Speakers
Think you know GOLD Birth & Beyond? Think again! With a new and fresh program, this year's conference is full of practice changing-information and inspiration. Learn new clinical skills that you can immediately put into practice, and grow your knowledge to transform your abilities as a care provider. The skilled guidance we give during the vulnerable perinatal period changes lives. This year we have a fantastic program rich with transferable and practice-changing knowledge and skills, that will allow you to help your clients navigate the profound transformation of birth.
We are pleased to present the roster of main speakers below for the 2020 GOLD Birth & Beyond Online Conference! GOLD Birth & Beyond is your trusted source of online education in the field of maternal child health. Our Speakers will share the most up to date information in engaging and interactive presentations. These speakers have been selected by our Professional Advisory Committee to ensure we are bringing you the most up to date and relevant content for Professionals working within the perinatal spectrum. Our conference encompasses a variety of current topics with some of the most forward-thinking individuals in the field.
Dr. Britta Bushnell (she/her) is author of Transformed by Birth, host of the podcast Transformed, veteran childbirth educator, celebrated speaker, mythologist, wife and mother, and specialist in childbirth, relationship, and parenting. For over 20 years, Dr. Bushnell has worked with individuals and couples as they prepare for the life-changing experience of giving birth. Her work with parents has been enriched by her doctoral work in mythology and psychology, her years spent as a co-owner of Birthing From Within, as well as her dedicated study of solution-focused brief therapy, storytelling, and skills for supporting intimate relationships while parenting.
Britta is an engaging teacher, speaker, and presenter. Whether addressing a room of expectant parents, new mothers, or seasoned birth professionals, Britta has a way of captivating and inspiring them all. She has presented at conferences such as DONA International, MANA, ICEA, and Lamaze. Additionally, Britta has been featured on several popular podcasts including Informed Pregnancy, Birthful, and Atomic Moms. In 2016, in recognition of her transformative childbirth classes, Britta was awarded "Educator of the Year" by the Southern California Doula Association (DASC).
Becoming a parent is a process of profound maturation, one that requires expectant parents to grow into decision-makers for their growing families. Teachers and experts in the childbirth and parenting fields naturally want to share their hard-earned wisdom with expectant parents. However, doing so without awareness may be unwittingly reinforcing the idea for new parents, that experts “out there” hold the knowledge needed to be make decisions in the best interest of their growing family. This effectively keeps expectant parents in the energetic position of the child (the one who receives guidance) rather than supporting them to grow into the position of the parent (the one who makes decisions and acts). If we want to help the expectant parents grow into autonomous and self-guided parents, educators must practice in such a way that inspires the growth needed in the parent rather than simply fill them with information. Flipping from the authority of teacher and expert to mentor or guide, reduces the hierarchical nature of the relationship and can help awaken the inner authority of the parent-to-be. Understanding this dynamic along with a few basic tools can help you better support your clients as they stretch into parenthood.
Dr. Singley is a San Diego-based board certified psychologist and Director of The Center for Men’s Excellence. His research and practice focus on men’s mental health with a particular emphasis on reproductive psychology and the transition to fatherhood. Dr. Singley won the American Psychological Association’s 2017 Practitioner of the Year Award from the Division on Men & Masculinities. He is Past President of the APA’s Section on Positive Psychology and currently serves on the Board of the APA’s Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities as well as Postpartum Support International's Advisory Council. He conducts trainings around the country to assist individuals and organizations to enhance their level of father inclusiveness and founded the grant-funded Basic Training for New Dads, Inc nonprofit and Padre Cadre social networking application just for dads in order to give new fathers the tools they need to be highly engaged with their infants as well as their partners. In his free time, Dr. Singley likes to cook, surf, read, and drive his two sons to activities all over town so they can’t escape his annoying shrinky questions. Follow him @MenExcel and www.facebook.com/MenExcel/.
Topics covered will include common misconceptions about men’s perinatal mental health along with best evidence-based practices in screening, assessment, and interventions to enhance new fathers’ mental health and engagement with their children as well as their partners.
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.
Every animal has a developmental system or nest for its young that matches up with the maturational schedule of offspring. Humans have a nest too although many people don’t realize it. The human nest refers to the experiences and care that a child receives after birth and in the years that follow. Modern child raising has changed significantly from the nest of our ancestors with concerning results. Learn more about the epigenetic impact of the early nest and how early life experience influences wellbeing and sociomoral character in children and adults as well as societal culture. Delegates will gain an understanding of the essential components of the early nest (including touch, responsivity, breastfeeding, alloparents, positive social support, play, and soothing perinatal experiences) along with ways to empower parents to incorporate them into their infant’s care to create a foundation for lifelong health and well being.
Elly Taylor is an internationally recognised perinatal relationship expert, award winning author and founder of Becoming Us. As a relationship counsellor and a new mother at the same time, Elly both personally and professionally experienced the gap in preparation and support for the overnight life changes and new relationship issues that normally come with early parenthood. Fast forward 20 years and Elly's mission is to support the mental, emotional and relationship wellbeing of expecting and new mothers, fathers and babies. Elly’s Becoming Us approach provides parents with a pathway through the challenges of early parenthood so the whole family can cope, grow and thrive. Elly’s groud-breaking book Becoming Us, the Couples Guide to Surviving Parenthood is on the essential and recommended reading lists of numerous leading perinatal organisations. Elly has presented at national and international conferences, served on the advisory panel for several university research projects and is currently on the board of the International Forum for Wellbeing in Pregnancy. Her passion (family aside) is training professionals worldwide to become Parenthood Tour Guides.
"The “transition” into parenthood is supposed to be a time of joy, love and wonder, and yet research paints a very different picture: currently 1 in 3 mothers and 1 in 5 fathers suffer from anxiety or depression during the perinatal period. You might also be shocked to know that 92% of couples report increased conflict and 67% a decline in relationship satisfaction in the first few years of family.
And referring to parenthood as a “transition” is misleading – there are, in fact, multiple transitions for couples to navigate.
Including fathers or partners in pregnancy, birth and the multiple transitions of early parenthood helps to reduce both mothers' and fathers' risks for anxiety, depression and relationship problems and supports both parents' mental, emotional and relationship health, so the whole family can thrive. In this presentation, practitioners will learn simple and easy ways to include fathers and partners, even if they’re not in the room, and discover how small things can make a big difference to a family’s future.
Emily Blackmoon (French/British/Algonquin) (She/Her) is a Registered Social Worker and holistic psychotherapist. She has worked for over 10 years as a therapist and case manager specifically within the urban Indigenous community of Toronto, supporting parents, families, children and youth. In 2014 she completed a 4 year training in Gestalt therapy and is now a supervisor. In her therapy practices, Emily combines Anti-Racist. Anti-Oppressive, and Feminist principals of social work with Gestalt therapy and Indigenous worldviews. Emily works with new parents to support them in developing wholistic, empowered and gentle approaches to the pregnancy/parenting journey.
Participants will be invited to holistically consider the postpartum needs of birth parents. Through an invitation to walk through the various aspects of their human journey - from the spiritual and cultural, to the emotional, the cognitive and the physical- participants will be invited to think critically and holistically about the human needs of those on their journey towards giving birth and after giving birth. Emily will use these directions to invite participants to support professionals in asking their patients and clients: what they want out of their pregnancy/postpartum journey? Who and what is within their constellation of support, and how? How do we support our parents in accessing their own agency to ask for support in the event that they experience the symptoms of postpartum mood and anxiety disorders?
Kimberly Bepler has been serving families professionally since 2001, and teaching expectant couples and new doulas since 2004. She began first as a postpartum doula, and soon after found a passion to educate so she added breastfeeding and new parent education at her local medical system teaching at 3 different hospitals. She started Pathway 3 back in 2006, and became an IBCLC in 2011. She owns ABC Doula & Newborn Care, a postpartum doula agency in Portland, OR that has served over 2000 families and employs 20 doulas and educators. She is also the mother of 2 almost grown children (a frequently humbling experience) and her family resides in Phoenix near her snowbird parents. Kimberly has taught and served thousands of expectant and new parents, including over 700 families with twins. Building on her experience teaching for 17 years within two hospital systems, she now trains for the New Parent Educator program for those seeking to teach new parent classes in a hospital, community, or private setting. She is the Senior Advisor to the CAPPA Lactation Educator program, and is focused on providing fun and interactive education, not just with great information, but also providing judgement-free classes empowering new parents with skills and confidence. You can find out more about everything she teaches at www.abcdoula.com
The Crying Curve is an evidence-based pattern of crying that begins at about 42 weeks of gestation (2 weeks of extrauterine life), peaks at 6-8 weeks of age, and sharply declines by 12-15 weeks. As many as 15 different studies have concluded that this pattern is common across infants of all cultures, gestational ages (based on a 40-week gestation), and parenting styles—and the applications are many in the early parenting world. How can parents use this pattern to help them navigate breastfeeding? How can they gather their support people, family or village to maximize positive relationships and get the support they crave? How can they utilize it to help assess their newborn and understand what is needed for their specific situation? How much crying is too much crying? Lactation consultants, postpartum doulas, and other postpartum professionals who possess this information are well positioned to help to educate parents on how to best approach their postpartum recovery period, as well as navigate the ups and downs of breastfeeding and early newborn sleep. This session will aim to explain and apply the Crying Curve in multiple ways to support and guide the newborn family.
Linos Muvhu is The Secretary and Chief Talent Team Leader of Society for Pre and Post Natal Services’ (SPANS) Maternal, Paternal and child mental health programme in Zimbabwe. SPANS promotes good mental health across the life course starting in the perinatal period. It is a national evidence based family focused program. Linos trained as a family therapist with Connect (Zimbabwe Institute of Systemic family Therapy). He is Africa Ambassador for Fathers Mental Health Day and passionate about the rights of all people to enjoy good sound mental health, in particular the right for good family mental health and in 2016, he initiated the first ever International Conference on Maternal Mental Health in Africa (ICAMMHA.)
Poor mental health affects the expectant mothers and father's overall emotional, environmental, social, spiritual and physical well-being, but also impacts unborn, newborn and developing children, partners, family, friends, and society as a whole. Championing early diagnosis and screening of mental health to every expectant mother and father during their routine antenatal and postnatal care visits; Awareness campaigns in communities about maternal, paternal and child health mental health issues to improve the uptake of services; Training community health care workers (early detecting, screening, and treatment of maternal and child mental illness). The Mashonaland east province under Goromonzi district is a pre-urban and a rural setting in Zimbabwe. A neglected area that significantly impacts maternal and child mortality and morbidity are that of maternal, paternal and child mental health is the main area of focus of this presentation.
Dr. Monika Mitra is the Nancy Lurie Marks Associate Professor of Disability Policy, and Director of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Her research focuses on the health and wellbeing of people with disabilities and their families. She co-leads the Community Living Policy Center which is aimed at improving policies and practices that advance community living outcomes for people with disabilities and the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities which is focused on addressing knowledge gaps regarding the needs of parents with diverse disabilities and their families. Dr. Mitra is co-editor-in-chief of the Disability and Health Journal. Prior to joining Brandeis, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
In the last ten years, an emerging body of evidence has documented the disparities in perinatal care, quality, and outcomes of women with disabilities.
This presentation will provide an in-depth examination of the unmet needs and barriers to perinatal care among women with different disabilities. It will highlight disparities in pregnancy and birth outcomes among women with and without disabilities. It will also outline recommendations to women with disabilities who are considering pregnancy and examine the experiences and needs of health care practitioners in providing obstetric care to women with disabilities.
The findings for this presentation are informed by analyses of nationally representative surveys, population-based administrative data, and from interviews with disabled women and obstetric care clinicians from the United States. We will include findings on the perinatal health of women with physical disabilities, women who are deaf and hard of hearing, and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
This presentation will shed light on the unmet needs and barriers to care of women with disabilities during pregnancy and childbirth and emphasize the urgent need for policy and practice recommendations to improve perinatal care of women with disabilities.
Dr Raja Gangopadhyay is a Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, UK, with a special interest in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire (UK). In conjunction with his multidisciplinary team, Raja has been championing joint approaches to perinatal mental health that take into account infant mental health. Raja is a well-known Trainer in PMH and organises teaching, training and Conference for Obstetricians, Midwives, GP and other healthcare professionals. He is a renowned speaker and has been invited to speak at many National and International events. He obtained a Certificate in Medical Education from the University of Bedfordshire, UK. He has been invited to House of Lords meeting as a member of the Expert panel and organised and chaired events at the House of Commons (UK Parliament). He has been invited to many media interviews (Radio/ Television) and views/ opinions have been quoted in many leading UK newspapers. He is the Founder of the International Forum for Wellbeing In Pregnancy (IFWIP): a unique initiative to raise awareness of mental wellbeing during pregnancy from a global perspective (www.ifwip.org)
The presentation will start with the global statistics of mental health conditions during pregnancy and the economic cost to health and social care. Then the impact of stress and mental health problems during pregnancy will be discussed with an outline of 'Foetal Programming'. Subsequently, the practical aspects of care of Perinatal Mental Health conditions will be elaborated with a focus on screening, Care Planning, use of medication during pregnancy and breastfeeding. An outline of the concept of wellbeing will be discussed with lifestyle modification and stress management strategies (NURTURE Approach).
Dr. Sayida Peprah is both a licensed clinical psychologist and birth doula, with over 10 years of experience in both fields. She specializes in multicultural psychology, trauma, suicide prevention and maternal mental health. Dr. Sayida has a multi-faced career as a psychologist, diversity and cross-cultural educator, and community-based doula program director. Dr. Sayida is also the Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization Diversity Uplifts, Inc., who's mission is “fostering diversity and supporting communities and the providers who serve them.
An advocate for human rights in childbirth, Dr. Sayida is a member of the Black Women Birthing Justice Collective and a Collaborator with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, promoting research, education and community-based services to positively transform the birthing experiences of black families. Dr. Sayida has served and continues to serve on advisory committees including Perinatal Equity Initiative Committees, and formerly the California Maternal Suicide Review Committee and others aimed at identifying key risks and opportunities for quality improvement and prevention around disparities.
The occurrence of a suicide during pregnancy or up to one year postpartum is a rare but tragic event. While we expect that family members will be at a loss for how to detect or care for an acutely mentally ill loved one, it is concerning that many perinatal/maternal care and support professionals also report feeling unprepared and ill equipped to recognize and address the needs of patients in this situation. Additionally, publications on maternal mortality generally do not include information on maternal suicide, limiting providers access to updated research on the topic. During this presentation, maternal suicide research findings, as well as clinical considerations will be reviewed. Maternal suicide risks, symptoms, cultural considerations and recommendations for prevention and intervention will be reviewed. Practical scenarios for what to do in real situations will be highlighted.
Tracy Cassels, PhD is the founder of Evolutionary Parenting, a website focused on disseminating the research on parenting. In addition to her writing, she provides courses and individual help to families around the world on myriad parenting issues. She has previously worked in non-profit and policy positions in the areas of child development and education and is currently an advisor to the Children’s Health and Human Rights Partnership in Canada. She has a B.A. in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, also from the University of British Columbia. She has appeared in numerous mainstream media sources such as the CBC, Psychology Today, The Globe and Mail, Belly Belly, and more. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two children.
Sensitive or orchid individuals make up about 20% of the population, children included. These individuals face what we call ‘differential susceptibility’ based on their environments, child-rearing included. In environments that are not well-suited to their sensitive nature, they face higher rates of disease, mental health disorders, and other negative outcomes. In contrast, when in environments that are supportive and well-suited to their nature, they thrive and can have outcomes that surpass those of their less sensitive counterparts. The problem for most parents is that the advice and techniques common in our culture are at odds with what these children need, putting parents in a difficult spot of either not knowing how to parent such a child (but knowing the advice seems wrong) or giving in and finding themselves in ongoing struggles with their child. This talk will review the research on sensitive/orchid children and how we can use this information to help families identify parenting methods and techniques in the areas of general parenting, sleep, child care/schooling, and discipline that will provide the type of foundation these children need to thrive.
Tynan Rhea is a queer, nonbinary settler with German and Slovak ancestry. Tynan has a private practice online across Canada as a sex & relationship therapist, sex educator, and aromatherapist. Tynan developed and teaches the Sex & Birth course for Doula Training Canada and is the founder of PostpartumSex.com. Tynan approaches their practice from sex-positive, queer & trans-affirming, trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and feminist frameworks. Tynan started their private practice in Tkaronto and grew-up in Wasaga Beach. You can find Tynan on Facebook, Instagram @TynanRhea or TynanRhea.com
Have you ever wondered why some people's sex lives improve after having children and why so many other's struggle? Or maybe you want to have a better understanding of what is "normal" for postpartum sex. In this introductory presentation, you'll learn how the different aspects of our lives influence our sexual experiences postpartum including the importance of being trauma-informed and sex-positive in order to effectively respond to your client's sexual health support needs.
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Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization and in 2008 sat for and passed the exam administered by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. As an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, she now
Annet Mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became a mother for the first time. During and because of her own breastfeeding experiences, in 2002 she became a volunteer with the Dutch breastfeeding Organization text text text text more name mulder first became interested in breastfeeding in the year 2000, when she became.
Dr. Speakers Full Name
Speaker Credentials