IBCLC Detailed Content Outline: Physiology and Endocrinology Focused CERPs - Section II

Elissa is a passionate osteopath, business owner and mentor.

Elissa has worked as an Osteopath in private practice in Melbourne since graduating in 1998.

She started her own multidisciplinary clinic in 2002, combining osteopathy with, massage, naturopathy, kinesiology and counselling. In 2015 Elissa merged her business with a local podiatrist and started The Balwyn Health Hub.

She is well known for her treatment of children and pregnant women although her patient base also includes a strong focus for; the family unit, the elderly, performers, athletes and the chronically ill. Her special interest in osteopathic diagnostic reasoning often helps patients understand why chronic dysfunctions are not healing.
Elissa's passion for working with pregnant women, babies and children allows close professional relationships with lactation consultants, midwives and doulas which has led to her guest lecturing at a number of multidisciplinary conferences.

To fully support their clients’ health throughout gestation, birth, and nursing, midwives need to know about herbs. Not a lot; in fact, what most midwives need to know can be learned in few hours. Wise use of herbs is especially important during pregnancy and lactation. Using herbs instead of drugs to allay problems protects both mom and fetus from harm. Even more importantly, the abundant nutrition available from select herbs – like stinging nettle, oatstraw, comfrey leaf, and red clover blossoms–has a much more profound influence on maternal health than any supplement and can make the difference between an easy birth and a complicated one. Herbal medicine is simple, safe, and effective at all times in a woman’s life, including during her childbearing years. Here are the things I think it most important that a midwife know about herbs and herbal medicine.

Dr. Hazelbaker has been a therapist in private practice for over 30 years. She specializes in cross-disciplinary treatment and to that end has taken training in several modalities to best assist her clients. She is a certified Craniosacral Therapist, a Lymph Drainage Therapy practitioner, a Tummy Time™ Trainer, a Haller Method practitioner, A Pre and Perinatal Psychology Educator, a Lactation Therapist Diplomate, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and a fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association.

She earned her Master’s Degree from Pacific Oaks College (Human Development specializing in Human Lactation) and her doctorate from The Union Institute and University (Psychology, specializing in Energetic and Transformational healing.)

People recognize her as an expert on infant sucking issues caused by various structural problems like torticollis, plagiocephaly, brachycephaly and tissue shock-trauma. She invented the Hazelbaker™ FingerFeeder and the Infant Breastfeeding CranioSacral Protocol™ to assist in the resolution of this type of infant sucking dysfunction.

Kristie Gatto, MA, CCC-SLP, COM received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. She has worked as a speech-language pathologist in the public and private school systems, skilled nursing, rehabilitation and children’s hospitals, and in private practice. In 2004, Ms. Gatto became the co-owner of a private practice in Northwest Houston and began her journey in treating children with pediatric feeding disorders. After years of searching for answers in traditional feeding approaches, she underwent training in the field of Orofacial Myology and became the first certified orofacial myologist in the city of Houston in 2011. Ms. Gatto is currently the owner of The Speech and Language Connection, which has two offices in the greater Houston area and employs 21 speech-language pathologists with various specialties.

For the past ten years, she has focused her clinical skills on treating patients with issues in feeding, dysphagia, deglutition, oral sensory aversion, orofacial myology, and swallowing- related disorders, as well as articulation, phonological processing, apraxia, and early childhood intervention.

Ms. Gatto is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM), American Academy of Private Practice in Speech Pathology & Audiology (AAPPSPA), Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA), and Houston Association for Communication Disorders (HACD). Additionally, she serves on the board of directors for the IAOM and AAPPSPA and the Community Advisory Board for the University of Houston.

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”.

Dr. Sharon Unger comes from the East Coast of Canada and is a neonatologist at Sinai Health System in Toronto, Canada. She is a co-primary investigator for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded OptiMoM and MaxiMoM programs of research as well as the medical director for the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank. Her research interests are primarily in the use of human milk for the high risk neonate and its long term impact.

Michelle has been a pediatric neurodevelopmental Occupational therapist specializing in precrawling infants for over 26 years. She has specialty certifications and training in lactation, manual therapy, and pre and peri natal psychology. Michelle has specialized in optimal cranial nerve function and oral restrictions, with an emphasis on infant movement, innate biological imperatives and human potential, providing novel curriculums, support and resources for both professionals and parents. She enjoys collaborating and working in teams for babies and families going through the tethered oral tissues release process.

Deborah is Aotearoa/ New Zealand’s first Nurse Practitioner. Deborah’s research interests include the management of babies at risk of neonatal hypoglycaemia and their later development. The impact of her teams research has changed the treatment for millions of babies and families across the developed world. More recently, Deborah has been investigating the prevention and management of neonatal hypoglycaemia within the Pacific Islands.

Lia Bello is a Family Nurse Practitioner, educated at the University of Virginia, and is Certified in Classical Homeopathy. Lia is the founder of the Homeopathic Nurses Association www.nursehomeopaths.org and past president of the Council for Homeopathic Certification. As America’s foremost homeopathic nurse educator, Lia loves to open up the world of Homeopathy to mothers, nurses and other healthcare practitioners and teaches courses around the U.S. which award CE’s for nurses. Her website, www.learnhomeopathy.org, features video courses and many informative articles. Residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Lia has had a private practice specializing in holistic and homeopathic acute and chronic healthcare for over 43 years.

Briana Tillman received her undergraduate degree in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She has been a La Leche League Leader for 9 years and is a board certified lactation consultant. After spending 10 years as a stay-at-home mom, she is currently in her third year of medical school at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Parker, Colorado. She loves spending time with her husband and three kids—as a family they like to travel, go camping, and play string instruments in “family ensemble.”

Nick is a 3rd year medical student at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has a background in mechanical and systems engineering but found his calling in medicine after volunteering for Health4Haiti in 2011. He lives in Colorado with his wife and they enjoy hiking, camping and fishing in the great outdoors.