Meet the Speakers - Newborn Parents

Meet Your Host

Welcome! I´m so happy you are here!

I´m Rocio, a brain lover and a mom of two. When I experienced the transformation that motherhood is, I became increasingly passionate and captivated by all the brain changes that accompany this powerful transition. It turns out that these neuroplastic changes are driven by powerful biological mechanisms especially designed to attune to our babies, and to respond to them sensitively and appropriately so that they can thrive. We not only give birth to a baby, we also give birth to the knowledge within us! However, just like our baby’s brain need an appropiate environment to thrive, so does our parental brain, which is always growing, evolving and adapting to the beautiful and challenging experience of parenthood. My goal with this summit is to bring together experts that can bring clarity to professionals that support families so that they guide their clients towards a transformation with confidence and sensibility.

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Meet Your Speakers

Day 1: Pregnancy, Birth and Matrescence

Dr. Raylene Phillips, APPPAH President

Bonding Can Begin Before Birth

Dr. Phillips is a neonatologist with a master’s degree in Developmental Psychology (focused on bonding and attachment) and a board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). She is a past President of the National Perinatal Association (NPA) and the current President of the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH). In her hospital work, Dr. Phillips enjoys many opportunities to welcome new babies into the world. Her passion is to honor and nurture the earliest connections between babies and their parents.

Dr. Erin Bowe, Clinical and Perinatal Psychologist

Birth Trauma: What Can Professionals Do to Support Parents

Dr. Erin Bowe is a Clinical & Perinatal Psychologist, Course Creator, Business Mentor and Author.

Host of the Mum as You Are podcast. She teaches over 2700 students from 42 countries in her birth trauma training. As seen in the Sydney Morning Herald, Kidspot & more.

Nadine Richardson, Creator of She Births®

Transforming Fear of Birth Into Confidence

Nadine Richardson is a mother and the founder of She Births®, the world’s only scientifically verified childbirth education program.

She is a health education innovator, a social impact entrepreneur and an expert transformational facilitator.

Nadine has been a teacher of prenatal yoga, a doula and doula mentor, childbirth and parenting expert for over 20 years leading tens of thousands of families on a journey towards strength, community and well being across the perinatal period.

She advocates for more normal births and promotes integrative holistic care, where obstetrics, midwifery and doula work create optimal outcomes for each family as they desire.

Catherine Bell, Birth Cartographer

The Game of Birth

In becoming a mother, Catherine shifted from the Marine Biology path into Science Communication. Training as a doula and breastfeeding educator in 2011, sparked a feminist fire, as she identified the glaring hole in the shape of maternity. Frustrated at the need-to-know nature of the maternity system, and the limited information provided when facing decisions, Catherine developed birth cartography. Her website, birthmap.life evolved to provide access to this concept, resources and training for birth workers.

Nikki McCahon, Matrescence Educator and Womens Life Cycle Guide

Matrescence: The Transformation of Becoming and Being a Mother

Nikki McCahon is a matrescence educator, women’s life cycle guide, podcast host and mother to her son.

As a matrescence educator and guide, Nikki helps mothers navigate the often unexpected changes and challenges of becoming and being a mother, whilst simultaneously supporting mothers to explore the opportunities that mothering can provide for their own personal growth and expansion.

Her model – the seasons of matrescence – applies a seasonal and cyclical lens to matrescence, providing a map for mothers to use when navigating times of change and transition and support to explore their matrescence journey within the context of their broader life cycle and rites of passage.

Day 2: Creating the Ideal Environment for Transformation

Heather Plett, Author and Coach

The Art of Holding Space for New Parents

Heather Plett is the author of the book The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership and the co-founder of the international Centre for Holding Space.

She is an international speaker, facilitator, writer, and life-long learner whose work has been translated into a dozen languages and quoted in such notable publications as Harvard Business Review.

She has trained people from six continents, both in person and online. Before launching her work in holding space, Heather worked in leadership and communications in government and non-profit.

Nicky Clinch, Master Maturation Facilitator & Teacher / CEO of Nicky Clinch Ltd

Parenthood as a Catalyst to Maturation

Nicky Clinch is a Master Maturation Facilitator & Teacher, workshop leader, Hay House author and Shamanic Healer. Nicky leads people from all over the world through profound life changing processes, allowing them to heal from the root, becoming free of their past and come home to who they truly are.

A leading expert in the field of human behavior and the human condition, ontology, healing trauma and energetic intelligence, Nicky is dedicated to using her life to serve the evolution of human consciousness on our planet and for human beings to discover their truest infinite potential.

Founding and leading The Alchemy of Being: Academy of Maturation Coaching, she has now trained hundreds of people globally to become powerful professional maturation coaches with her pioneering teachings and practices of the BodyMind Maturation Method™, integrating ancient wisdom, Zen mastery and the future of the evolution of being human.

Hope Corbin, Postpartum Care Practitioner, Holistic Maternal Wellness Coach

Cultivating Maternal Wellness to Prevent Postpartum Depression

Hope is a survivor of severe postpartum depression, anxiety, insomnia and even episodes of postpartum psychosis.

In her search for healing and recovery she explored many tools and modalities, some of which were more conventional like therapy, and others like Nervous System healing inspired by Somatic Experiencing, Somatic Stress Release™ by Dr Scott Lyons, mindfulness stress release practices, Chinese medicine treatments – herbs and acupuncture, and nutritional healing with a functional medicine doctor.

She is a certified INNATE Postpartum Care Practitioner, Postpartum Doula and Holistic Maternal Wellness Coach.

Hope is a social activist and educator that promotes Postpartum Planning and Education, Postpartum Care, and Community Support as the essential foundations for maternal wellness.

Her passion is to support mothers to THRIVE rather than just barely survive the early months and years of motherhood. To cultivate health and wellness for life.

Jojo Hogan, Founder of Slow Postpartum

The Art of Slow Postpartum

Jojo Hogan is a maternal postpartum care specialist, doula and founder of the international Slow Postpartum movement.

With over 20 years experience in the care of pregnant and new mothers and families, her Slow Postpartum philosophy both educates and inspires as to the importance of honoring the weeks following birth.

She believes that when all new parents and babies are nurtured, nourished loved and celebrated, this in turn will ripple out into families, communities and the world, changing it for the better.

Katie Asmus, Director, Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute

Parenthood as a Rite of Passage

Katie Asmus is a somatic and nature-based psychotherapist, ceremonialist, coach, mentor, teacher and a quest and Rites of Passage Guide.

She is an avid learner, creator, manifestor and lover of life who is constantly in awe of the strength of the human spirit and the inherent wisdom of our body-minds.

Currently, Katie directs and facilitates Rites of passage programs and wilderness quests, sees private practice clients and trains therapists and healers in a wide variety of wilderness, adventure and nature-based therapy and somatic trauma skills through The Somatic Wilderness Therapy Institute (SWTI), a multi-dimensional therapeutic and educationally-based organization founded by Katie that incorporates Nature-based and Body-Centered offerings.

Haaweatea Holly Bryson, Psychotherapist, Couples Therapist, Māori Healing Practitoner, Rite of Passage Guide

Parenthood as Rite of Passage

Hāweatea Holly Bryson specialises in trauma, transition and transformation. This is as a Psychotherapist, Couples Therapist, and Rite of Passage Guide for 14 years, and a Māori Healing Practitioner for 10 years. (Kai Tahu & Waitaha are her tribes).

Committed to the resurgence of Rites of Passage, she co-leads the Ceremony & Rites of Passage Global Training, and guides immersions; private and group, such as The Family Quest and The Heroine’s Journey. She works online and in-person between her homes of Australia, Hawai’i and Aotearoa/NZ.

Katie’s and Haaweatea’s Rites of Passage Website

Day 3: Breaking Current Barriers to Parental Thriving

Kimberly Ann Johnson, Author, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Sexological Bodyworker

The New Frontier of Maternal Health Care: A Biosocial Approach

Kimberly Ann Johnson is a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Experiencing® practitioner, yoga teacher, postpartum advocate, and single mom.

She helps women heal from birth injuries, gynecological surgeries, and sexual boundary violations. She is the author of the Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use It for Good as well as the early mothering classic The Fourth Trimester. She is the creator of the Activate Your Inner Jaguar and MotherCircle experiences that over 10,000 have been supported by and the host of the Sex, Birth, Trauma podcast with over 800,000 downloads.

Dr. Sophie Brock, Motherhood Studies Sociologist

Spotting Patriarchal Motherhood and What to Do About It

Dr Sophie Brock is a Motherhood Studies Sociologist and Mother living in Sydney, Australia. She provides analysis of Motherhood in our culture, exploring the ways individual experiences of Mothers are shaped by broader social constructs. Sophie supports professionals, business owners and creatives in revolutionising what Motherhood means in our society, and how individual Mothers are supported and understood.

Sophie’s offerings include self-study courses for Mothers and practitioners, mentoring for mother-supporting professionals, The Motherhood Studies Practitioner Certification online training, and her podcast The Good Enough Mother.

Dr. Darcia Narvaez, Professor Emerita of Psychology

What is Good for Babies: Evaluating Research and Baselines

Darcia Narvaez is Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Educational Research Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Born in Minnesota, she grew up living around the world as a bilingual/bicultural Puerto Rican-German American but calls the earth her home.

Her earlier careers include professional musician, business owner, classroom music teacher, classroom Spanish teacher, and seminarian, among other things.

In her academic career, she employs a lifespan, interdisciplinary approach to studying evolved morality, child development and human flourishing, integrating anthropology, neuroscience, clinical, developmental, evolutionary and educational sciences.

Rachelle Garcia Seliga, Traditional Midwife

Opinions vs Physiologic Design: What Babies and Mothers Need to Thrive.

Rachelle is a Mother and traditional midwife, who has been working in the realms of family-centered birth and Life for more than 20 years. Rachelle’s work is dedicated to midwifing a cultural shift, in honor of our innate wisdom, personal authority and the sanctity of Life. She is the creator of INNATE Postpartum Care Trainings, offering a framework of postpartum and maternal WELLNESS care for health care practitioners worldwide. Rachelle lives and works from the understanding that the most effective and powerful usage of our collective energy comes from creating structures and systems that support Life and our connection to it.

Lyndsey Hookway, Paediatric nurse, Researcher, Gentle sleep and Parenting Advocate

How to Support Families with Sleep While Prioritizing Attachment and Responsive Feeding

Lyndsey is an experienced paediatric nurse, children’s public health nurse, IBCLC, researcher, responsive sleep/parenting advocate, and the author of 6 books. She has worked with children and families for more than 20 years within in-patient paediatrics, paediatric ambulatory care, NICU, and the community.

Lyndsey is a PhD researcher at Swansea University, exploring the needs and challenges of medically complex breastfed infants and children. In 2019 she founded the Breastfeeding the Brave project to raise awareness of the unique lactation needs of sick children in the paediatric setting. Lyndsey is the co-founder and clinical director of the Holistic Sleep Coaching program and Thought Rebellion. She is a respected international speaker and also provides regular training, advocacy and consultancy to both NHS and private organisations.

Day 4: The Potential of the Parental Brain

Dr. Greer Kirshenbaum, Neuroscientist and Doula

Nurturing the Parent Brain

Greer Kirshenbaum PhD is a Neuroscientist, Doula and Infant and Family Sleep Specialist. She is leading The Nurture Revolution, #thenurturerevolution, to change the way our society cares for infants and parents.

Greer wants families and perinatal practitioners to understand how early caregiving experience can boost mental wellness and diminish depression, anxiety, and addiction in adulthood by shaping babies’ brains through simple intuitive enriching experiences in pregnancy, birth and infancy.

Greer works with families and is a speaker, educator and author.

Dr. Laura Gainche, Sleep Science and Holistic Sleep Educator

Using Science to Help Parents Attune to Their Child’s Sleep

Laura Gainche, Ph.D., is a Neurogeneticist, Sleep Scientist, Holistic Sleep Educator, and soon-to-be author.

When her daughter was born, she blended her scientific knowledge with her intuition and gradually developed her own sleep and parenting strategies. She found out that her approach could also be helpful for other families and continued educating herself. Since then, she has supported families around the world. She now focuses on bringing more Science to other Holistic Sleep coaches and educators. Her goal is to make holistic Sleep practices mainstream.

Julia Jones, Postpartum Doula Trainer, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist

Igniting Intuition in Parents

Julia is the founding director of Newborn Mothers, a postpartum doula, educator and best-selling author.

For the last 10 years, Julia has trained over 1500 postpartum professionals in over 60 countries through her worldwide leading education training for postpartum professionals. Julia’s work is informed by fifteen years of experience in postpartum care and a background in social justice and community development.

She’s written two books; a recipe book called Nourishing Newborn Mothers; and a bestseller called Newborn Mothers – When a Baby is Born so is a Mother.

She lives in Fremantle on the West Coast of Australia.

Kelly McDaniel, Licensed Professional Counselor,
Author, Women’s Advocate

Understanding Mother Hunger

Kelly McDaniel is a licensed professional counselor,
author, mother, and women’s advocate. In her first
book Ready to Heal, (2008) she named an attachment
injury as “Mother Hunger” and started a movement.

Women resonated with the concept and wanted treatment.
Since then, Kelly devotes herself to nurturing insecure attachment and maternal deprivation in adult women. In her second book, Mother Hunger, Kelly speaks to the millions of women who suffer with a life-long emotional burden that adversely affects self-worth, eating patterns, and relational wellness.

Dr. Laura Markham, Founder of Aha! Parenting and Author

How Parental Empathy Shapes Child Development

Dr. Laura Markham is the author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How To Stop Yelling and Start Connecting, Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings: How To Stop the Fighting and Raise Friends for Life, and now her latest book, The Peaceful Parent,
Happy Kids Workbook: Using mindfulness and connection to raise resilient, joyful children and rediscover your love of parenting.

Dr. Laura Markham earned her PhD in clinical psychology at Columbia University and has worked as a parenting coach with countless families across the world. Over 170,000 moms and dads enjoy Dr. Laura’s free weekly coaching posts via email.

Dr. Laura’s aspiration is to change the world, one child at a time, by supporting parents. The proud mother of two thriving
young adults who were raised with her peaceful parenting approach, she lives with her husband in New York.

Day 5: Post Summit Event

I will be giving a Masterclass!

How the Parental Brain Works

In this masterclass, learn about the principles of how the parental brain works and how to apply them to your practice.

Based on the latest evidence about parental brain science, it is the perfect complement to the talks in the summit!

I will also be talking about how you can keep learning from me in my Parental Brain Course for Professionals.

The talk will be on Friday, March 31st at noon EST / 6 pm CET. There will be a recording available.

Add it to your calendar

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