About Our Faculty
Rita Aparicio, (DEM, LLL Leader, IBCLC, CCE, CLE, CLMA, CD) Rita has been a midwife since 1984. She studied at the Santa Fe Midwifery School, and The Maternity Center in El Paso, Texas. She has trained traditional midwives in underdeveloped countries with Inciativa Comunitaria de P.R. Rita is also a licensed as a Paramedic with the Puerto Rico Health Department. She teaches in the Associates Degree in Lactation Consultation program, including Breastfeeding Skills and Breastfeeding Politics and Policy. Rita is the past Chairwoman of two important lactation coalitions in Puerto Rico. Her passion is the time she spends with her family, especially her 20 and 14 year-old daughters; her husband of 27 years, Jeff, is an archaeologist in the Regional Office of the Forest Service. Rita and family came to Portland in the Fall of 2009, and are enjoying the change immensely.
Lucina Armstrong, (LDM, CPM) Lucina’s interest in midwifery began in 1998, when she worked with midwives in Costa Rica, while earning her BA in public health. After graduating college, she and her husband, Andy, moved to Venezuela, where she did Fulbright research on the demise of traditional midwifery and its effect on women’s health and gender roles. During her two years in Venezuela, Lucina attended many births in hospitals, private clinics and homes. Lucina returned to the United States with a deep passion for women’s reproductive rights and a strong commitment to protecting normal birth as a sacred rite of passage. Lucina attended Birthingway College of Midwifery for the core of her education, while working as a doula. She did her hands on training as an apprentice at Andaluz Waterbirth Center, where she had the opportunity to work with a variety of skilled midwives. Since finishing her apprenticeship in 2007, she has been practicing midwifery here in Portland. In her practice, Lucina maintains a balance between the ancient, woman-centered art of midwifery and the most recent evidence-based best practices. Lucina currently serves on the Oregon Midwifery Licensing Board. She has two amazing young sons, both born at home with midwives.
Kimberly Bepler, (ICPE, PCD, CPD, CLE) instructor for our Postpartum Doula Training Workshop, has been working with postpartum families for over 9 years, and has a passion for the newborn and the new family. She founded ABC Doula Service in 2001, and has seen the company grow to a dozen doulas serving over 450 families in the Portland metro area. One of her passions is babywearing, and you can often find her helping families find their way in carrying and wearing their children (sometimes several at a time!) In addition to her postpartum work, Kimberly also teaches breastfeeding and newborn care classes within the Providence Health System, and at Zenana Spa, and is a faculty doula trainer for CAPPA. She resides in Wilsonville with her husband of 15 years, and a lively son and busy daughter that keep her humble.
Mindy Cash, N.D., M.S.O.M., L.Ac. is a holistic primary care physician with a passion for teaching. Her many courses at Birthingway include Chinese Medicine, Nutrition, and the Botanicals series and are all taught from a dynamic perspective spanning modern and traditional medical science. She utilizes this holistic spectrum in her private practice as a doctor of naturopathic and Chinese medicine through Health Roots Natural Medicine where she provides individualized health care. Mindy and her partner Ann are mothers to twin boys (born Halloween 2007) and spend most of their time practicing attachment parenting. They are devoted to sustainable business and lifestyle practices and enjoy an organic medicinal herb garden.
Denise Clark is an Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic and a Paramedic Instructor and teaches Birthingway Midwifery students Critical Care Skills and Hematology as well as conducting regular recertification workshops in CPR and Biodynamic Resuscitation of the Newborn. She has also worked as a high school teacher, journalist, business owner and mom of one daughter. She is passionate about bringing neo-natal resuscitation training to front line health care professionals who otherwise may not have access to these skills.
Melissa Cole, LLLL, IBCLC, RLC is a registered, board certified lactation consultant who has been offering breastfeeding support since 2002. She is passionate about providing comprehensive lactation care and education. Through her work in private practice at Luna Lactation, Melissa believes it is a great joy and honor to support families as they work towards their breastfeeding goals. She is a long time La Leche League Leader and is also active with several lactation and health care professional associations. She teaches in the Associates in Lactation Consultation program, including Advanced Breastfeeding Skills. Melissa, her husband, Bryon and their three children enjoy living and life-learning in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
Kathryn Constant, MLS, has been working in the library field for over 15 years. She brings a peaceful spirit to our library and is gentle, kind, and greatly compassionate towards our students. As the only midwifery-specific librarian in the country, she strives to make our library live up to it's full potential. Kathryn also teaches Information Literacy, Understanding Medical Literature, Research Methods and acts as a student research consultant. She is known for making statistics and research user-friendly and very do-able. Kathryn also draws rave reviews for her Birth Stories in Life and Literature course.
Mia Crupper, ND, LMT is a naturopathic physician, naturopathic midwife, doula and licensed massage therapist. She practices family medicine with her husband, Michael, at The Gift of Life Clinic in the heart of Portland's Hollywood neighborhood. She teaches Microbiology and Microbiology Skills at Birthingway as well as Patient Practice Management 1, Gynecology lab and GU lab at WSCC. Her teaching philosophy is to be an advisor who presents information and offers a mirror that reflects students personal self-discovery and growth. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, snowboarding, knitting and cooking.
Pamela Echeverio, mother, grandmother, CPM, LDM, teaches Pharmacology. Pamela has been involved with homebirth since 1977 when her 1st child was born at home. She was a doula until 2000 when she started at Birthingway, graduating in 2004. She practices privately in Portland and is increasingly to be found at international sites around the world.
Adrienne Fuson, IBCLC, LMT, CD, brings more than eleven years of birth doula experience to her position as Birthingway's Labor Doula course teacher. She also teaches extensively in the Associates in Lactation Consultation program, including the basic Breastfeeding series, and Pregnancy and Breastfeeding. She has a bachelor's degree with Phi Betta Kappa honors in Psychology and Women's Studies from Oberlin College. With almost nine years as a licensed massage therapist and almost ten years as a lactation specialist, Adrienne brings a variety of techniques for supporting clients before, during and after their births. Adrienne is also a mother of beautiful, busy young children. Her family enjoys fostering the occasional litter of puppies or kittens from the Humane Society and puttering in the garden.
Heather Hack-Sullivan, CPM, LDM has come full circle in the Birthingway community. She began teaching Infancy classes several years ago only to then become a student, a graduate, a midwife, and now a teacher again! She now teaches Postpartum Skills, Prenatal Skills and Infancy. She lives with her husband and four amazing children, her chickens and honeybees. She enjoys knitting, playing board games, singing karaoke, eating sushi, listening to music, and going to concerts in between attending births and appointments in her practice: Rosehip Midwifery. www.rosehipmidwifery.com
Ann Holland, N.D., M.S.O.M., L.Ac. is a Naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist who practices family medicine at Health Roots Natural Medicine. She teaches Botany at Birthingway, and has also taught Chinese herbs at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. She loves to share her passion about plants and strives to make her courses hands-on and down-to-earth. She and her partner Mindy keep busy raising their twin sons Reed and Finn.
Amy B Johnson, ND, teaches Physical Assessment I and Physical Assessment II. She has a home naturopathic practice called Blue House Holistic Health. Her emphasis with her patients is getting them healthy enough to care for themselves needing her only for tune ups and major life events. Education, life style enhancements, nutrition, botanical medicine and classical homeopathy are her primary modalities. The past few years have had her busy building an urban healing center where there are wellness classes, mediation groups, urban camp retreats and cleanse programs. In her free time, she enjoys nature; gardening, hiking, and camping.
Adeline Kell, ND is a naturopathic physician and midwife who works with women and children in the Portland metro area and SW Washington. Providing holistic care with a focus on homeopathy, herbal medicine, and nutrition, Adeline enjoys working with women and families to optimize their health. She also loves to teach and is an adjunct faculty member in the clinical medicine department at NCNM (National College of Natural Medicine) and teaches Gynecology and Gynecology Skills at Birthingway. Adeline lives on seven acres in SW Washington with her husband, their five children, and an assortment of two and four legged creatures.
Celeste Kersey, BA, CPM, LDM is passionate about living consciously. Teaching Birthingway's Communication series of courses and facilitating NVC workshops, Celeste is a perpetual student of Nonviolent Communication, Midwifery and Motherhood. She has been transformed by her own births in 1991 (Naomi), 1994 (Faith), 1995 (Olivia), and 2000 (Isaac). She began her path to midwifery in October, 1993 in Detroit, MI. She found her way to Oregon in 1994 after marrying an organic farmer (Jim) from Canby, OR. She attended Birthingway College of Midwifery and apprenticed with a patient and generous midwife near Salem, OR in between birthing a few of her own babies. She is part of Northwest Community Midwives in Portland and has her own business, Full Moon Midwifery in Canby. Her life is enriched by close friendships, personal growth, family, humor, and tropical vacations.
Nancy Longatan is an adult educator who is passionate about empowering people through education. She has worked many years in Asia, and speaks Nepali, Japanese and Filipino, but is now settled in the Birthingway staff room where she handles the Faculty Coordinator role and teaches Understanding Medical Literature.
Stacey Marshall teaches the Labor Doula Workshop and co-teaches the Childbirth Educator course. She became a certified labor doula in 2003, inspired by the birth of her daughter. She became a childbirth educator in Los Angeles, teaching hospital and home-birth couples comfort massage and the faith in physics of birth. She also worked with a homebirth midwife as an assistant until the birth of her second child. She moved to Portland in 2007 and began working and teaching at Birthingway. She currently works as a birth doula, a childbirth educator and a cerified breastfeeding counselor in and around the Portland area. In addition, she is the Lactation Program Coordinator here at Birthingway. In her spare time, you will find her rockin out to her Ipod (not knitting), cooking dinner for friends and spending time with her amazing kiddos Adaline, 9, and Roan, 5.
Bonnie McAnnis BA, LMT traces her roots with Birthingway to the beginning years as a member of the founding class. Her journey with midwifery began with the homebirths of her three children and wove itself into a fulfilling and intricate tapestry which combined practicing the healing arts with raising a beautiful and rambunctious family. She currently balances teaching at Birthingway and maintaining a massage therapy practice in NE Portland. Bonnie is a passionate student of life and enjoys sharing the wonders and discoveries of the human body and the human experience through teaching Human Anatomy & Physiology and Massage for Midwives. She is grateful for the blessings of her husband and grown children, her lovely, quirky animals and time spent in the garden.
Carrie McCormick, (MPH, DEM) Carrie was with the first group of women in the “living room study group” which eventually evolved into Birthingway. She has had many incarnations within the Birthingway community: Student, instructor, faculty, board member, guest speaker, and vein-lender for IV practice! Carrie is a midwife and has an MPH focusing on international maternal/child health. Over the past 15 years she has worked with many Portland area midwives as well as living and working in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. She teaches International Midwifery and co-teaches Breastfeeding Politics and Policy.
Jennifer Means, N.D. is a naturopathic physician, licensed acupuncturist and teaches our Homeopathy course. Jennifer is a devoted mother and balances work and family with inspiring grace. She is dedicated to living simply and nurturing strong people who will care for this planet and each other. Jennifer is another of our educators who has been with Birthingway for many years bringing dedication and creativity to her instruction.
Jackie Meyer, CPM - After volunteering in the Birthingway office for a year, Jackie was a student in the third midwifery class (1999 4EVA!!). After graduating and becoming a CPM and LDM in Oregon, Jackie opened Rushbrook Midwifery, specializing in preconception care for the queer community. She brings a dorky passion for quality healthcare charting and documentation through her background as a diagnostic imaging transcriptionist for Providence Health & Services. Currently, her life is full raising her stunningly awesome toddler, researching family history, and serving as Independent Learning Coordinator at Birthingway. In this capacity, she assists Holly Scholles in reviewing her course practice materials, supports the completion of student Practice Material Books, oversees the Signs & Symptoms Notebook, and creates and runs the standardized patient scenarios for the midwifery program’s capstone course, Practice Materials Integration.
Susan Moray, CPM, LDM. Susan's calling to conscious birthing began in the mid 1970's at the homebirth of a friend. She started by teaching Bradley classes, then Birthing from Within and taught for 20 years. Susan attended Birthingway and was its first graduate in 1996 at which time her homebirth practice, Northwest Community Midwives was begun. She is currently teaching Running a Midwifery Practice. She has also held many positions in the Oregon Midwifery Council as well as has been Press Officer for MANA for 8 years. Her most rewarding role is as mother to her two homeborn daughters, Skylar and Polly, born in 1987 and 1990.
Brooke Noli, MA, MFT, CD, teaches Perinatal Psychology. She holds a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and has a two-year certificate in Process-Oriented Psychology. Brooke is a private practice therapist who specializes in working with individuals and couples on the transitional issues associated with pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum. She was in the midwifery program at Birthingway from 2000-2003 and apprenticed with Northwest Community Midwives. Although she did not pursue a career as a midwife, Brooke continues to attend births as a certified doula (Portland Doula & Birth Services) and teaches childbirth education classes for homebirthers. Brooke is passionate about supporting families in a variety of ways, and she is thrilled to be a part of the Birthingway community again.
Cari Nyland, ND, teaches Plant Medicine series, Other Modalities and Homeopathy. She is a naturopath and practices in Portland Oregon.
Sara Ohgushi, ND, LM, was led to her work with families as a primary care naturopathic physician and midwife through her children, Asumi born reluctantly but naturally in a hospital in 1989, and Genta born gently at home in 1991. While volunteering as a La Leche League Leader she continued questioning the mainstream medical model which led to seeing a Naturopath and then gradually realizing the dream of becoming one! As the kids were bigger by then she was delighted to succumb to the calling of midwifery as well. In addition to caring for families, Sara enjoys cats, her kids, biking, yoga, singing and walks with her husband Mikio and friends. She has lived in Japan, is fluent in Japanese and enjoys teaching Birthingway students the basics of the languages of Medical Terminology and Working Cross Culturally.
Sarah Peyton, independent facilitator and teacher of collaborative communication from Vancouver, WA, teaches workshops and classes that integrate the heart of brain research with Nonviolent Communication (NVC). She is delighted to be teaming with Celeste Kersey in the Communications sequence to bring this cutting edge approach to understanding how language changes our brains to Birthingway, and to the support of the flourishing of midwifery in the community. As well as teaching, she writes about the synthesis of Interpersonal Neurobiology (IN) and NVC, reflecting her work in one-on-one, educational, business, church and prison environments. Her work focuses on how we hear and understand one another, effective ways to connect hearts, and developing self-compassion and clarity. She loves watching people's self-understanding deepen into warmth, and enjoys laughing with her extended family, listening to her cat purr, and walking the dog with her husband.
Rhonda Ray, BA, CPM recently retired from an active midwifery practice which began in 1979. She soon began teaching Prenatal Skills as well as being hired as the Student Affairs Coordinator at Birthingway. Rhonda has been described as “embodied love” and her students attest to the compassion, commitment, and dedication she brings to her vocation. Rhonda has two daughters, Freya and Hopi. They are now free birds that have both flown away, so Rhonda lives in her empty nest with her fabulous husband, Robert. She is so happy to be doing midwifery-related work and to have baby-midwife birds to nurture along their way.
Nichole Reding, MA is a Childbirth Educator and Birthingway certified Labor Doula. She teaches the Childbirth Educator Training Workshop, Midwifery Culture, International Midwifery and Ethics here at Birthingway. She has a BA in history and political science and a Masters Degree in American History. Nichole is also the Academic Coordinator at Birthingway and was instrumental in the development of Birthingway's Breastfeeding Center. With her open personality and her ability to be gracious under pressure she is not only an excellent instructor, but the face of hospitality here at Birthingway. Nichole has two lovely girls 11 and 8. She loves the Beatles, chocolate, motherhood, cooking and gardening, and now she knits too!
Holly Scholles, MA, CPM, LDM is a midwife with a tiny practice as well as an anthropologist specializing in human reproduction and medical anthropology. Holly is both founder and president of Birthingway College of Midwifery. She teaches Antepartum, Intrapartum, Complex Situations I and II, Psychosocial Issues and Practice Protocols.
Martha von Reis, MS, CD grew up in the woods of Northern California to home birthing parents, but never considered that birth would become such a passion until after the home birth of her first daughter. Martha moved to Portland to get her BA in Biology from Reed College. After finishing her Master of Science Degree from OSU and having her first of two children, she began to pursue her interest in birth by training as a doula at Birthingway. She was certified as a birth doula in the Fall of 2009 and she is now combining her passion for birth and her background in science as our Human Genetics instructor. She, her two daughters, and her husband enjoy gardening,cooking, hiking, and kayaking.