About Our Faculty
Kimberly Bepler, (ICPE, PCD, CPD, CLE) instructor for our Postpartum Doula Training Workshop, has been working with postpartum families for over 7 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 the Oregon State doula trainer for CAPPA. She resides in Wilsonville with her husband of 14 years, and a lively son (Ariah, 7) and busy daughter (Kaielle, 2) that keep her humble.
Madrona Bourdeau CPM, LDM lives her life with intention and compassion as a practicing midwife for almost thirty years. She has a daughter, Shoshana, who brought her into birth in 1976, and two sons - Nathaniel (born in 1987) and Avram (born in 1989), both born at home. She finds that her love for birth and midwifery has continued to grow and she loves holding the space for families as they go through the passage of birth. Madrona teaches about apprenticeships and the spirituality of birth at Birthingway and will be teaching Gynecology in the fall. She runs A Woman’s Point of View Midwifery in NE Portland and is an avid knitter and spinner - she can almost always be found working on a knitting project.
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 are 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 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.
Shelly Clevidence, ND, LMT was first introduced to midwifery when she helped deliver a baby alpaca in her mother's backyard. She has been a huge fan of homebirths ever since. She has two sons (Emmett, 6, and Reuben, 2) whose births were attended by midwives. Shelly teaches to varying learning styles and brings the material to life through creative visualization, metaphor and anecdote. When she's not teaching at Birthingway, Shelly enjoys working in her primary care naturopathic and homeopathic medicine practice, playing with her family, canoeing, skiing, hiking and visiting family and friends in far places.
Kathryn Constant, MLS, a practitioner of Buddhism, brings a Zen like spirit to our library where she resides as Library Goddess. She is gentle, kind, and greatly compassionate towards our students. She strives to make our library live up to it's full potential and we are grateful to have someone with their Masters of Library Sciences “birth” our library into its present incarnation. Kathryn also acts as the student research consultant. She teaches Understanding Statistics in Medical Literature, Research Methods, and draws rave reviews for her Birth Stories in Life and Literature course. She is known for making research and statistics very user-friendly.
Jamilyn Daniels, MS, CGC, has been a genetic counselor for over 12 years. She has worked in all areas of clinical genetics including prenatal, pediatric, adult, and cancer genetics. In pursuing a change to non-clinical work she has joined Birthingway and is enjoying learning to teach her skills to the students. Jamilyn loves traveling all over the world as well as staying home with a good book.
Adrienne Fuson, LMT, CD, brings more than eleven years of birth doula experience to her position as Birthingway's labor doula instructor. 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 eight 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 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 an instructor again! She now teaches Basic Skills and Infancy. She lives with her two amazing children and enjoys knitting, playing board games, singing karaoke, eating sushi, listening to music, and going to concerts in between attending births and appointments.
Ann Holland, N.D., M.S.O.M., L.Ac. is a Naturopathic physician and licensed acupuncturist practicing family medicine out of a clinic in her home. In addition to teaching Plant Medicine and Botany at Birthingway, she teaches Chinese herbs at her alma mater, the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. She loves to share her passion about plants and strives to make her courses very hands-on and down-to-earth. Before settling down in Portland, she was a bit of a wanderer, living all over the U.S. and abroad, apprenticing with herbalists, farming, working as a cook and baker, and just learning to live simply and sustainably. She now lives in a home with her life partner, Mindy, their dog, cat, and two chickens. Ann is also crazy for Latin dance.
Celeste Kersey,CPM, LDM is passionate about living consciously. She 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.
Deborah Kettle, M.Div., teaches Ethics for Midwives. She received her Master’s of Divinity in June of 2005 and will receive her Ph.D. in Psychology in June 2008. Deborah is a counselor and case manager at Homestreet-Banyan Tree where she works with chronically mentally ill clients. She also has a private practice called Life Patterns Consulting. Her dissertation reflects her passion for empowering women; How Women’s Spiritual Role Models Impact their Self-Esteem. Her hope is to help women heal, especially disempowered mothers, by teaching them how their own and their children’s self-esteem is impacted by the role models they choose.
Ellie Legare, CPM, LDM is one of the core midwifery instructors here at Birthingway. She has been with this college for many years and is one of the student's favorite teachers. She is an excellent instructor for Basic Skills, Gynecology, and Hematology and loves to teach. She runs a private midwifery practice from her home called Right at Home Midwifery and she is passionate about bringing babies joyfully into this world.
Bonnie McAnnis is a licensed massage therapist in private practice who instructs our students in massage for pregnant women. Her course is very popular and the students all agree to the benefits of this education. Bonnie also teaches Infancy and Anatomy & Physiology which is a prerequisite for entrance into the school. Because Bonnie has been with Birthingway and in fact was a member of the first class, she provides a great introduction to our educational system.
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.
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 has 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.
Rhonda Ray has been a practicing midwife since 1979. She was an instructor at Birthingway from 1994-1999 and is now returning to teach Basic Skills and has since been hired as the new Student Affairs Coordinator. She 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 Childbirth Education, International Midwifery, and Midwifery Culture here at Birthingway. She has a BA in history and political science and a Masters Degree in American History. Nichole is also the Auxiliary Programs Coordinator at Birthingway and loves to talk to everyone about our Labor Doulas, Childbirth Education, Lactation Consultants and upcoming women's herbal healing programs. 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 10 and 7. She loves the Beatles, chocolate, motherhood, cooking and gardening, and now she knits too!
Julie Shiprack has her BA in International Studies and has traveled extensively in both Mexico and South America. She is also a practicing midwife catching over 150 babies, primarily to Mexican women, as she worked at Maternidad La Luz for several years prior to moving to Oregon. Because she is an experienced midwife and speaks Spanish, Birthingway is very lucky to have her teaching Spanish for Midwives. Julie is dynamic and joyous and brings great spirit and heart to her instruction.
Holly Scholles, MA, CPM, LDM is a midwife with a tiny practice and an anthropologist specializing in human reproduction and medical anthropology. Holly is both founder and president of Birthingway College of Midwifery. She teaches core theory courses and several supplemental classes.
Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC has her Masters in Community Health Education, and is a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She has been working with breastfeeding families since 1992. She has experience providing home visits, and working in a hospital setting and providing lactation training for a variety of health care professionals. She teaches both of our Breastfeeding courses, and is an active member of the Nursing Mothers Counsel of Oregon, the Oregon Washington Lactation Association, and the International Lactation Consultant Association. Dixie is a dedicated professional working for the improvement of women and children's lives especially in underserved communities.