Pregnancy, Labour & Childbirth Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

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.

Jane has been interested and concerned with perinatal mental health(PMH) for over 35 years. During this time Jane has researched attitudes, ethnic beliefs and the mental health of fathers around this time. She is an honorary Lecturer on PMH at Swansea University and is a Past President of the International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health. She is a currently on the Executive Board. She is also on several PMH committees, both nationally and internationally. Jane has written 2 books on PMH and is in the process of writing a third. She has written many peer reviewed articles and has been a speaker at national and international conferences. Jane is the Director of the PMH Training Company which, working in partnership with other experts in the field, including Mark Williams, delivers high quality training to health professionals and those practitioners concerned with families affected by perinatal mental disorders and illness.

Mark Williams is a keynote speaker, author and International campaigner. In 2004 he himself experienced depression and suffered in silence for years until a breakdown. He founded International Fathers Mental Health Day and #Howareyoudad campaign to make sure all parents are having support for the whole family.

Mark has spoken on television and radio stations around the world and works with Dr Jane Hanley who has both published articles on Fathers Mental Health together. Mark was awarded Inspirational father of the year and local hero at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2012 and was invited to meet The Royal Family on World Mental Health Day in 2016.

Raised with her Penobscot culture and Native American spiritual practices, Dr. Jus Crea realized the healing powers of nature at a young age. Rich with ancestral knowledge of healing, medicine, and midwifery, Dr. Jus Crea received a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the University of Bridgeport and a BS in Ethnobotany and Holistic Health from UMass, Amherst. She has also been trained as an auricular acupuncture detox specialist at Lincoln Hospital, WTS therapy for restorative healing as well as Indigenous Midwifery with Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming. She is also a Certified Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor. Dr. Jus Crea has lectured extensively on herbal medicine, ethnobotany, midwifery, naturopathic medicine, environmental medicine, and cultural history and traditions of Wabanaki people. She was previously an adjunct professor of Nutrition at Springfield College and Pathology at STCC as well as a primary care physician in Brattleboro VT. Dr. Jus Crea has been practicing Naturopathic Family Medicine at The Integrative Health Group in Springfield MA since 2005.

Fiona has been a midwife for 32 years. She is also a registered nurse and maternal & child health nurse, a birth educator and bodyworker. She has worked in Melbourne public and private birthing hospitals and has supported many families with the birth of their babies at home and in hospital. Interwoven throughout her midwifery practice has been an involvement in midwifery education and the teaching of Birthwork Workshops. The focus of all birth related teaching is on the dynamic pelvis and how to make space for the baby. Fiona is also a Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer. When not teaching workshops, Fiona offers bodywork sessions to women in a 1:1 capacity, with particular emphasis on internal pelvic release work. She has been instrumental in establishing the Internal Pelvic Release Work Mentoring Program in Australia. Fiona’s drive to teach is fuelled by a desire to see childbearing women hold birth knowledge, learn to honour their pelvic treasures and work with their innate power and in so doing, eradicate birth trauma. Fiona lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Bernadette is a midwife with a Master in Public Health (MPH), core and pelvic floor specialist, published author and previous pant wetter. She has worked in midwifery across Australia from remote Aboriginal Communities to big city hospitals to publicly funded homebirth. She spent a year volunteering as a midwifery educator in the Solomon Islands and teaches midwifery emergency courses in rural and remote areas around Australia. She was awarded the Sidney Sax award for best overall performance in her MPH. She is also the Founder and Creator of Core and Floor Restore – online education and exercise programs, workshops, and consultations. Her passion is to enable people to use their bodies and minds to their greatest ability in all aspects of life. A big part of her work is centered around emotional and physical birth trauma and postpartum recovery. She offers free online antenatal classes and co-host's "The Great Birth Rebellion" an evidence-informed podcast. Bernadette’s life mission to bring the rate of birth trauma down to zero whilst simultaneously improving postpartum care. She has epically birthed two babes at home and recovered from incontinence and prolapse. When she isn’t working or studying you can find her out bush, camping and hiking or splashing in the bath at home with her boys.

I studied Biology at the University of York (UK) before training as a midwife in Norwich (University of East Anglia, UK) I have been a stay at home parent for the past few years but continue to read on the physiology of birth which is my passion and have written for MIDIRS midwifery magazine. I am a member of AIMS (Association for the Improvements in the Maternity Services) UK and an Associate member of the Royal College of Midwives.

Dr Shawn Walker is a midwife who specialises in care for women with a breech presenting baby at term. She is currently an NIHR Advanced Fellow, exploring the feasibility of a randomised trial (https://optibreech.uk/). Academically, she is based at King's College London, and clinically, she works with Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her publications can be found at https://breechbirth.org.uk/publications/.

Susan Winograd, PT, owns and operates a private Pelvic Health and Wellness practice in Boca Raton, Florida called Pelvicore Rehab LLC.
She specializes in Woman's Health, Men’s Health issues, and Pre and Postnatal Care.
She has earned a Scar Release therapy Certification from Acumed and is certified in the Wurn Technique and Clear Passage Approach. Susan earned a masters degree from the College of Staten Island in 1998. In her 22 years of clinical experience she has gained extensive knowledge in the treatment of various populations such as orthopedics, manual therapy, geriatrics, pediatrics and men/women's pelvic dysfunction, and prenatal/postpartum care.
She has continued her post graduate educate through seminars with The Herman and Wallace Institute, MPS Scar Release Therapy, Myofascial Release, The institute for Birth Healing, Clear Passage Therapies, and is pursuing education in Cranial Sacral therapy with the Upledger Institute and Total Body Balancing with the D’Ambrogio Institute.
Susan enjoys teaching workshops throughout South Florida on pelvic health and wellness related topics.
Her hands-on treatment approach of treating the whole person has often led her to discover the primary or contributing cause of pain, dysfunction, or imbalance was pelvic floor related.
Her passion and commitment now is treating, healing, and educating her patients and healthcare providers with pelvic floor dysfunction using a whole body approach to relieve pain, restore optimal function, and improve quality of life.
She is committed to providing the highest quality of individualized that care that every patient deserves.

Karen H. Strange is a Certified Professional Midwife (1996), American Academy of Pediatrics/Neonatal Resuscitation Program Instructor (1992).

She is founder of the Integrative Resuscitation of the Newborn workshop, which includes the physiology of newborn transition. She teaches the “when, why and how” of helping newborns that are either not breathing or not breathing well, with incredible clarity. She helps the provider have a sense of what the baby is experiencing which leads to a more appropriate response to newborns in need. Karen has done over 1,000 hours of debrief/case reviews regarding resuscitation. She is an international speaker and has taught over 14,000 people worldwide. There are many neonatal resuscitation instructors but Karen teaches practical neonatal resuscitation, regardless of the place of birth. And her teachings instill a strong sense of confidence and competence in providers, so they can respond in the least traumatic way.

Penny Simkin, PT, is a physical therapist who has specialized in childbirth education and labor support since 1968. She estimates she has prepared over 13,000 women, couples, and siblings for childbirth. She has assisted hundreds of women and couples through childbirth as a doula. She is author or co-author of books for both parents and professionals, including “The Labor Progress Handbook;” “Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide;” “When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on Childbearing Women;” “The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions,” She has developed teaching materials for birth classes and produced several videos for educators, doulas, and families , the latest of which is for siblings-to-be, “There’s a Baby.” She is co-founder of DONA International (formerly Doulas of North America) and PATTCh (Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth).

Currently, she serves on the editorial board of the journal, Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care, and serves on the senior faculty of the Simkin Center for Allied Birth Vocations at Bastyr University, which was named in her honor.

Today, her practice consists of childbirth education, birth counseling, and labor support, combined with a busy schedule of conferences and workshops.

Penny and her husband, Peter, have four grown children and eight grandchildren from 11 to 28 years of age, two grandchildren-in-laws, and a pug, Lola.