Bio

I am a Mother, first.

I am an Instructor for the Arvigo Institute. I teach level one – “Self-Care”, and the Advanced Class for Pregnancy and Fertility. Please click the link for the Arvigo Institute to see which classes I am offering.  “Self-Care” is open to the public (and I’m willing to bring it to you if you don’t live near Portland, Oregon).  The Advanced class is for practitioners who have completed their professional training thru the Arvigo Institute.

I am a Naturopathic Midwife.  I blend the medicine of traditional healers (from Europe and the native Americas), with the knowledge of conventional medicine.  My intention is to remove the obstacles to the proper flow of vital fluids within the body, and to promote the drainage of wastes and toxins, so that health can be restored by the body’s internal mechanisms.

I specialize in the Arvigo Techniques for PreNatal Care.  These techniques improve birth outcomes, reduce complications, enhance fetal development and recovery postpartum.  I love to witness the Healing from traumatic birth experiences. I encourage the reduction scar tissue from cesarean birth. In the first 3 weeks after birth, I offer home visits to care for mother and child(ren).

 

My practice in newborn bodywork is in the newborn phase…  I have had much experience caring for my baby boy born 7/2/2011 breech, with some injuries to the limbs.  He came thru me like a mythic Hero from another dimension.  He landed on my shores, tired and relieved to have found me to care for him.  And he is super happy about his bodywork sessions.  While we would have both preferred a head-first birth (probably), I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about physical medicine for newborns.

 

 

 

I am quite good at unwinding the complex and painful diagnosis of infertility.  Most couples in my practice have found their way to conception, either with or without Assisted Reproductive Technologies.  My intellect is especially interested in determining the cause for failure to conceive, outside of the possibilities that conventional medicine describes. I have discovered and removed obstacles such as Iron overload, or genetic Folic Acid metabolism disorders, allowing couples to conceive.  After I get to know you and your challenges, we’ll send your male partner to the lab before his first appointment.  It takes two.  Males are very susceptible to negative environmental influences on their fertility. Luckily, they most often heal quickly with the correct intervention.

I perform a complete history, often ordering laboratory tests.  Generally I utilize a combination of bodywork, herbal medicine, home health care practices, diet and supplementary nutrition to determine and address the source of illness.

I am also proficient in the disturbances of the gastrointestinal and gynecological systems.

About My Education:

• Undergraduate at University of Rochester : World Religions and Women’s Studies
• Apprenticeship in Herbal Medicine with Susun Weed
• Shadowed Certified Nurse-Midwife in South-Western Vermont in Hospital
• Long distance Mentoring and Apprenticeship with Rosita Arvigo from 1999-present
• National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon : Doctorate of Natural Medicine
• Vaccine Seminar with Dr. H. Andrews, ND and Dr. Heather Zwickey, PhD
• Apprenticeship to Dr. Ed Hofmann-Smith, ND for midwifery
• Apprenticeship to Dr. Brenda Holcombe, ND/CPM for midwifery
• Functional Medicine University : to become proficient in the reading of labwork with a New World perspective on vitality