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Dr. Elliot Berlin is an award winning prenatal chiropractor, childbirth educator and labor doula. He is the founder of the Berlin Wellness Group, a thriving prenatal and family wellness practice with three locations in Los Angeles. His Informed Pregnancy® Project aims to utilize multiple forms of media to compile and deliver unbiased information about pregnancy and childbirth to empower new and expectant parents to make informed choices regarding their pregnancy and parenting journey. He is also the producer of two documentaries about birth choices, “Trial of Labor” and “Heads Up: The Disappearing Art of Vaginal Breech Delivery.” He has a television show in pre-production. Dr. Berlin is married to Dr. Alyssa Berlin PsyD, a prenatal and postpartum clinical psychologist, and together they have four children. |
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Dr. Alyssa Berlin, PsyD Dr. Alyssa Berlin is a prenatal and postpartum clinical psychologist. Dr. Berlin works specifically with women and their partners on issues such as anxiousness and emotional fluctuation during pregnancy, postpartum blues and depression, and the complex issues that can arise between and around new and expectant parents.Preventatively, Dr. Berlin offers the internationally acclaimed Bringing Baby Home workshop once a month, which utilizes a series of exercises and discussions aimed at helping new parents avoid the typical pitfalls and relationship discord that can often accompany the birth of a new baby. Along with her husband, Dr. Elliot Berlin, Dr. Alyssa teaches a one day intensive childbirth education course once a month.Dr. Berlin founded the Berlin Wellness Village, a weekly pregnancy and postpartum gathering where women connect with other expectant moms and participate in discussions about different issues that arise during pregnancy with the support and resources that will help you find comfort and confidence while navigating through the amazing world of pregnancy and parenting.Dr. Berlin completed her doula training last year. Dr. Berlin combines her psychological background and her doula training to help women and their partners feel empowered and comfortable in the labor and delivery process, both on a physical and emotional level. Dr. Berlin has a specific expertise addressing anxiety, fear or any other emotional concern that may arise around having a baby.Dr. Berlin is an instructor for MomAssembly and is on the Board of Advisors for Pregnancy Awareness Month. You can read Dr. Alyssa‘s blogs on the Huffington Post where she contributes to PBS’s ‘This Emotional Life” project.Dr. Berlin received her doctorate at Argosy University in Atlanta, GA, went on to become a certified Gottman educator and is a member of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Alyssa and her husband, prenatal chiropractor Dr. Elliot Berlin live in Los Angeles and are the proud parents of four amazing children. |
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Henci Goer
Henci Goer, award-winning medical writer and internationally known speaker, is an acknowledged expert on evidence-based maternity care. Her first book, Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities, was a valued resource for childbirth professionals. Its successor, Optimal Care in Childbirth: The Case for a Physiologic Approach, has won the American College of Nurse-Midwives “Best Book of the Year” award. Goer has also written The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth, which gives pregnant women access to the research evidence, as well as consumer education pamphlets and articles for trade, consumer, and academic periodicals.
Goer’s latest project is Childbirth U, a website selling narrated slide presentations at modest cost that will help pregnant women make informed decisions about care.
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Nicette Jukelevics, MA, ICCE Nicette Jukelevics, MA, ICCE is a childbirth educator, researcher and author of Understanding the Dangers of Cesarean Birth: Making Informed Decisions and the VBAC Education Project, an evidence-based on-line teaching tool for parents and perinatal professionals. In collaboration with the International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA) and the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) the Project is freely available for download across the globe.For over 25 years Nicette had the privilege of helping thousands of expectant families to prepare for childbirth, VBAC and early parenting. She has presented on cesarean and VBAC issues at national conferences and for advanced doula trainings across the U.S. With co-author, Henci Goer, Nicette published The Risks of Cesarean Section: A CIMS Fact Sheet, endorsed by 19 organizations. Nicette is past chair of Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS). She also served on the Board of the International Childbirth Education Association and DONA International.Nicette is proud to have received the 2013 CIMS Advocate Award for her commitment to spreading awareness of Mother-Friendly care through direct communication and outreach and the 2015 Doris Haire Lifetime Achievement Award from ICEA. She continues to advocate for woman-centered , evidence-based, safer childbirth. |
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Shafia Monroe, DEM, CDT, MPH In 1991, Shafia M. Monroe founded the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC), a nonprofit organization which focuses on infant and maternal mortality prevention, breastfeeding promotion, and the training of midwives and doula of color. Ms. Monroe is the President/CEO. Monroe is also a direct-entry midwife certified by the Massachusetts Midwives Alliance, a Childbirth Educator, a Doula Trainer, a mother of seven children, and a nana of nine grandchildren.She holds a BA in sociology, with a concentration in medical sociology, from the University of Massachusetts, and a Master of Public Health from Walden University. In 2002 she organized the Black Midwives and Healers Conference to reduce infant and maternal mortality and to strengthen families. She created the ICTC Full Circle Doula/Birth Companion training, built on the legacy of the 20th century African American midwife, and trained over 1,600 ICTC doulas internationally. In 2007 she authored The Black Midwives and Prenatal Providers Directory-Essential Recipes and Words of Wisdom for Expecting and New Parents, and co-authored Into these Hands: Wisdom from Midwives in 2011. In 2014 she created Shafia Monroe Consulting (SMC), a company that provides cultural competency training for working with diverse populations in maternal and child health, to improve the delivery of services in health care systems.Monroe travels the world speaking to reduce perinatal inequities in communities of color. She has earned numerous awards, such as: The Lifetime Achievement Award Service in Community Health; We Are Health Movement, 2014; and a Proclamation from Georgia’s State Representative Mabel “Able” for her commitment to reducing infant mortality in 2006.Her work is being replicated throughout the nation and has been featured in documentaries and articles. Monroe attributes her success in improving perinatal health to incorporating African and Southern outreach into traditional midwifery practices.Monroe lives with her husband in Portland, OR. |
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Christa Billings
Christa Billings is the Immediate Past-President and has been involved with ICAN for 7 years. She has served on the national level since Oct 2009. Christa joined the Board of Directors in March of 2012, in previous positions as Chapter Director and Vice President. Christa currently serves as the Chapter Leader for the ICAN of Portland Chapter. Christa is a mother to 3 girls. Her own birth experiences are what brought her to ICAN and shaped her passion for continued birth advocacy work. In her spare time she also serves as a Co-Leader to her daughters Girl Scout troop. |
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Gloria Lemay
Gloria Lemay is an author, midwifery teacher and birth attendant. She has worked in the childbirth field for the past 39 years. For 17 years she practiced as a midwife prior to the government regulation of midwifery in British Columbia. She has experience with over 1500 births. She has written many articles and has been published in Midwifery Today and other childbirth magazines. She has been a keynote speaker for the California Assoc. of Midwives, International Cesarean Awareness Network, Waterbirth International, Trust Birth, International Breech Birth Coalition, and Midwifery Today conferences. She has given lectures on birth at Capilano University, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. Two of her three daughters were born at home. She lives in Vancouver, B.C. and travels in her role as a teacher and speaker. She is deeply committed to ending circumcision internationally and has a passion for VBAC and water birth. Blog: www.wisewomanwayofbirth.com Twitter: birthsage Linked In: Gloria Lemay Facebook: Gloria Lemay Online midwifery classes http://www.wiziq.com/gloria-lemay DVD: “Birth with Gloria Lemay” |