeeding advocate, peer, and a breastfeeding mother

Dr. Shahirose Premji is an Associate Professor with Faculty of Nursing and Adjunct Associate Professor with the Department of Community Health Sciences , a clinical researcher and former Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and Public Health Nurse. Dr. Premji's academic involvement includes 2 years at Aga Khan University-School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan - a consultant position with the Aga Khan Foundation Canada—as part of the Canadian Development Exchange Program. She is the author of 56 peer-review publications, 3 book chapters, and 23 other publications including abstracts, commentaries/editorials, etc. She has over 25 years' experience in newborn health and has practiced clinically or provided technical expertise in countries such as Australia, China, Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan and Syria. Dr. Premji is the founder and 1st President of the Canadian Association of Neonatal Nurses. Dr. Premji is the recipient of the Jeanne Mance Award (which is the Canadian Nurses Association's highest award) and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Dr Simone Honikman is a medical doctor (UCT) with clinical experience in Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Psychiatry and a Masters degree in Maternal and Child Health (UCT). She is founder and director of the 15-year old Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP) based at UCT. The Project has received formal commendation by the World Health Organisation. Simone received the international Ashoka Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship, has published academic papers, book chapters editorials and training manuals. She designs and conducts training for a wide range of healthcare and social service providers and consults to health policy and programme processes within South Africa. Through her involvement in several research consortia, she has collaborated with clinicians and researchers in high, low and middle income countries.

Tammy Ruiz Ziegler RN CPLC has been a nurse for 32 years with most of that time in Maternal Child Health including Peds ICU, NICU & Perinatal Bereavement & Palliative Care. She and her interdisciplinary team provide care for mothers/families/babies where a life limiting diagnosis has been made. She has taught and written internationally on the topic and hosted site visits from Japan and Ireland and contributed to textbooks on the subject. Her “Perinatal Hospice Video” is available in 8 languages and is used all over the world. She is on the advisory boards of the Trisomy 18 foundation, A Moms Peace, & The LLOST Foundation. She works as a Perinatal Bereavement Coordinator in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States.

Tikvah Wadley, AAS, CD(DONA), BDT (DONA), a Certified Doula and Birth Doula Trainer through DONA, has worked in the community for nearly 20 years and believes in empowering women in today’s society. Her didactic and experiential training approach welcomes creativity and learning for every participant. An activist for women’s health, she has served as a Lactation Counselor since 2003 and a Certified Child Birth Educator since 2002.

In 2012, she trained young women to become community-based doulas for youth in Chicago’s foster care system, through HC One’s partnership with UCAN. She continues working with this program, and with other community-based, peer-to-peer support programs around the country, today.

Tikvah is a warm and caring, experienced and often humorous public speaker, and is adept at resolving conflicts. Before joining the HC One staff, she was instrumental in recruiting more than 500 women for the University of Chicago Doula Project, taught a variety of classes for the YMCA. and co-trained breastfeeding peer counselors and community health workers in collaboration with existing HC One staff. With each training, she looks forward to meeting every participant and engaging the learning experience between mom and baby.

Tracy is a registered midwife, published author and Founder of the award winning GentleBirth App and CBE program. Born in Ireland, Tracy has lived and worked on three continents and currently lives in Silicon Valley, California with her husband and two boys. The experiences and mental health of the woman during pregnancy and throughout the post-pregnancy period are of utmost importance for the well-being of both the mother and her child. Tracy’s vision is to improve mental health in pregnancy through her innovative ‘brain training for birth’ program taught around the world and available through mobile technology in the GentleBirth App.

Desirée is a perinatal psychotherapist, trained birth doula, Reiki practitioner, and owner of Motherland Community helping women decipher the funk of motherhood through her practice in Baltimore, MD. A mother of 2 boys, Desirée ignited her passion for perinatal mental health after experiencing undiagnosed postpartum depression and OCD. Using her own experience and compassion in hopes to heal others, Desirée completed training as a birth doula in 2014 and the Postpartum Support International’s Components of Care Training on PMADs in 2015. Since then, she has immersed her free time in PMAD (Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder) awareness. Additionally, she serves as a Maryland co-coordinator for PSI (Postpartum Support International), co-founder of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for Women of Color and her practice is a Perinatal Safe Spot through the National Perinatal Taskforce. Desirée’s philosophy is ‘every woman should be nurtured and cared for during her transition to motherhood. It is a rite of passage that has no manual, only the virtue of patience, sacrifice and sense of community that is necessary to hold space for a woman on the other side of birth.

Dr. Pamela Douglas MBBS FRACGP IBCLC PhD is Medical Director of the Possums Clinic in Highgate Hill, Brisbane, Australia www.possumsonline.com, a charitable organisation whose multi-disciplinary services include specialised clinical care for mothers and babies, and education programs for both parents and health professionals. Pam is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Maternity Newborn and Families Research Collaborative at Griffith University, and Senior Lecturer at the Discipline of General Practice, The University of Queensland. She publishes research focussed on innovative clinical strategies for the support of parent-baby neurohormonal synchrony across the domains of feeds, sleep, crying and mood. Possums Education’s evidence-based programs for Neuroprotective Developmental Care (including the Gestalt Breastfeeding Online Program and The Possums Sleep Film) are rapidly influencing early life care both in Australia and internationally. Pam is also author of The discontented little baby book: all you need to know about feeds, sleep, and crying (UQP).

An advocate for women, Jodi Hall has dedicated herself to understanding the impact of traumatic events on the childbearing years, and toward creating solutions designed to change lives. Jodi shares her knowledge on topics related to trauma in the lives of mothers through workshops and training sessions for healthcare professionals, counsellors and social service workers throughout the world.
Jodi has worked as a doula since 1995, and a woman’s abuse counsellor where Jodi gained experience working directly with women experiencing abuse.  It is through years of sharing spaces with women experiencing abuse, that Jodi’s much sought after way of ‘being with’ women was nurtured.

Jodi Hall holds a PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Western Ontario.  Jodi has been instrumental in various research studies on marginalized women’s access to services that promote health. She resides with her family in London, Ontario, where she co-runs a private counseling practice with Amanda Saunders, MSW, RSW and Holly Gibson, MSW, RSW, who are also skilled birth workers, called Sharing Spaces.

Jessica is a Clinical Psychologist and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Her research interests are in mental health in childhood and adolescence, maternal mental health, and nutrition and lifestyle in mothers and young infants. Her major research projects to date have included an investigation of the influence of parental age on mental health problems in children and adolescents, and an investigation of key predictors of mental health outcomes in a cohort of Western Australian children. She completed Master of Psychology (Clinical) and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the University of Western Australia in 2015. In 2011, she was named as an inaugural member of the ISSBD Jacobs Foundation Early Career Scholar Fellows. Jessica currently works at the Telethon Kids Institute developing a comprehensive lifestyle intervention program for women and their infants postpartum. In her work as a psychologist, Jess has a particular interest in working with personality disorders and mental health after traumatic life events.

Linda J. Smith, MPH, FACCE, IBCLC, FILCA is a lactation consultant, childbirth educator, author, and internationally-known consultant on breastfeeding and birthing issues. Linda is ILCA’s liaison to the World Health Organization’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and consultant to INFACT Canada/IBFAN North America. She holds a Master’s in Public Health, is an Adjunct Instructor in the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University in Dayton OH, and is the author of 4 textbooks on birth and breastfeeding and the book Sweet Sleep for parents. She has lectured in at least 15 countries; her presentations have been translated into 10 languages including Inuktitut. She owns the Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre, on the Internet at www.BFLRC.com.

Tom Johnston is unique as a midwife and lactation consultant and the father of eight breastfed children. Recently retired after 27 years in the US Army, he is now an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Methodist University where he teaches, among other things, Maternal-Child Nursing and Nutrition. You may have heard him at a number of conferences at the national level, to include the Association of Woman’s Health and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the International Lactation Consultant’s Association (ILCA), or perhaps at dozens of other conferences across the country. In his written work he routinely addresses fatherhood and the role of the father in the breastfeeding relationship and has authored a chapter on the role of the father in breastfeeding for “Breastfeeding in Combat Boots: A survival guide to breastfeeding in the military”.