Core Curriculum Experts

The experts have written over 30+ snack size classes covering essential topics that will benefit the short and long-term physical recovery and emotional health of mama, partner, and baby. These experts work in the industry and have seen the gap in postpartum care. The classes range from ABCs of Mama and Infant Sleep, Pelvic Floor Recovery, Signs + Support for Postpartum Mood Disorders, and more. The experts will not be onsite, but you will have access to schedule time with them if more support is needed. This is just the beginning, more experts will be added soon.

  • Licensed Acupuncturist and Ayurvedic practitioner specializing in women’s holistic health.

    Rachel's expertise is supporting women through the reproductive years: menarche through menopause and preconception through postpartum.

    She's studied Eastern Medicine for 20 years and has over a decade of experience working with clients. Rachel is passionate about supporting women and birthing people through the postpartum transition and beyond.

    To learn more about her work visit her website www.rachel-redmond.com or find her on Instagram @rachel.e.redmond.

    Offerings include:

    • Simple Self-Care for the Postpartum Year - online course (coming soon!)

    • Postpartum Planning Sessions - we prepare and plan for childbirth, but our postpartum recovery is often an afterthought. A planning session will set you up for a smooth transition after childbirth and easier recovery in the postpartum period. You will receive individualized recommendations including specific foods and recipes to incorporate, herbal preparations for mental/emotional/physical recovery, lifestyle support, and more.

    • Yin Way Women's Wellness Program - designed to help busy moms improve their health while simplifying their self-care. The curriculum is based on foundational concepts from Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Neuroscience.

    • Postpartum Health Coaching - one-on-one guidance and support with Rachel for 6 or 12 months

    • Invisible Mothers Program - healing the wounds of pregnancy loss

  • Dr. Stefanie Aronow is the Chief Medical Officer at Tamarack Camps and the founder/CEO of Raise and Shine MD, an innovative 4th trimester and supplemental pediatrics direct patient care (DPC) micro-practice, with a personalized focus on the maternal-infant dyad and ongoing parenting and pediatric support. Dr. Aronow completed her undergraduate and medical school studies at University of Michigan and her pediatric residency at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She has been a pediatrician for almost 25 years, practicing and teaching at four University tertiary care centers across the country; Mott Children’s Hospital UofM, Rainbow Babies Case Western, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia UPenn, and most recently Hasbro Children’s Hospital Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where she was an Assistant Professor at the Brown University Alpert School of Medicine. Dr. Aronow is combining her medical expertise and passion for wellness in her administrative position at camp and her unique practice fills a significant unmet need to help families confidently navigate new motherhood, postpartum, breastfeeding, and the journey of raising good humans. Earlier this year, Stefanie and her husband, Herb, returned home to Michigan for her husband to take the Director of the Heart & Cardiovascular Service Line role at Henry Ford Health System and currently they live in Birmingham. They have two grown children, Hannah, who graduated from UofM and is working and living in Chicago, and Josh, a senior in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

  • Joni Zieldorff, LMSW, IECMH-E®: Executive Director, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health

    Danie Rice, LMSW, MSA, IMH-E®, PhD Candidate: Director of Workforce Inclusion and Endorsement, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health

    Kandice Moss, LPC, R-DMT, IMH-E®: Workforce Development Specialist, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health

    The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health is a nonprofit organization that has prioritized early relationships, infant and early childhood social emotional development, and attachment across Michigan for over 45 years.

    Metro Parent Article

  • Lauryn Laszczak (Laz-check) is a Trauma-Informed Retreat Leader and the Co-Founder of Retreat to Reclaim, a community dedicated to grief support and helping improve your overall well-being. After moving through the loss of her stillborn son, Benjamin, in 2019, Lauryn has been devoted to helping women and families experiencing loss receive resources and experiences for healing. She has held healing circles and retreats for hundreds of women and her Loss & Light™ Healing Affirmation Card Deck has touched lives around the world. She is deeply grateful to be able to hold space for grieving mothers and their support systems monthly at Fourth Tri. Lauryn is also a Somatic Practitioner, Life & Business Coach, specializing in Transformational Breathwork, Chakra Healing and Yoga (she received her 200-hour YTT at Citizen Yoga).

  • Pelvic Noire

    Dr. K is a proud Detroit native who embarked on her academic journey with a Bachelors of Science in Movement Science at the University of Michigan. Her passion for physical therapy led her to pursue a Doctorate from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, Massachusetts; she is now an adjunct faculty there.

    Venturing westward, Dr. K continued her education at Therapeutic Associates Bethany in Portland, Oregon, immersing herself in extensive pelvic floor training alongside Herman and Wallace pelvic floor continuing education. Today, she wears multiple hats in the community, serving as a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist, a birth prep educator (soon to be Lamaze certified Childbirth Educator), Women’s Health & Wellness influencer (@dr.kwashington_) and a dedicated advocate for black maternal wellness

    Dr. K's interest in Pelvic Floor Therapy took a transformative turn when she confronted the alarming Black Maternal Mortality rates and Racial Disparities in Maternal Care in the U.S. Recognizing the potential of pelvic floor physical therapy to help address this crisis, she committed herself to the cause. Her approach seamlessly blends a fervor for improving the peripartum experience, especially for black mamas, with her comprehensive training.

    In 2022, Dr. K founded Pelvic Noire LLC, a platform aimed at promoting birth justice from a pelvic floor and holistic perspective. Her mission extends beyond clinical practice, incorporating mindfulness, community responsibility, and principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion into her care.

  • Sleep Consultant for Parents & Infant

    Batya is a mother of six children and a baby sleep expert with over 17 years of experience. She understands firsthand the challenges of sleep deprivation, having gone through it herself with her first baby who cried all day and night at 10 months old. Fueled by her determination to find a compassionate and effective solution, Batya researched, extensively and eventually created techniques that helped her son sleep. As her success spread Batya began helping friends and neighbors with similar issues, and now she is knows worldwide for her gentle and proven methods that have helped countless tired and frustrated parents regain control of their sleep and their lives.

  • Pelvic Floor Experts

    Nicole and Marganit are specially trained Doctors of Physical Therapy who take a holistic approach to treatment. They treat individuals experiencing pelvic floor dysfunction as well as those looking to optimize their wellbeing. With a particular focus on pelvic pain, incontinence, and pre and post natal, they are inclusive providers and welcome anyone looking to feel better.

  • Expert Chef

    Graduated with Bachelor's in Biology & Chemistry along with an MBA from Duke School of Business. 20+ years of business and culinary experience, most recently as founder and CEO of a boutique candy and snack food business that was sold in major food chains across the midwest.

  • Broth Masters is a Bone Broth company developed by Dorothy and Laya Barak, a mother-daughter team. They will be offering onsite tastings and product to purchase in the cafe. We have always been passionate about creating and eating foods that are not only delicious, but fuel and heal our bodies. Our bone broth recipe was perfected when Laya went through her own health issues after major ankle surgery in 2012. The surgery caused inflammation, aggravating Laya’s Crohn’s. Through Dorothy’s passion for healthy cooking and Laya’s certification in Integrative Health, we created a bone broth that was originally formulated to soothe gastrointestinal inflammation, but in doing so, we created a product that does so much more.

    We use only the very finest ingredients, cooking the bones for a minimum of 48 hours, adding ingredients in stages, at carefully controlled temperatures, to create a bone broth that is not only nutritious but strengthens your body and improves your health. We do this by giving you important nutrients and minerals in a soluble form for maximum absorption. You can read more at brothmasters.com

  • Certified perinatal, family and youth therapy group.

    Healing Home Counseling Group offers an empowering space to heal, regain strength and restore peace in your home. All our clinicians are perinatal mental health (PMH) trained or certified. Healing Home Counseling Group offers an array of different therapy modalities due to the unique backgrounds of all the therapists on staff. Some of these include CBT, EMDR, play-based therapy, and trauma informed care. Healing Home Counseling Group’s goal is to make you feel like you have a “home away from home” that is calm and nurturing. Our space is very comforting and a nice escape from the chaotic experience of parenthood.

  • Board Certified Art Therapist

    Taylor is a Board Certified Art Therapist. She received her BA in Arts and Humanities from Michigan State University, and her M.Ed from Wayne State University in Art Therapy. Additionally, she is a Yoga Alliance certified 200-hour yoga teacher and received her Concentration in Yoga Therapeutics from YogaMedics. She received additional training and certification as a trauma-informed youth yoga instructor through YogaCalm.

    She also is a certified Life Coach through the Life Purpose Institute.

    Experience

    Taylor currently provides individual private, family, and group art therapy at Solstice. She also currently facilitates group art therapy for individuals in Substance Use Disorder Treatment at Ascension Brighton Center for Recovery. Taylor provides expressive art, yoga and mindfulness sessions in collaboration with the Greater West Bloomfield Community Coalition for youth. Taylor is an assistant director of the Camp Kulabunga program, coordinating and planning wellness retreats and services. She has worked in a variety of health care settings providing both art therapy and yoga including with inpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment at Common Ground. She has provided art therapy at the Center for Eating Disorder Recovery and Support. Taylor has worked with People with Disabilities through JARC. She also worked at Common Ground's youth program, The Sanctuary, providing art therapy and yoga services with runaway and homeless youth. She provided group art therapy and restorative yoga at CareFirst Rehabilitation Center with individuals who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Additionally, she has taught yoga through fitness centers, gyms, studios, and at retreats.

  • Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

    Alex earned a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at Michigan State University and a Doctorate Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Pacific College of Health and Sciences. Licensed in the state of Michigan (LAc), Alex is board certified by NCCAOM in acupuncture as well as Chinese herbology (Dipl. OM). Alex has over a decade of patient care and clinical experience, and sees over 45 patients per week out of Citizen Yoga in Metro Detroit..

  • Dr. Jessica Triest is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician who spent many years in a busy Level 1 Emergency Department trying to figure out how to balance being a mom and a doctor. She recently launched www.MyMDFriend.com, a private acute care practice, in order to address the community's relatively quick medical questions, while simultaneously being available for all her family's needs. She will be available as a resource to Fourth Tri participants to help address whatever acute care medical questions arise concerning mom or baby. Her numerous years in the ER, her four very challenging pregnancies with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, and raising her four dynamic, awesome children, have all helped her gain experience as a mom and a doctor, and she looks forward to helping Fourth Tri grow and support the community.

  • Brandy is a mother of 5, a licensed massage therapist and Founder of My Fairy God Doula, LLC. Her life's experiences have fueled her passion to hold a safe space for

    individuals to learn, grow and heal through massage therapy. As a graduate of Irene’s Myomassology Institute in 2010, she now serves as an Assistant Instructor for the Hands-On Class at Irene’s Myomassology

    Institute which continues to feed her love for teaching others and contributes to their personal evolution journeys. Her desire to expand her ability to serve others and put moms at the center of it all, led her to become a trained Doula through LifeSpan Doulas in 2020. She is ready to take the knowledge of birth, massage therapy and desire for teaching and share it with the Fourth Tri.

  • Christine Maren D.O. is a board-certified physician and the founder of a virtual functional medicine practice in Colorado, Michigan and Texas. She was introduced to functional medicine after struggling with pregnancy complications and recurrent miscarriages. Now a mother of three, she’s devoted her professional life to helping others address the root cause of symptoms in order to restore health, prevent disease, and get their life back.

    She earned her medical degree (D.O.) at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University and later moved to San Antonio, Texas to train at one of the nation’s premier family medicine residency programs at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital.

    Part of Dr. Maren’s residency was spent in Tucson, Arizona, studying with Dr. Andrew Weil’s group at The University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Weil, also known as ‘The Father of Integrative Medicine,’ was a guiding figure early in her career.

    She was later introduced to functional medicine to address her own health concerns, and knew it would become the focus of her practice. Inspired by 2X NYT best-selling author and fellow functional medicine physician, Dr. Amy Myers, she joined her practice at Austin UltraHealth. She completed her exams and coursework to become a Certified Practitioner with the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFMCP) in 2017.

    Dr. Maren later opened her own independent practice where she is able to offer patients her unique brand of functional medicine care with a focus on women’s health concerns such as gut health, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, autoimmune disorders, hormonal issues, preconception and postpartum health.

  • Nicole Richards fell in love with yoga and it's breath when she was just 8 years old. It gave her the skills she needed to find her calm when the world felt overwhelming. She continued yoga and took her first training at Center for Yoga at age 19. After graduating from MSU with a degree in Anthropology, Nicole returned to her yoga journey and completed teacher training at Karma Yoga, Mindful Mamas Prenatal Yoga and Spirit Baby Yoga Training. About 10 years ago she began working as a birth doula, and finally after much waiting she was able to begin her own family. She is a mom to four children and continues to lean into yoga and breath to find calm space within. She cannot wait to support you on this journey of mindfulness and motherhood/parenthood.

  • Laurie is an Early Childhood Specialist whose education and experience has spanned decades in clinical, home, and school -based settings. Through the years Laurie’s focus and passion has been to partner and support families with young children, birth -five. Laurie’s work in the field of Infant Mental Health has continued to validate her practice of supporting parents during these early years of parenting. She understands and knows that at birth, parents begin building the trusting relationship infants need to thrive. As babies grow and develop it is important they always feel safe and secure and understood in these trusting relationships.

    Throughout her career Laurie has seen that when parents understand developmental milestones, they can have more realistic expectations of their infant/baby/toddler. When all domains of development (verbal and non -verbal communication, gross and fine motor skills, social emotional, problem solving), are acknowledged and respected, the whole child is better understood.

    Laurie is looking forward to supporting Fourth Tri participants. She is available to mentor and consult you at every developmental stage. She can guide you how to nurture and appreciate each stage of development and she will coach you in seeing life from the infant/baby/toddler perspective.

    Laurie’s formal education includes a Bachelor Degree, a Master’s Degree, a Post Graduate certificate in Infant Mental Health, she is a Registered Dietician and she is a Licensed and Certified PLAY Project Consultant.

  • Brandy Walters, BBA, IBCLC, RLC

    I have been an IBCLC for over 15 years and have recertified three times. I began my breastfeeding journey with my first son 23 years ago through La Leche League in Virginia. I went to a meeting every month and my goal each month was to nurse long enough to get to the next meeting the next month. La Leche League (LLL) taught me how to mother through breastfeeding. I became a volunteer with LLL through accreditation as a Leader. I continued on my path with my next two sons and enjoyed giving mothers the support I desperately needed with each of my sons.

    I began In Home Lactation Specialists in Fredericksburg, Virginia and found the need for home care was dire in Southeast Metro Detroit when we moved (back home for me!) in 2010. I value the team of IBCLCs I work alongside. We all have hours of continuing education and counseling experience. The team offers superb support for all families and their lifestyles. We have worked with challenging cases and supported our clients through all paths of their breastfeeding journeys.

  • Annmarie Vilkins, DO, MSc, FACOG is the Director of Obstetrics & Gynecology for Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. In this capacity, she provides oversight for service excellence, service recovery, and patient complaint resolution, along with serving on multiple system-wide committees as the Ob/Gyn physician lead for the hospital. She completed her Obstetrics & Gynecology residency at Boston Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts in 2017 and her fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery and Chronic Pelvic Pain at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2019. She is the associate program director of the Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at her institution and the Director for the Clinic for Chronic Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis. As a mom of two, she believes passionately in the community it takes to build and raise a family. By blending her medical expertise with personal experience, Dr. Vilkins serves as a foundational resource for members navigating the fourth trimester.

  • Board Certified Pediatrician

    Dr. Dani Wyzgoski, DO, FAAP is a board certified pediatrician that graduated from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2019 and completed residency in pediatric medicine at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in June of 2022. Currently, she is working in the metro Detroit community with 50% of her time spent in the outpatient pediatric world and the other 50% in the hospitalist role- mostly taking on newborn care, ER consultations, and inpatient admissions at a community hospital in West Bloomfield and Macomb Twp. She has a special interest in newborn care and breastfeeding education and is so excited to be a part of the Fourth Tri team. Dani lives in metro Detroit with her husband and 5 year old golden retriever- and is even expecting a little one of her own in December, just in time for Fourth Tri to open! Dani believes that, especially in the first few months of a baby’s life, the mother is as much of her patient as the newborn is and it is important to bridge the gap between discharge from the hospital and acclimating to this new role at home. She is passionate about supporting new mamas both inside the office and outside of the office as this cultivates an environment for our children to thrive and grow during the Fourth Trimester and beyond.

 

Apply to be an expert

We’re looking for experts to contribute to Fourth Tri curriculum. Submit the form below and a member of our team will be in touch.

B.Y.O.E

(bring your own expert)

Want to bring your lactation consultant, doula, or postpartum care team member to Fourth Tri?