Infant & Child Health & Development Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

Mim Ochsenbein, MSW, OTR/L has been a practicing pediatric occupational therapist for over 25 years. She is the current Clinical Director of STAR overseeing a multi-discipline team, and previously was STAR's Director of Education. She received her BSc in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1996 and her MSW from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2012. She has received advanced training in sensory integration (SIPT certification, STAR ProCert1, STAR ProCert2), listening therapy (Therapeutic Listening, iLs), feeding therapy (SOS), DIR, mental health (DC:0-5 Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood), and infant massage (CIMI). Her work in occupational therapy with children and youth has occurred in a variety of settings including early intervention, school based, clinic based, mental health and private practice. As a social worker, she provided case management, program development, and program management. Mim has taught both university level (California State-Dominguez Hills) and professional continuing education courses since 2013, spoken internationally, and has co-authored works for professional publications. She has been in her current role at STAR Institute since 2017 at the invitation of Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, FAOTA, OTR.

Ann Douglas sparks conversations that matter about parenting and mental health. She is the creator of Canada's bestselling series of pregnancy and parenting books, The Mother of All books series, and the author of two critically acclaimed parenting guides: Happy Parents, Happy Kids and Parenting Through the Storm. Her most recent book is Navigating The Messy Middle: A Fiercely Honest and Wildly Encouraging Guide for Midlife Women.

If you've already met Ann via one her books, you know what you can expect from one of her presentations: to be inspired, informed, and entertained. Not only will she shift your thinking about what the challenges that parents and children are facing in 2023: she'll move you to action as well. By the end of Ann's presentation, you'll be eager to embrace the important role that you have to play in supporting parents: in helping them to feel confident and capable as opposed to anxious, guilty, or overwhelmed.

Lyndsey is an experienced paediatric nurse, children’s public health nurse, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Holistic Sleep Coach, researcher and responsive parenting advocate. She has worked in hospitals, clinics, the community and within clients’ homes for 20 years, serving within the UK NHS, in private practice and voluntarily.
The co-founder and clinical director of the Holistic Sleep Coaching program, Lyndsey regularly teaches internationally, as well as providing mentorship for newer sleep coaches. She is passionate about responsive feeding, gentle parenting and promoting parental confidence and well-being.
With Professor Amy Brown, she is the co-founder of Thought Rebellion – an education and publishing company seeking to inspire, challenge and equip professionals and writers in the parenting, lactation and perinatal space with an evidence based revolution.
Lyndsey is currently a PhD researcher at Swansea University, exploring the needs and challenges of medically complex breastfed infants and children. In 2019 she set up the Breastfeeding the Brave project to raise awareness of the unique breastfeeding needs of chronically, critically, and terminally ill children in the paediatric setting. The mother of a childhood cancer survivor, she often talks about the impact of chronic serious illness on families, and seeks to support other families living through a serious childhood illness.
Lyndsey is a respected international speaker and teacher, and regularly speaks out against the dominant sleep training culture, as well as advocating for the rights of families to receive high-quality, compassionate and expert support. She is the author of Holistic Sleep Coaching (2018), Let’s talk about your new family’s sleep (2020), Still Awake (2021), Breastfeeding the Brave (2022) and co-author of The Writing Book (2022).

A love for babies fueled Kimberly's 20+ year career serving families in the postpartum time frame. With a passion for nurturing new parents, she trains doulas and educators with CAPPA to support and educate for a strong beginning of bonding and connection. She loves teaching expectant families to have a smooth transition to new baby life through the Providence Healthcare System in Portland, OR. She began as a postpartum doula, then quickly added breastfeeding and new parent classes to help parents from the very beginning, and then became an IBCLC to meet their bigger challenges. She owns ABC Doula & Newborn Care in Portland, OR, is the mother of 2 grown kids, and resides in Phoenix near her parents. Like many other baby whisperers, Kimberly has honed skills for listening and responding to babies that parents can quickly learn to understand and interpret their tiny humans. When she sees parents struggling, and especially with the most fussy of babies, her heart hopes that all parents could be given the tools to compassionately support their little ones, and learn how to meet their needs, which creates more confidence in themselves in their new roles as well.

Sonia Story developed the Brain and Sensory Foundations training to provide in-depth, comprehensive training in the use of innate rhythmic and infant primitive and postural reflex movements for addressing sensory, learning, physical, behavioral, emotional, social, and speech challenges. Sonia trained directly with Harald Blomberg, MD and Moira Dempsey, among many other mentors. Her training courses are approved for professional continuing education for occupational therapists, physical therapists, and massage therapists.

Sonia was a presenter at the 2018 Autism One conference on how innate neurodevelopmental movements help with sensory issues. Her work has been featured in the book, Almost Autism: Recovering Children from Sensory Processing Disorder, and in the books Special Ed Mom Survival Guide; Family Health Revolution; and Same Journey, Different Paths, Stories of Auditory Processing Disorder.

Sonia is currently enrolled in Master's program in Movement Science.

Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S, is an international teacher, creator of Synergetic Play Therapy, founder and President of the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute, and host of the Lessons from the Playroom podcast. She is the author of Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity and is the 2015 recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s Professional Education and Training Award of Excellence.

Darcia Narvaez, Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of Notre Dame researches moral development and flourishing from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating anthropology, neuroscience, clinical, developmental and educational sciences. Her earlier careers include professional musician, business owner, classroom music teacher, classroom Spanish teacher and seminarian, among other things. She grew up bilingual/bicultural but calls the earth her home. Dr. Narvaez’s current research explores how early life experience influences wellbeing and moral character in children and adults. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association and former editor of the Journal of Moral Education. She is on the advisory boards of Attachment Parenting International, Kindred, Your Whole Baby, and the Self Reg Institute. She has numerous publications, including more than 20 books such as Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First Nation Know-how for Global Flourishing; Basic Needs, Wellbeing and Morality: Fulfilling Human Potential and Embodied Morality: Protectionism, Engagement and Imagination. A recent book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom won the 2015 William James Book Award from the American Psychological Association and the 2017 Expanded Reason Award. She blogs for Psychology Today (“Moral Landscapes”) and hosts the webpage EvolvedNest.org.

Anna Reyner, MA, ATR, LMFT, is the founder of CreativePlayLA a training & consulting business that uses art-based approaches to positively impact children and families. She has successfully merged the principles of art therapy into early childhood education, and specializes in helping teachers add trauma informed art into their classrooms. Anna is the author of two awarding winning books, Smart Art and Smart Art 2, and has presented over 800 trainings at state, national and international conferences in her 40 years as a teacher, art therapist and mental health advocate. Her new and groundbreaking book "Trauma-Informed Art Activities for Early Childhood: Using Process Art to Repair Trauma & Help Children Thrive: is now available on Amazon for pre-purchase.

Kim Barthel is an award-winning occupational therapist, trans-disciplinary teacher and best-selling author who is actively supporting function and healing in many cultures. A pioneer in reinforcing the importance of relationship, Kim’s passionate interests include complex behaviour, attachment, sensory processing, trauma-sensitive practice, Neuro-Developmental Treatment and mental health. Kim’s mission is to support the conscious evolution of the human spirit. www.kimbarthel.ca

Dr. Patty Born is an associate professor of environmental education at Hamline University in St Paul, MN. She has worked for over three decades in different educational settings, including museums, nature centers, zoos, parks, and traditional classrooms. As a scholar-activist, she is concerned with helping teachers-to-be develop an accurate and informed understanding of issues related to climate, environment and sustainability, as well as helping them engage with important questions about our connections to other species. Patty's research interests are related to human-animal relations, wildlife experiences and their impact on teacher self-efficacy, and nature-based education. Dr. Patty Born is an associate professor of environmental education at Hamline University in St Paul, MN. She has worked for over three decades in different educational settings, including museums, nature centers, zoos, parks, and traditional classrooms. As a scholar-activist, she is concerned with helping teachers-to-be develop an accurate and informed understanding of issues related to climate, environment and sustainability, as well as helping them engage with important questions about our connections to other species. Patty's research interests are related to human-animal relations, wildlife experiences and their impact on teacher self-efficacy, and nature-based education.