Sherry Duson and Colleen O’Grady

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Sherry Duson and Colleen O’Grady

Sherry Duson and Colleen O’Grady talk about Colleen’s new book Dial Up the Dream: Make Your Daughter’s Journey to Adulthood the Best for Both of You and her previous book Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting with Your Teenage Daughter – A Guide for Mothers Everywhere. Every mother can benefit from this valuable information, in addition to every person who supports mothering. The “college trap”: What does it mean to let go of your daughter, and what does a healthy relationship with your son or daughter look like?

Colleen O’Grady, MA, is a licensed therapist, coach, and trainer who helps moms reduce drama, reclaim their lives, and dial up their dreams with their teen and young adult daughters.

After fifty thousand hours of working with moms and daughters and having lived it with her own daughter, she published her award-winning and bestselling book Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting with Your Teenage Daughter – A Guide for Mothers Everywhere. Colleen has shared her message of practical hope with moms worldwide in Parents magazine, Wall Street Journal Lunch Break, popular parenting podcasts, and on the red carpet at TEDxWilmington. Colleen is the host of the Power Your Parenting: Moms with Teens podcast; in 2021, it was ranked No. 1 among podcasts on parenting teens.

Learn more about Colleen at colleenogrady.com, and connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Sherry Duson is a Texas and Arizona Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, and the Founder and Director of The Center for Postpartum Family Health in Houston, Texas. Since 1999 she has focused her practice on helping new mothers and the needs of young families. In 2014, she opened the Center for Postpartum Family Health, using therapists training under her supervision, to provide services on a sliding scale to the community. Sherry is a proud graduate of UH-Clear Lake Family Therapy, and is certified in the perinatal mental health specialty.

 

Jackie Griggs, Trish Perkins, Patty Ghaly

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Jackie Griggs, Trish Perkins, Patty Ghaly

Jackie Griggs, RN, CNM, has been a Nurse Midwife in the Houston area for the past 30 years. She is a mom of five sons, three born at home with the help of midwives. Jackie owns two birth centers, one in the Houston Heights and one in Beaumont. She helps with babies at home and birth center. She is also on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Birth Centers. She still loves being a midwife as much as ever.

Patricia “Trish” Perkins RN, CNM, is a Certified Nurse Midwife who began her career as a labor and delivery nurse working with the Baylor Midwives. After raising her own family, she realized her lifelong dream of studying midwifery. She worked at a freestanding birth center as a full-scope midwife. She was recruited by Baylor College of Medicine to be a part of opening The Center for Children and Women at Greenspoint, where she did prenatal care including high-risk prenatal care, well-woman care and Centering Pregnancy. Her experiences also include working as a lactation consultant at St. Joseph’s Hospital, helping them achieve Texas Ten Step status. Trish is passionate about providing quality, woman-centered, compassionate care and has the unique knowledge, skills, and experience to provide comprehensive, evidence-based midwifery care that women seek. She is excited to be a part of your journey into motherhood.

Patty Ghaly became a midwife because she strongly believes pregnant people and their partners/support system should have the freedom to be the primary decision-maker for themselves and their babies. She established Cy-Fair Birth Center with the goal of providing an informative and caring environment where birthing people and their families can feel heard and supported. She has been providing information on pregnancy, birth, nutrition, self-care, breastfeeding, and all pregnancy- and birth-related topics to Houston families for 10 years. For relaxation, she enjoys spending time with her three teenaged children who delight in finding creative and interesting ways to increase her gray hairs.

Susan Wildin, MD, Nonviolent Communication

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Susan Wildin, MD, Nonviolent Communication

Susan was trained as a developmental and behavioral pediatrician, leaving medicine to raise her son. Susan started attending Nonviolent Communication (NVC) workshops in 2007 and became passionate about using and sharing NVC with others. NVC gives Susan hope that humanity can learn to live in harmony, partnering with one another to meet the fundamental needs of all people. She became a Certified Professional Coach in Coaching for Transformation in 2012 and completed a year-long course in facilitation in 2014, both at Leadership that Works. Susan also served on the board of Houston NVC from 2011 to 2020. Susan’s workshops can be found on the Houston NVC website. Susan’s website is www.wildins.net.

Charis Thornton, Lady Power Inc.

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Charis Thornton, Lady Power Inc.

Charis Thornton is a wife, mother, activist, and the founder of Lady Power Inc. nonprofit. Her journey began with hearing her grandparents’ and parents’ experiences of prejudice and racism, especially within healthcare, then having traumatizing experiences herself. Her path of healing and wholeness has cemented her resolve to help others acknowledge and repair harm to realize their power and resiliency. While attending the University of Houston she began her calling for sharing the love of God through nonprofit work. Helping to empower families in many countries, has held the roles of Executive, Communications and Dance Director at nonprofits while partnering with organizations to uplift communities. She started Glory Cheer and Dance, as a solo dancer for events and workshops; while teaching the young and young at heart African, Hebraic, and Flag dance. Receiving Montessori educator training and attaining a Child Care Director license, she continued to give talks advocating for culturally responsive early childhood education.

In 2019 she and her husband received the shocking yet joyful news that she was pregnant at almost 17 weeks, and her desire for a quick, painless, birth in water was later realized with the assistance of her caring midwife at a birth center. This transformational experience led her to merge her passions and she founded Lady Power Inc. Lady Power Inc. provides resources for marginalized women through education, housing, early childhood education, health, and wellness care. Its program Birth Equity Initiative provides low-income women of color with scholarships for freestanding birth center, midwifery, and doula services or birth classes of their choice, to address maternal health disparities and improve health outcomes. She believes no family or mother should fear her death or the death of her baby due to lack of access and racism, especially in view of the fact that these deaths are mostly preventable. Charis has dedicated her life to shifting the national and global discourse toward elevating all humanity. She’s grateful for the privilege to help families become whole through social justice measures, to change the course of their lives.

Megan Drake, Sarah Spanier, Katie Rogers

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Megan Drake, Sarah Spanier, Katie Rogers

Hospital and out-of-hospital birthing stories:

Megan Drake lives in Montgomery, Texas. She had a home birth with midwives last year in April and this was with her second child. Her first was a hospital birth.

Sarah Spanier is a former early childhood educator and now the mother of two precious girls, 3 years old and 5 months. She currently stays home with her children to enjoy every moment with them.

Katie Rogers is a mom of two, a 15-year-old and a 1-year-old. She and her husband both teach high school. She teaches fashion design and human growth and development. She loves to learn and loves to support people however she can; she is a giver by nature. They are a fun-loving, silly family that love each other and do their best to do good in the world.

Joanna Zepeda

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Joanna Zepeda

Joanna Zepeda is originally from Houston and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona and an Associate in the Arts from Houston Community College. While her first calling was classical dance, over time she pivoted her skills and moved into the field of birth work after the birth of her nephew. She has been a birth worker for over 16 years and currently works as a doula, Birth Assistant, Birthing from Within Childbirth Education Mentor, Placenta Encapsulation Specialist, Dancing for Birth Instructor, Peer Support Group Leader for The Shades of Blue Project, and a Birth Story Listener, helping parents and birth workers process traumatic birth experiences. She is the author of Heart Centered Pregnancy Journal.

Lynn Schulte, Pelvic Health

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Lynn Schulte, Pelvic Health

Lynn Schulte is a pelvic health physical therapist for over 30 years and founder of the Institute for Birth Healing. She has been helping moms heal from all the issues women experience after birth and is now teaching courses to bodyworkers to help them do the same. She found a common birth pattern that shows up in the pelvis after birth and knows how to effectively release these patterns. Knowing we are more than just our bodies, Lynn works on all levels, physically, energetically, and spiritually with women to help them access their full potential. She also teaches bodyworkers how to work with the energy of the body and how to access and use your intuition in your bodywork sessions. She offers a certification process to help birth professionals become Birth Healing Practitioners.

Becky McKimmey and Lindsey Smith, Midwives at Willowbrook

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Becky McKimmey and Lindsey Smith, Midwives at Willowbrook

Becky McKimmey and Lindsey Smith, both Houston CNMs, discuss how midwifery care differs from the typical American birth, midwifery services beyond care during pregnancy, their practice’s new birth suites and the service they provide to our community.

Suzanne Juel, Breastfeeding

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Suzanne Juel, Breastfeeding

Suzanne Juel, IBCLC, has been working in the lactation field for 19 years, primarily in private practice.  She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and has supported thousands of families. With her background in engineering and technology, she brings a focus on identifying the root cause of problems, rather than just treating symptoms, and is known for providing comprehensive, nonjudgmental infant feeding support, and helps with both breastfed and formula fed babies. Together with Tessa Gardin, IBCLC, she established Bayou City Breastfeeding in 2016.