2019 Speakers & Topics
Abbie E. Goldberg is a Professor of Psychology and Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She received her BA in psychology from Wesleyan University, and an MA in psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research examines diverse families, including lesbian- and gay-parent families and adoptive-parent families. Her work focuses in particular on key life transitions (e.g., the transition to parenthood, the transition to kindergarten, the transition to divorce) in same-sex parent and adoptive families. A central theme of her research is the decentering of any “normal” or “typical” family, sexuality, or gender, to allow room for diverse families, sexualities, and genders.
For 14 years, Dr. Goldberg has been conducting a longitudinal study of adoptive families headed by female, male, and heterosexual couples, which focuses in part on parents’ and children’s experiences in the school setting. Dr. Goldberg is also conducting research on the higher educational experiences of trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. Dr. Goldberg recently completed a longitudinal study of postpartum well-being in women with diverse sexual histories.
She is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles and two books: Gay Dads (NYU Press, 2012) and Lesbian- and Gay-Parent Families (APA, 2010). She has a forthcoming book entitled Open Adoption in Diverse Families (Oxford, 2020). She is the co-editor (with Katherine R. Allen) of LGBT-Parent Families: Innovations in Research and Implications for Practice (Springer, 2013) and the editor of the SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies (SAGE, 2016). She is also the co-editor of the 2019 book, LGBTQ Divorce and Relationship Dissolution (Oxford). She has received research funding from the American Psychological Association, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Williams Institute, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the National Institutes of Health, and the Spencer Foundation. She teaches courses on family diversity, research methods with diverse families, human sexuality, the psychology of sexual orientation, and ethics in clinical psychology.
This talk will focus on the transition to parenthood among sexual minorities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer individuals), including their decision-making about whether to become parents, what parenthood route to take (e.g., adoption, insemination, surrogacy), and their experiences navigating legal, adoption agency, and medical contexts. It will identify unique strengths that same-sex couples often bring to parenthood (e.g., a shared commitment to egalitarianism; an openness to nonbiological parenthood), as well as unique challenges that they encounter during the transition (e.g., heteronormativity in the adoption and perinatal contexts; lack of support from family). Furthermore, it will explore same-sex couples’ experiences during the transition to parenthood and beyond, including parent-child relationships, parents’ mental health, and parents’ relationship quality, as well as risk factors for poor outcomes in these domains. Best practices for practitioners who interface with same-sex couples and parents, particularly during the transition to parenthood, will be identified. Attention to parent gender and specific sexual identity (bisexual, lesbian, gay) will be incorporated, where appropriate.
Adriana Lozada’s background is multi-layered and multi-cultural. A former print and online editor from Venezuela, the birth of her daughter sparked her passion for being a birth advocate. With over 12 years of experience, Adriana is the host of the acclaimed Birthful Podcast, a certified advanced birth doula, postpartum educator, healthy sleep consultant, international speaker, and bestselling author; or what she would summarize as a well-rounded birth nerd.
Rather than focusing on external mileposts like stages, stations, and centimeters, what if laboring people had a clear roadmap that easily led them inwards, towards the physiological process unfolding in their bodies? What if instead of packing their bags with coping mechanisms, they filled them with tools that encouraged birth flow, and put them in the driver’s seat of their own birth journey? Let’s explore this new model of birth.
Catharine McDonald is a National Certified Counselor, CT Licensed Professional Counselor, and Certified Family Life Educator. She owns Growing Well Counseling in Glastonbury, CT where she specializes exclusively in integrative perinatal wellness, fertility and loss, birth trauma, and maternal work-life balance. A founding member of Postpartum Support International-Connecticut Chapter, she has served on the board of directors and now volunteers with the professional development committee. In addition to perinatal psychotherapy, Catharine also offers clinical consultation in perinatal wellness and enjoys teaching about perinatal mental health, pregnancy and infant loss, sleep education for growing families, and birth-trauma.
Over 1/3 of women characterize their birth experience as traumatic, and 9% of mothers meet criteria for PSTD in the postpartum period. Certain vulnerable populations are even more at risk of trauma in various forms and cultural factors can strongly influence likelihood of lasting trauma. This presentation will differentiate avoidable, unavoidable and reactivated traumas as well as develop clinician understanding of abstract losses around trauma in the peripartum period.
After this program, clinicians will be able to identify antenatal women at risk for traumatic birth, how trauma history can impact their psychosocial development as it relates to being a pregnant woman in need of prenatal medical care, and how psychoeducation and counseling can prepare them for a positive birth experience in turn reducing likelihood of lingering post-traumatic symptoms. Clinicians will be able to implement informed and relevant psychotherapy interventions to help traumatized postpartum clients and their partners process their experience, reduce traumatic stress symptoms and reduce impact on the mother-baby attachment process.
Heather Thompson, MS, PhD, is a molecular and cellular biologist, clinical researcher, birthworker and queer parent. She has worked on issues related to reproductive health for more than 25 years, advocating for equity, access and autonomy in childbirth. From 2010-2017 she was the Research Director at a freestanding birth center in Colorado, advocating for midwives and community birth through data generation, analysis and dissemination. Currently she is the Deputy Director of Elephant Circle, a birth justice organization that allows her to combine her background in birth access and equity with science and community organizing. She is passionate about supporting the family unit and helping families navigate their own journey, particularly as it relates to maternity care, birth choices and legal cannabis. Born and raised in Colorado, in the US, Heather enjoys being outside around a campfire with her partner, two kids and larger community.
Feeding a human infant human milk is physiologic and mammalian, but it is far from simple. Indeed, feeding human babies is a complex interplay between biology, culture, policy, practice, and access. This session will discuss the current understanding of the biologic complexity of breast/chestfeeding for parents and babies and the varying ways biology affects outcomes and satisfaction. We will explore the ways in which societal and familial culture add to the complexity of the nursing dyad and how dominant culture drives varying approaches to breastfeeding support around the globe and creates institutional forces (such as racism). This talk will investigate how access to support, supplies, milk substitutes, and definitions/measures of success play a significant role in lactation experiences. Importantly, policy often informs access, so we will examine the impact of the intersection of sociodemographics, policy, and practice on lactation experiences/outcomes. We will specifically explore times in which access and autonomy may be limited by legal or child welfare forces and the right to breastfeed becomes the central issue. Finally, the science of complex adaptive systems will be discussed and applied to specific clinical examples. This fresh, nuanced view of breast/chestfeeding complexity broadens the support provided by perinatal practitioners.
Ibone Olza, MD, PhD, is a Child and Perinatal Psychiatrist, researcher, writer and mother of three. She is a co-founder of El Parto Es Nuestro (“Birth is Ours,”) and ApoyoCesareas (“Cesarean Support”) as well as a 20+ year member of Via Lactea, Spain ́s oldest breastfeeding support group. For 19 years Dr. Olza worked as a Child psychiatrist in the Spanish public healthcare system, and in 2009 she started the first perinatal psychiatry program in Madrid and became a member of Marcé Society. In 2014 Dr. Olza began to develop the Perinatal Mental Health Online Training Program at Terra Mater, which in 2017 transformed into the European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health. Dr. Olza is currently working as an associate professor at Alcalá University Faculty of Medicine and directing the Institute. In 2017, she published her fifth book, the ground-breakingParir (“Birth”). Other book titles include “Lactivista”, “Nacer por cesárea” and “Hermanos de leche”, a children´s book about extended breastfeeding and human milk banks. She is an activist for mother´s and babies human rights in childbirth and breastfeeding.
Childbirth is a profound psychological experience that has a physical, psychological, social and existential impact in both the short and longer term. It leaves lifelong vivid memories for women. The effects of a birth experience can be positive and empowering, or negative and traumatizing. Neurobiologically, childbirth is directed by hormones produced both by the maternal and the fetal brain. During childbirth and immediately after delivery both brains are immersed in a very specific neurohormonal scenario, impossible to reproduce artificially. The psychology of childbirth is likely to be mediated by these neuro hormones, as well as by particular cultural and personal issues. The peaks of endogenous oxytocin during labour, together with the progressive release of endorphins in the maternal brain, are likely to cause the altered state of consciousness most typical of unmedicated labour that midwives and mothers easily recognise or describe as “labour land” but that has received little attention from neuropsychology. Our research showed that giving birth physiologically is an intense and transformative psychological experience that generates a sense of empowerment. The benefits of this process can be maximised through physical, emotional and social support for women, enhancing their belief in their ability to birth and not disturbing physiology unless it is necessary.
Jabina G. Coleman is a Licensed Social Worker and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who has dedicated over a decade of her life to serving women, children, and families in Philadelphia. Jabina received her Bachelors of Science in Biobehavioral Health from the Pennsylvania State University and Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy & Practice. Jabina is the owner of Life House Lactation & Perinatal Services, LLC where she provides lactation consultations, facilitates breastfeeding and parenting wellness groups-BAE Cafe, and provides psychotherapy to parents experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Jabina is the co-founder of Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color, where the mission is to support professionals and communities of color who are treating and dealing with the complications of perinatal mood disorders. Jabina’s work is grounded in trauma-informed care and reproductive justice. Her work has been published in the Clinical Lactation Journal. Jabina has also been a local and regional keynote speaker addressing lactation and perinatal mood disorders. Most recently, Jabina has been awarded the Cultural Changemaker Award for the United States Breastfeeding Committee & Convening and is also mentor leader for Health Connect One-Birth Equity Leadership Academy (BELA). Jabina is also the mother of two beautiful children one of which she had the pleasure of breastfeeding for 3.5 years. Jabina’s mission is to educate, empower and support families and communities on their journey into parenthood while working on systemic barriers impeding on a culture of health.
Maternal mental health is a public health imperative. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders(PMADs) are the number one complication during a woman's childbearing years affecting 1 in 7 women. Women of Color are three times more likely to experience perinatal mood disorders compared to white women. PMADs unlike many other comorbidities is detectable, and treatable. However, there are many systemic barriers that prohibit adequate, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of PMADs. Therefore, those on the frontline-birthworkers, doulas, lactation professionals, medical providers-supporting women and families need to be educated, equipped and empowered to help combat the silent mental health complications negatively impacting the lives of women, children and families during pregnancy and throughout the first year postpartum.
Dr. Pawluski is a researcher at the Research Institute for Environment and Occupational Health (Irset-Inserm UNR1085) at the University of Rennes 1, France. She obtained her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from The University of British Columbia in 2007 after obtaining a Master of Arts in Psychology from the University of Toronto in 2003. She was a postdoctoral fellow at The Child and Family Research Institute, at UBC, and continued postdoctoral training at the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. From 2012-2014 she was a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Ohio University, USA. Dr. Pawluski has been an invited speaker at many international conferences over the past 10 years and she has over 50 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. She has over 2000 citations (over 200 citations per year for the past four years). Dr. Pawluski is on the editorial board for Archives of Women’s Mental Health (Springer), Journal of Neuroendocrinology (Wiley) and Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy (Elsevier). She is a Fellow of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society and is an advocate for increasing awareness about brain changes in parenting and how they may be related to peripartum mental illness.
The parent-child relationship has a profound impact on society, yet our knowledge of neurobiological processes mediating the parent - child relationship are limited. We know that the transition to parenting is marked by pronounced effects on the physiology, neurobiology and behavior of the new parent. These effects are most pronounced in the mother during pregnancy and postpartum but are also evident in new fathers and are set in place to ensure that offspring survive. Unfortunately, during reproductive years, up to 20% of women around the globe will suffer from a perinatal mental illness, such as perinatal depression. These mental illnesses can markedly affect the brain, behavior and physiology of the mother and child and we have yet to determine how to effectively treat and ultimately treat these disorders. This presentation will provide a summary of the neurobiology of parenting and what we know about changes in the parental brain with mental illness. A discussion of treatment effects will also be provided. With increased research and awareness of the neurobiology of parenting we will be able to promote the health and well-being of mother and child.
Dr. Kristin Tully is currently a research associate at UNC Chapel Hill through the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute in the Department of Maternal and Child Health of the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Tully is also a research partner and collaborator with the Center for Maternal and Infant Health at the UNC School of Medicine, which is the home of the 4th Trimester Project.
The postpartum period offers rich opportunities for enhancing the well-being of women and affirming the value of their health and happiness. Yet, the weeks and months after childbirth have been a neglected area for women’s health in the US and in many settings. Through woman-centered engagement, the 4th Trimester Project team has co-developed priority areas for research, policy, communication, and health care service delivery.
Dr. Melanie Badali is a Registered Psychologist in British Columbia, Canada with over 20 years of experience working as a clinician, researcher, and instructor in the field of clinical psychology.
Dr. Badali currently provides psychological assessment and treatment services at the North Shore Stress and Anxiety Clinic, where she is on the Perinatal Services Team. She is certified in the practice of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) by the Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies and works with the organization to advance training, knowledge and accreditation in CBT. She has experience working in a variety of clinical settings including inpatient and outpatient, public and private.
She is also an Associate Faculty member at Yorkville University, where she teaches in the Master's of Counselling Psychology Program.
As a Board Director for Anxiety Canada, a non-profit organization that increases awareness, promotes education and provides resources for people dealing with anxiety, her role includes advocacy, research, knowledge translation and speaking to the media.
Dr. Badali is actively involved in research, training and writing. She enjoys creating psychoeducational resources such as the Canadian Psychological Association’s new factsheet on Perinatal Anxiety and is currently working on the third edition of the book, “Match Made on Earth”.
Pressure to be a perfect parent and perceptions of being “not good enough” can start even before conception. Having a baby is hard enough without piling guilt and shame on to the experience. There is a growing body of research showing that guilt and shame are important features of various psychological problems. In this presentation, Dr. Badali will discuss the difference between guilt and shame. She will also describe types of guilt and shame that are most strongly associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Finally, she will provide clinical tips on how to help moms deal with negative self-evaluations, perceived negative evaluations from others, and an irrational or heightened sense of responsibility. The goal of this presentation is to help health care professionals identify problematic guilt or shame during the perinatal period and implement strategies to improve maternal mental health.
Rhea’s Dempsey’s understanding of birth has been gained over four decades working with pregnant and birthing women, their partners, support people, midwives, doulas and medical practitioners in home and hospital settings.
Rhea has presented locally, nationally and internationally She is recognized as an insightful commentator on the difficulties women, who have a yearning for normal birth, face in navigating contemporary birth culture. She is also respected as one of Australia’s foremost thinkers on the topic of working with pain in childbirth and its connection to normal physiological birth. Her book Birth with Confidence: savvy choices for normal birth, explores these issues and maps out a path to powerful birthing experiences and she is presently working on a new book exploring the deeper emotional and psychological dynamics impacting birthing potential.
Rhea's second book is due out in November, titled Beyond the Birth Plan: Getting real about Pain and Power. Amongst other topics it will be addressing this issue of psychological birth trauma.
She is the mother of three adult daughters, and grandmother of four delicious grandchildren – so far.
Making meaning through telling stories appears part of our deep human DNA. Sharing birth stories honours this capacity. Birth debriefing however honours a more urgent therapeutic need. When we understand that the reported prevalence of birth trauma ranges from 33 to 45 percent, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects between 1.5 to 6 percent of birthing women, we understand the need for birth debriefing.
A 2018 international review on ‘what matters to women during childbirth’ found that most women – wanted a physiological labour and birth; a healthy baby; practical and emotional support from birth companions, and competent, reassuring, kind clinical staff; if intervention was needed or wanted, women wanted to retain a sense of personal achievement and control through active decision-making. 2019 Australian research amplifies these findings, reporting that women repeatedly referred to their preference to avoid intervention, but described being unable to do so in hospital. So before addressing birth debriefing, it’s necessary to understand the context within which birth debriefing becomes necessary.
In this presentation I will explore common pathways to birth trauma – necessary interventions and medical emergencies; unmet expectations of care and the impact of any previous vulnerabilities experienced by the birthing woman. Then we will explore the structural changes required to address the issue of birth trauma. Finally, we will explore the ‘how and why of birth debriefing at the bedside’.
Dr Sarah Buckley is a family physician (GP), trained in GP obstetrics, and mother of four homeborn children. She has been writing and lecturing to childbirth professionals and parents since 1997, and is the author of the internationally best-selling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, Sarah has a special interest in the hormonal physiology of labour and birth and in 2015 she completed an extensive scientific report on this topic, Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing, published with Childbirth Connection (US) in 2015. She is currently a PhD candidate is studying oxytocin and the autonomic nervous system in childbirth at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia.
The physiological onset of labour is a moment of enormous biological investment. Fetal readiness for the stresses of labour, and for the critical transition to life outside the womb, must be matched with maternal readiness for an effective, efficient labour and birth. In addition, pre-labour physiological preparations promote success for mother and newborn with breast-feeding and attachment, adding essential components to individual and species survival. Induction of labour, by definition, curtails full readiness for mother and baby. How might this impact hormonal physiology for mother and baby? Could there be longer-term effects? Join Dr Sarah Buckley, author of Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing, in this thought-provoking presentation.
Sharon Storton is an Alberta Registered Psychologist, and Canadian Registered Couple/Family Therapist, with a specialty in the support of women and families in the childbearing period. Sharon was one of the founders, a dozen years ago, of the still-active Internet-based peer-support forum, Solace for Mothers. Those years ago, few recognized the experience of trauma as it related to childbirth itself, the impact of abuse on women during the childbearing period, and the prevalence of health protocols that may lead to feelings of oppression and even depression in women and their partners.
Pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal year are unique time periods in a woman’s life, that impact her identity, agency, and her ability to transition to a new or expanded role as mother. Socially, childbirth is loaded with expectations of joy, fulfillment, and love. What happens when a woman’s experience is coloured by the overlay of autism spectrum disorder? Perhaps her sensory threshold, her ability to read social cues in unfamiliar environments, or her partner’s ability to support her are all challenged by the settings and protocols of perinatal care. In the postnatal period, attachment, infant needs, and physical healing can be intensified by autism-spectrum differences. This presentation will consider current research on ASD in childbearing women, the roles of her family and care team when ASD is present, and will offer suggestions provided by women themselves who balance ASD and family demands in this unique and critical life phase.
Dr. Sinéad Dufour is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Health Science at McMaster University, Canada. She teaches and conducts research in both the Schools of Medicine and Rehabilitation Science. She completed her MScPT at McMaster University (2003), her PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Science at Western (2012), and returned to McMaster to complete a post-doctoral fellowship (2014). Her current research interests include: conservative approaches to prevent and manage pelvic floor dysfunction, pregnancy-related pelvic-girdle pain, and interprofessional collaborative practice models of service provision to enhance pelvic health. She is an active Urogynecology Committee member of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and has authored several clinical practice guidelines within this role. Sinéad stays current clinically through her work as the Director of Pelvic Health Services at The World of my Baby (the WOMB), a family of perinatal care centers located in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. She is a proud mother of two wonderful children (twins!), whose birth was the catalyst for her professional interest in perinatal care.
For many women, pregnancy, as well as labor and delivery, represent the key physiological events predisposing them to urinary incontinence and associated pelvic floor dysfunction. Our knowledge of obstetrical pelvic floor injuries, and their connection to incontinence and pelvic floor disorders thereafter, has vastly increased in recent years. Primary care clinicians and those working with women through the perinatal care period should be aware of the potential effects of pregnancy and childbirth on the pelvic floor as well how to promote optimal pelvic health.
Professional associations are concerned about the increase of intervention during childbirth, as it introduces unnecessary risks for mother and baby. According to a review of the evidence, social and cultural changes have fostered an insecurity in women regarding their ability to give birth without technological intervention. Further, the publication of numerous clinical practice guidelines in the last few years actually confer the notion that a physiologic birth protects the pelvic floor. Other aspects of upstream care for the pelvic floor in the perinatal care period have been been also substantiated and corroborated in recent years. This presentation will review that evidence-base related to the promotion of optimal pelvic health through the perinatal care period.
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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.
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