Ryan McAllister is the speaker in the classic YouTube video, Child Circumcision: An Elephant in the Hospital. The presentation is an honest, gentle look at circumcision, how it came to be performed so frequently in this country and its effects on babies. Ryan is also the speaker in the video UnBreaking Birth, where he explores our broken, medicalized obstetric system.
Addiction Series: Rebecca Whitson, LMSW
Addiction Series: Rebecca Whitson, LMSW
Rebecca Whitson, LMSW, will help unpack addiction. What is addiction? How does the disease develop over time? What does it look like and how do I identify if or know when to intervene with a loved one?
Amber Clark and Holly Milkowski
Amber Clark and Holly Milkowski
Circumcision with Amber Clark and Holly Milkowski – myths about circumcision and resources for research.
Shazia Ashruf & Shaman Khan
Topic: The Muslim ban and its effects on mothers and children
Shazia Ashraf is an educator, community organizer and mother. She is the daughter of an interracial couple with Pakistani and Italian heritage, and is part of a diverse interfaith extended family. Raised in Houston and rural Pakistan, Shazia now lives in Houston with her three active boys. By day she is an award-winning educator who for the past 15 years has worked with students to build confidence in their ability to understand math. She currently teaches math courses at Lonestar College. A long time organizer and volunteer for the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISOH), her passion is to build bridges and community through connection and other dialogue. She is currently the chair of the Sisters Committee at ISGH and has also served as the public relations chair for B.I.R.T.H., a non-profit that promotes healthy and safe birth for mothers. Her most important work is building her relationship with God, her children and the community.
Shazana Khan is a Canadian who grew up in Orlando and Houston. She was an educator for 15 years and taught at the middle and high school level. She completed a master’s degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Southern New Hampshire University and has now transitioned to the oil and gas industry. Shazana is a mother of two children, with a daughter in high school and a son in middle school. She has been dedicated to the community since her teenage years and hopes to impact and lead by example.
Jami Hain
NOTE: Audio fixed
Jami Hain is a Certified Nurse Midwife and owner of Nativiti Family Birth Center. She has been a nurse for 24 years and a midwife for 5 years. She worked as a nurse at Nativiti and a doula in the Houston area for 10 years prior to completing her graduate degree and becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife. She is passionate about providing evidence-based, personalized care for women and families and is committed to educating women about birth options and their right to choose. She strives to provide the women and families served at Nativiti with a unique experience that leaves them feeling respected and cared for from the moment they walk through the door.
Patrick M. Houser
It was his first son’s very difficult birth in 1976 which revealed to him the need to understand birth more fully. Patrick and his then wife went on to create the first documented waterbirth in the USA in 1980 with the birth of their second son, born into Patrick’s hands.
Patrick has been a counseling/coaching/personal development practitioner and educator over a period of 25 years and has supported numerous births as a “dude-la” (male doula). In 2006 he co-founded Fathers-To-Be and began educating men about the possibilities available to them through early, conscious parenting. In 2007 he published his first book, Fathers-To-Be Handbook, in UK and USA editions.
In 2008 he began holding Study Days/Workshops for birthcare and early parenting professionals. He discovered this to be a missing link in their professional training as to how to include and welcome fathers into early family life. This includes hospitals, midwifery schools, conferences and freelance workshops.
Dr. Pieyell Banik
Dr. Banik received her undergraduate degree at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. She earned her Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) from Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, TX in 2009. She completed her family medicine residency at San Jacinto Methodist Family Medicine Residency in Baytown, TX in 2012 and became board certified in family medicine that year. Dr. Banik went on to specialize and complete a residency in neuromusculoskeletal medicine/osteopathic manipulative medicine (NMM/OMM) at Florida Hospital East Orlando Plus One Residency in 2013 and earned her second board certification in NMM/OMM. She is fully licensed to practice medicine in the state of Texas and is committed to lifelong learning. Dr. Banik recently opened her own practice in the Montrose/River Oaks area.
For more than a decade, Dr. Banik spent 20,000 hours training, studying, and applying advanced anatomy and physiology on her patients, looking to find the heath within the human body. She helps pregnant (and postpartum) mothers aged 24+ to be able to move easier, live with less pain even if they have lost hope, and have the best shot of a natural delivery. PLUS, she helps parents have peace of mind for their infants by NATURALLY encouraging the body to heal itself: addressing plagiocephaly, torticollis, reflux, colic, constipation, difficulty breastfeeding, etc. – all from ONE physician.
Dawn Koufakis-Basel
A Certified Life Coach focusing on the struggles of women. A native of New Orleans who began her second life in Houston after living and working in Micronesia and Greece. Dawn has worked with women in prison in the area of parenting, divorce support for women in her Divorce Survival 101 classes, and recently working with women in the areas of life/love and workplace boundaries. Dawn has a new book coming out at the end of summer entitled Drawing the Line, Setting Boundaries as Women. She resides in N. Houston with her husband who co-facilitates a regular “Divorce Care” program at their long-time church, Cypress Creek Christian Church.
Jackie Griggs, RN, CNM
Jackie Griggs, RN, CNM, has been involved in women’s health care since 1979, when she became a nurse. She has worked in hospitals, clinics, home and birth center settings. She attended UTMB at Galveston for her Master’s degree in Nursing, and graduated in 2001. She is the mom of five sons, three of which were born at home with midwives. Her main office is in the Heights on W 20th street at Midwife in the Heights. She also own Birth Center of Beaumont, and practices there as well.
Becky McKimmey and Amy Perilman
Becky McKimmey and Amy Perilman
Becky McKimmey and Amy Perilman are our community’s newest hospital-based Certified Nurse Midwife practice. Becky tells us all about their new practice!