THE ASSOCIATION FOR WHOLISTIC MATERNAL AND NEWBORN HEALTH
WHOLISTIC BIRTH SUPPORT AND CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION
Mother-Baby Friendly Maternity Care and Education
Welcome!
Shawna Wentz Photography Sacred Womb Artistry
About our Organization
Please allow me to introduce myself and to welcome you to our website. I am the Director of Wholistic Birth Support and Childbirth Education, which provides perinatal education and support services for parents-to-be including childbirth education, doula support, homebirth midwifery services (provided by Shelly Girard, LM, CPM and Seannie Gibson, LM, CPM of Childbirth At Home A Labor of Love), postpartum doula support and lactation support to expectant women and new families. Our Birth Support Professionals are dedicated to the ideals of natural childbirth, evidence-based maternity care and attachment parenting. Our non-profit organization, The Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health, (A DBA of Wholistic Midwifery School of Southern California), is a community-based training and advocacy organization committed to inspiring communities, individuals and organizations to create environments which support healthy pregnancies, healthy newborns and promote the possibility of transformation through childbirth. We offer trainings for perinatal professionals–nurses, public health staff, doulas, breastfeeding peer counselors, perinatal home visitors and case managers, health educators, and others.
Cordelia’s Background
My passion for mothers and babies began in childhood, long before I had my own children. I was always fascinated with pregnancy, birth and babies. I’ve always loved and worked with babies, young children and adolescents in one way or another. I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Dance at Indiana University Bloomington, where I grew up, and moved to Los Angeles with my ex-husband to pursue a career as an actress in 1986. Then in 1989 and 1991, the miraculous experiences of giving birth to my two children with a midwife at home changed the course of my life. I found my true calling and have been on a mission ever since. Giving birth empowered and inspired me to carry the message that childbirth can be an opportunity for personal growth, healing and transformation.
Since 1991, I have been a Certified Childbirth Educator (CCE) and Certified Birth Assistant (CBA) providing education and childbirth support to families in Los Angeles county in clinics, hospitals, birth centers and homes. I am accredited as Childbirth Educator and Birth Assistant by the Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators (ALACE). I began teaching expectant parents in my home when my children were small, studying midwifery and working with several local homebirth/birth center midwives. I also worked at a community clinic teaching expectant parents who were low income; this sparked my interest in public health. I also worked with California Association of Midwives to obtain licensure for direct-entry midwives in 1994.
From 1991 to 2010, I trained with and worked as an Assistant/Apprentice Midwife with several local homebirth midwives, became a Primary Midwife Under Supervision while pursuing licensure as a midwife, and helped to establish a freestanding birth center in 2000 where I did some of my supervised clinical training. Through all my personal challenges to become a Licensed Midwife, I decided I wanted to make it easier for those who came after me, thus my dream of starting a school of midwifery and freestanding birth center serving low-income families began. In 1993, along with two midwives, Lorri Walker, CNM, NP and Shelly Girard, LM, CPM, MPH, I co- founded our non-profit organization Wholistic Midwifery School of Southern California with the intention to establish a freestanding birth center and midwifery school in Los Angeles serving low income disadvantaged families in a community where health disparities are greatest, and to train midwives, doulas and breastfeeding peer counselors from these communities. In 2010, I assumed leadership of the organization and became Executive Director and established the DBA The Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health.
From 2002-2008, while in graduate school pursuing a Masters in Public Health, I worked full time at a public health department and raised my teenage children. In 2005, I divorced my children’s father. In 2008, I obtained my Masters in Public Health in Health Education and Promotion/Maternal Child Health from Loma Linda University. I also obtained my Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) credential from the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, the gold standard for professional public health educators. My education at LLU expanded my awareness of global maternal-infant health and women’s and girls issues, and inspired a desire to work internationally with pregnant mothers, to preserve traditional birth attendants and address maternal and infant mortality globally. In 2007, I was a delegate and volunteer at Women Deliver in London, a conference to raise global awareness of maternal mortality and women’s rights. In addition, I have been doing my part to achieve Millennium Development Goal 5: to reduce maternal deaths globally (with a particular passion and interest in Africa). I also am part of the global safe motherhood movement, and participate in efforts to reduce ethnic perinatal health disparities in the United States. I am particularly committed to reducing African-American perinatal health disparities. I worked for the Black Infant Health Program at The Pasadena Public Health Department for seven and half years, a program dedicated to reduce perinatal health dispartites in the African-American community, where I developed and conducted a childbirth education curriculum and managed a volunteer community doula program and breastfeeding peer counselor program. Since 2007, I’ve served as Co-Chair of the Evidence in Action Committee of The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services, creator of the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative.
In 2006 I married again, to a man who hails from the Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa.
Our Non-Profit Wing: The Association for Wholistic Maternal and Newborn Health
We provide consultation and training for the perinatal public health workforce, offering a myriad of health education courses for professionals. We are available to consult your agency on your perinatal practice including writing protocols, case management and more.
In 2011 we were funded by The California Community Foundation to offer a training, “Hearts and Hands: The Art and Science of Mother-Baby Friendly Nursing: A Proposal for High Quality Maternity Care” which will be offered May 22, 23, 24, 2012 in Los Angeles for hospital labor and delivery nurses. To register, go to:http://mother-baby-friendly-nursing-training.eventbrite.com or email: cordeliahc@socalbirth.com or call 626-388-2191 for more information, or visit The Art and Science of Mother-Baby Friendly Nursing. Please go to the website and follow the links to register.
On February 23, 2012, we presented Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, 34th Congressional District, with the Champion of Mother-Baby Friendly Care Award along with The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services and The Breastfeeding Taskforce of Greater Los Angeles. To view a video of the event on You Tube and to download a copy of the powerpoint from our Introduction and Information Session at California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities, go to: http://motherfriendly.org/CIMS_events/newborn.
If you are an expectant or new mother or father and need education and/or support, please look at the classes and services we offer or download our Brochure for Wholistic Birth Support and Childbirth Education and let us know how we can assist you in manifesting the birth you desire!
We look forward to working with you!
Peace and Blessings,
Cordelia & Team
