Indigenous Midwifery & Naturopathy
Keynote Presenter: Dr. Jus Crea Giammarino
Raised with her Penobscot culture and Native American spiritual practices, Dr. Jus Crea realized the healing powers of nature at a young age. Rich with ancestral knowledge of healing, medicine, and midwifery, Dr. Jus Crea received a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the University of Bridgeport and a BS in Ethnobotany and Holistic Health from UMass, Amherst. She has also been trained as an auricular acupuncture detox specialist at Lincoln Hospital, in Indigenous Midwifery with Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming and is a Certified Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor.
Dr. Jus Crea has lectured extensively on healing, ethnobotany, midwifery, naturopathic medicine, environmental medicine, and her cultural history and traditions. She was previously an adjunct professor of Nutrition at Springfield College and Pathology at STCC as well as a primary care physician in Brattleboro VT. Dr. Jus Crea has been practicing Naturopathic Family Medicine at The Integrative Health Group in Springfield MA since 2005. She is passionate about cultural healing practices and works towards reclamation of her Wabanaki traditions, spiritual practices, and language.
Family Yoga + Live Music
Live Music: Kuf Knotz & Christine Elise
MC/ Poet/ Songwriter Kuf Knotz and classically trained Harpist / Guitarist / Pianist / Vocalist Christine Elise have combined forces to create a new album. The unlikely pair connected and built the project with a similar vision, wanting to create positive, forward-thinking music driven by a strong message. Both individuals are intrinsically motivated to foster community growth through musical expression.
Kuf Knotz and Christine Elise offer motivational creative arts workshops and performances at various settings such as hospitals, schools and community centers. Their mission is to use the power of music, personal experience and empathetic relation to help individuals grow to meet their fullest potential.
Family Yoga + Live Music
Yoga Teacher: Jane Lanza
Jane Lanza began to devotedly study yoga and Buddhism in 2003 following a trip to Northern India. She was asked to teach yoga and meditation by one of her teachers in 2005. She was certified by Kripalu Center in 2006. Jane served as a TA at Kripalu Center for various YTT programs. In 2011, Jane was initiated into the Babaji’s Kriya Yoga lineage. She pays special thanks to the greatest teacher, pure awareness, and to the many teachers in her life, who’ve shown up in various ways and forms. Jane runs Family Tree Hemp Company with her husband, Ben. Jane co-founded Burlington Yoga Conference (BYC), Liberate Festival, Liberate School of Yoga and Laughing River Yoga (LRY) studio in Vermont. Jane serves as Marketing Director at LRY.
Jane leads a balanced yoga practice that awakens and empowers the mind body. She interweaves yogic breath techniques, postures, movement meditation, and inspiring bits of yogic philosophy into flow. Jane facilitates well-organized, intimate, and transformative yoga experiences.
Two of Jane’s beloved teachers gave her yoga names. Yogiraj Prem Prakash gave her the Sanskrit name Moksha Devi, which translates as Goddess of Liberation. Lama Migmar Tseten, gave her the Tibetan name Khanga Lhamo, which translates to Goddess Beloved by All. Jane is a celebrant for ceremonies including weddings, baby blessings and services at the time of people passing. She speaks from the heart, intuitively knows how to read and respond to a person, crowd, and situation.
#MomBoss
REY architecture & interiors: Rebecca Rey
Rebecca Rey is an award-winning designer, mother, and volunteer living in Vergennes, VT. Rebecca became a #MomBoss in 2007 with the realization that she wanted to have her work schedule weaved into her daughter’s schedule, and she wanted her clients to be individuals, not corporations.
Her first home design came at the age of nine, and her first construction project at the age of ten, when her family built a barn together. With a background that spans from construction into fine art and multiple design disciplines, Rebecca aspires to create sensible and beautiful homes that reflect her clients’ highest selves.
Birth & Postpartum
Presenter: Jessilyn Dolan, R.N.
Jessilyn Dolan, RN, CLD, CMT, CIMI, HBCE, CBBBE, SANE, ADS, has been working with birthing families for twenty years. Jessilyn is involved in a research project effecting families through the University of Vermont and works as an on-call sexual assault nurse examiner. She is a registered nurse, with a prior career in labor and delivery. This lead her to become one of a handful of R.N. experts in substance and opioid use disorders during pregnancy and parenting, and maternal mental health. She served as a nurse manager at a residential and community treatment facility and has lectured on the subject extensively throughout the United States.
Jessilyn is a labor and postpartum doula and CAPPA doula trainer. She helped develop the University of Vermont Medical Center’s volunteer labor doula program, and provides the doula training to the volunteers. She is a regular guest lecturer at University of Vermont’s College of Medicine. Jessilyn is a certified childbirth educator and infant massage instructor. She has a background in yoga, massage, and herbalism. She and her family live in Vermont where they’ve started H.E.M.P. and HomeGrown Consulting, educating Vermonters on cultivating hemp and cannabis as a medicine.
Womb Healing Meditation
Presenter: Sandy Morningstar, M.A.
Sandy Morningstar, MA, offers body-centered therapy in private practice at her home in Duxbury, VT, as well as phone consultations. Her therapeutic approach is appropriate for all ages, from babies in the womb to the elderly. Sandy’s emphasis on birth experiences aids clients in resolving core body issues, as well as the accompanying emotional, relational, and spiritual dilemmas. She served as secretary on the board of directors of the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health. She is the author of “Who Is Born? Exploring Birth Patterns that Shape Our Lives”.
Mindful Parenting: Fostering Connection & Belonging
Presenter: Maris Rose
Maris Rose is a parent, step-parent, grandparent, and teacher, who brings nearly forty years’ experience working with children and families to her parent coaching practice and programs for young children. She is the creator of Maris’ Tree House – a nature and arts enrichment program for young children in a lovely, natural setting at All Souls Interfaith Gathering on Meach Cove Farms in Shelburne. Her classes combine a gentle rhythm and delightful activities with kindness, care, and a touch of magic.
As a Parent Coach, Maris works with parents of young children through classes, workshops, support groups, in school and community settings. She also teaches classes and workshops for preschool teachers and childcare providers to support compassionate, effective classroom management. She combines skill and experience with warmth and understanding to offer helpful coaching for parents, support for early childhood educators and delightful programs for young children.
Poetry Reading
Presenter: Julia C. Alter
Julia C. Alter, LICSW is a poet, birth worker, and clinician from Philadelphia. She completed her undergraduate degree in Literary Arts with Honors in Poetry from Brown University and received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her poetry has been featured in numerous literary publications including The Boiler, Memoir Mixtapes, and Calyx. After spending years in the mental health field working with a diverse array of clients, she found she was most fulfilled working with women’s issues and the LGBTQIA+ community. Her diverse poetry reflects her passions, including the immense joys and challenges of motherhood.
With a move to Vermont came a move towards working as a birth and postpartum doula while maintaining a private therapy practice based in Burlington. Julia trained as a birth doula with Birth Arts International. She is committed to inclusivity and respect for individuals and their choices, both in birth and in life! In 2015 she became a certified Dancing Freedom facilitator and holds a regular class in Burlington, and is excited about the prospect of using a conscious dance practice to work with pregnant women and families. Julia resides in Vermont with her partner and son.
