M.O.M. Conference

Lisa Miller, Ph.D. is a tenured Columbia University, Teachers College professor, researcher and clinical psychologist. Dr. Miller has published over 50 empirical peer review articles on spirituality and mental health, with a focus on child and adolescent development, in leading medical and psychology journals, and is the Editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality. Her latest work Watching for Light: Spiritual Psychology Beyond Materialism, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (2010), brought postmaterial thought into mainstream psychology, keeping the social sciences abreast of quantum physics. Her work naturally extends into parenthood through her pioneering work in spiritual awareness psychotherapy with families and pregnant adolescents. 

Buffy Bernhardt, LMSW is a licensed and certified social worker in private psychotherapy practice for 28 years. She has received certificates from, researched, studied and trained with numerous experts in the field of transpersonal psychology, energy healing, self-growth, conscious relationship, mindfulness training, birth/labor support and birth psychology. She has studied both eastern and western spirituality and theories of consciousness and has created and run groups teaching stress management, positive self-growth and transformation for mothers and parents. She receives most of her referrals from midwives, doctors, doulas, birth educators and other parents. She is a Pregnancy Therapist, Family/Maternal/Perinatal Wellness Coach and Founder ofSacredMotherhood.com and creator of The Open Heart: 1 & 2 ©, a self-growth course for mothers and parents to be.

Lisa Rafel is a “sound healing” educator, songwriter and singer with four CD’s and numerous recordings. She is the founder of Resonant Sounds, LLC, an organization that supports heartfelt connection between new parents and their babies through the use of intentional music. Lisa is also an internationally recognized spiritual teacher, chantress, author and poet. Her transformative programs focus on self-healing techniques using modern scientific principles mixed with practices from ancient and indigenous cultures to slow down and open the heart. She is a sought-after performer and presenter, most recently at 7th Annual Sound Healing Network Conference – Sound as a Healing Medium at the Omega Institute on The Power of Intentional Healing – Using the Voice.

Meg Richichi, M.S., L.Ac. has been an Integrative Women’s Health Practitioner for the last 16 years, blending both Eastern and Western modalities in her NYC practice. Her extensive studies include training at a leading hospital in Vietnam, herbalogy and shamanic healing practices in the Brazilian Rain Forest and training in holistic-functional medicine in the U.S. Meg uses her experience to focus on women’s health issues, including stress related hormonal imbalances and infertility and has developed an innovative program known as Mother’s Path. Among other perspectives on the path to motherhood (Vogue Article) she has envisioned women’s reproductive well-being as a reflection of the Divine Feminine. A lecturer much in demand, Meg has spoken to audiences such as the NY Hospital for Special Surgery, NYU medical Center, Equinox, and the Learning Annex. She has also been interviewed on NPR, NBC Nightline, and Zeel. Meg’s most recent articles can viewed on vitaljuice.com, wellandgoodnyc.com NYC and It’sConceivableNow.com.

Ellynne Skove, LCAT, BC-DTR, RPP, NCC is a licensed therapist whose work encompasses somatic practices and creative arts therapies.  Her focus is in the area of pre and perinatal psychology and health.  Ellynne is the founder and director of “GoGo Babies” programs which include pre-conception counseling, bonding and attachment in the womb, soothing, settling, & centering for new parents and babies, baby massage, and the very popular Tummy Time & Baby Yoga groups. She works from her office at True North Wellness, and is affiliated with, Caribou Baby, Birthday Presence, RealBirth, The Brooklyn Arts Exchange, A-Centrum, and The Battery Park Conservancy. She is the co-chair for the 2012 & 2013  International Birth Psychology Congress.  Her professional affiliations include: Association for Pre & Perinatal Psycholgoy & Health (APPPAH), The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), National Certified Counselor (NCC), The NewYork State Perinatal Association (NYSPA), Choices in Childbirth, and Coalition to Improve Materinity Services (CIMS). She is  a certified H.U.G. teacher, graduate of the Santa Barbara Graduate Institutes program in pre and perinatal psychology, certified Dynamic Anatomy teacher, yoga teacher, and former dancer.  Ellynne is especially passionate about helping babies conceived in artificial conception practices or gestated via surrogacy to feel WELCOMED. She is the mother of two children and lives in Brooklyn, NY.  She is offering a professional training in infant developmental movement and baby yoga this June in NYC and also practices birth trauma resolution with her husband a master Biodynamic craniosacral therapist.

Jerilyn Brownstein, MSW is a practicing psychotherapist for twenty-two years in the Hudson Valley area of New York. Her work focuses on supporting, honoring, and inspiring the inner lives of mothers through individual, couples, group therapy, workshops, and retreats. Jerilyn speaks of motherhood as a transformative initiation - an irreversible crossing over into unknown inner terrain to traverse a new landscape - and sees her work as providing midwifery to the soul of a mother. Her Holy Mama workshops in NYC and beyond are geared specifically for mothers to provide a safe space to touch important life questions where a woman can give birth to all of who she is - growing herself while she grows her family. “Becoming a mother opens an inner door…Mothering becomes a living prayer, an initiation, an awakening into wholeness.” - JB

Elizabeth Visceglia, M.D. is a Board Certified Psychiatrist and an 18-year student of Yoga. She met her teacher, Guruji Prakash Shankar Vyas, over ten years ago while living in Varanasi, India. She recently studied the effects of Yoga on people with schizophrenia, and found that Yoga has a profound impact on participants’ symptoms and quality of life. Elizabeth supervises Yoga therapists working in psychiatric settings, and she maintains a private practice in Brooklyn, NY where she lives with her family. Her experiences as a mother inspired her to incorporate the wisdom of movement into parenting and works in her practice with mothers to connect with their bodies and their children through this medium. Elizabeth has written for Yoga Therapy in Practice, interviewed for TIME Magazine Health, and recently presented her research at SYTAR: 2011 Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research.

Marin Bach-Antonson is a senior labor support Doula and childbirth educator. She has completed both basic and advance training through DONA international, is a certified Calm Birth instructor, certified Kripalu movement instructor, pre-natal yoga teacher and Reiki healer. As an intuitive birthworker, Marin honors the spiritual nature of pregnancy and birth and helps women connect with the spiritual power of birth through the use of ritual. She has been facilitating new mother and sister circles for the past 20 years, having performed 200 Blessingway ceremonies. She is a seasoned public speaker and has given presentations at the NY Open Center, for Holistic Moms Network and most recently served on the panel for Life Leaders Forum, Evoking the Goddess presentation. She is a mother of two young children and has used ritual in her own birth experiences and early mama days.