FEBRUARY 5, 2021 AT 12PM (EST)
SEX THERAPY?
Many people are often puzzled and/or apprehensive about exploring sex therapy. What is it? How does it work? What is off limits? These questions are normal and exploring them is a great way to become informed and more comfortable with a trusted professional.
Sex Therapy is a form of psychotherapy. In other words, a licensed mental health counselor provides therapy and counseling specific to sexuality and sexual health. There is NO touching or nudity involved!
Sex therapy can be helpful in addressing issues related to intimacy, relationships and communication, infidelity, sexual dysfunction, arousal, desire, fantasies, fetishes, infertility, chronic illness, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual identity, sexual orientation, loss and grief, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and talking about sex with children to name a few!
Sexual health is a quality of life issue. It is just as relevant as all other dimensions of wellness that create, promote, and impact well-being.
Valon Alford hold’s a Master of Social Work degree from Howard University. She received specialized training at the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work in Sex Therapy & Sexuality Education. Valon is licensed as a clinical social worker in the District of Columbia & North Carolina. As a mental health clinician, Valon has provided therapeutic services to military personnel and beneficiaries, perinatal women, veterans diagnosed with serious mental illness, children and families involved with the child welfare system, as well as professional athletes.
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FEBRUARY 19, 2021 AT 12PM (EST)
WHAT IS HYPNOBIRTHING?
People who are drawn to HypnoBirthing® have long been searching for a way to give birth confidently and as calmly, safely, and gently as possible, whether they have chosen to birth in a hospital, a birthing center, or at home. Until HypnoBirthing®, this kind of birthing almost seemed unattainable for the general population.
WHAT DO I LEARN?
Through a very simple program of self-hypnosis and education, healthy, low-risk women, as well as women who need medical assistance because of special circumstances, learn to dismiss fear- based stories, misinformation, and birthing myths; and they are helped to see birth as normal. They learn to trust that their bodies and learn how to bring their babies into the world in the calm and gentle way that Nature intended.
WHO IS ANUKA GAZARA-ANTHONY?
Anuka is an accredited Mongan Method Hypnobirthing teacher currently based in Bethesda, Maryland. She was inspired to leave her career and train as a Hypnobirthing Practitioner after having her daughter in 2013.
Her first pregnancy and delivery was extremely difficult. She had many complications and was unprepared for her delivery which led to many complications to her body after the birth. She was determined to learn about a new approach that could help her understand her body better during pregnancy and delivery. Anuka wanted to have a peaceful and calm birth with her second child. Hypnobirthing has changed her life in so many ways, but more importantly it empowered her with the tools and techniques she needed to have a calm and confident birth – the way she wanted!
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MARCH 5, 2021 AT 12PM (EST)
Pregnancy Loss: Abortion, Miscarriage, Stillbirth, TFMR
Alaina’s Gift Inc. was created after Charie Combo lost her sweet baby girl, Alaina Michelle, to Turner’s Syndrome in January 2017. After losing her Charie was so hurt and angry because she wasn’t going to be taking a baby home when she left the hospital. Charie later received the bill from the hospital that made her even angrier. Charie felt it was unfair for them to charge her!
“Why didn’t my insurance cover all the costs for these tests?”
“How could they do this to me knowing the traumatic loss that I was going through?”
Charie knew it was just the way things were but she was still angry. One day Charie got the idea to create this nonprofit organization to assist other angel mommies like herself with their medical bills. Charie figured that others may feel or have felt the way she did when receiving the bill from the hospital or doctor’s office.
The goal of Alaina’s Gift Inc. is to either pay partial or all of a medical bill for mothers who have lost their angel during pregnancy (rules apply & certain criteria must be met). Alaina’s Gift Inc. is here to ease the financial stress that may come with a loss such as this.
Click here to access the Facebook Live!
MARCH 19, 2021 AT 12PM (EST)
Planning Your Post-COVID Vacation
Where Will You Travel Post-COVID?
Gina Carmo is the owner of Inspire Travel…and a mom. Join us on March 19, 2021 at 12pm (EST) as we talk about ups and downs of motherhood while also running a business!
Originally from Ohio, Gina has worked in the educational travel niche for over 20 years, previously in the role of the travel planner and now responsible for Inspire Travel’s on-the-ground operations. After graduating from Ohio University, Gina worked for an American educational travel company in Washington, D.C. for several years where she was responsible for experiential education programs in the United States and abroad. She first traveled to Brazil for work in 2003 and has lived in Rio since 2005. She worked for a Brazilian incoming tour operator from 2005-2008 and then launched Inspire Travel in January 2009. As the primary point of contact for clients, today Gina uses her unique skills to assist them in creating new travel programs, though development and implementation.
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FRIDAY FORUMS
PELVIC FLOOR PHYSICAL THERAPY
DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?
Pregnancy and birth left me with terrible pelvic pain!
I’m struggling with incontinence and am embarrassed to talk about it. I’ve had tearing and scarring, now I’m afraid of intimacy. Doctors tell me I’m feeling like this because I had a baby, and there’s nothing else to do but live with it. Bowel movements are uncomfortable and not as easy as they used to be I want help, but I don’t have time between my newborn and my own needs. My core is weak and my back and shoulders hurt. My belly just does not look like I had hoped it would I’m overwhelmed with everything and don’t know where to start finding myself again.
Jennifer Chu, MS, PT, WCS created ITR Physical Therapy in 2001 because she believed that each patient deserves to be treated in a caring and supportive environment while receiving quality one on one care and rehabilitation.
TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR ANXIETY TODAY
Can we admit that the COVID-19 pandemic, racial unrest, and political discord this past year has taken a toll on our emotional wellbeing?
Karen Kerschmann uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and clinical hypnosis to “amplify” our desired shifts in thought and behavior.
Ms. Kershmann’s educational background includes a master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with an emphasis in law and political psychology. In addition to her private counseling practice, Ms. Kerschmann is an advocate for current and former foster youth and is an adoptive parent.
Ms. Kershmann’s work is acknowledged in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5, the professional journal, The Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, and in the creation of a parent-adolescent-school mediation program (CRESS) with the Mediation Centre in Melbourne, Australia.
