2023 ACBP Conference and Pre-Conference Speakers

I began serving expectant families in 1989 as a childbirth educator, doula, and lactation counselor in Virginia Beach, VA, where I served hundreds of families. During that time, I received some midwifery training and education and worked for ten years with a dedicated group of citizens to help successfully legalize direct-entry midwifery in Virginia. After moving to Florida in 2007, I decided to complete all the requirements to become a Florida licensed midwife and Certified Professional Midwife and I graduated from  “Commonsense Childbirth School of Midwifery”.

I am also fulfilling a dream to improve maternity care and birth outcomes around the world as the executive director of “Charis Childbirth”, an international school for midwives, childbirth educators, doulas, and lactation counselors that I founded in January of 2003.My husband Todd and I have four homeschooled children, two grown and two still at home, and three grandchildren. My first baby was born in the hospital in 1987, the last three were all born safely and peacefully at home with midwives (two born in the water).

The Community Health Clinic currently serves 1600 patients per year with special healthcare needs related to genetic conditions. As a medical home for patients and families with complex genetic conditions, our team of health professionals works hard to help patients and their families get the needed medical care for the best possible health outcomes.

The CHC offers many services including Newborn Screening Follow-Up, Clinical Genetics, Genetic Counseling, Laboratory Monitoring, Dietitian Services, Financial Counseling, and more. Click on the pictures below to learn more about the many services offered at the CHC.

Bobbi has been a nurse midwife and women’s health nurse practitioner since 2000. She has a BSN from BGSU and a certificate in Midwifery and Women’s Health Practitioner from Frontier University in Hyden, KY. She also received her Master’s in Midwifery from the University of Philadelphia in 2001.

Bobbi has been married 27 years to Don and they reside in Montpelier, Ohio. They have 2 daughters, Kaitlyn and Kelsey. Their family attends Life Changing Realities Fellowship at both locations: Edgerton and Angola. There she serves in the Café as a Champion and is active in the development of the women’s ministry, Treasured. She assists women in health care needs full-time in Angola, Indiana at Cameron OB/GYN.

Stephen Griffith has worked as a budtender, and in sales, and directly with the community in a licensed dispensary helping the consumer to pick the product that works best for their needs. Being a budtender or worker in the marijuana (cannabis) field does not mean they consume all of the products.  That is a damaging assumption many consumers make. Products change often in this growing industry, and keeping up with that change to best help the consumer is a goal Stephen has.

Many consumers want to use the product for one or more of the following:  pain, seizures, anxiety, insomnia, arthritis, and even help with other addictions to get the person thru that addiction.  and other ailments, but do not know what they should use.  Many of those do not wish to smoke a joint!  His job is to help you find the product that is best for you with the emphasis on healing or helping you to have the best active life for a quality life.

The pressure to keep up with these changing strains and products is immense.  Often the cost to do so would not pay to educate the employees.  Stephen has made it a goal to do his own research as much and as more than the ‘on job training’ he has received so he can help the consumer.

Cannabis sativa contains many active compounds (remember GOD made the plant!) the best known are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).

Information will be presented in an easy-to-understand manner for those of us who may have a client use Cannabis.

Kirsten lives in rural NE Indiana with her husband and five children. She began her studies in 2010 at a local DONA training seminar and has completed her certification through Birth Arts International. She has attended births and feels confident in all settings; hospital (medicated and non-medicated), free-standing birthing center, and home. Kirsten also has personal experience with infertility and loss, which brings a unique understanding to the journey that lies ahead. She feels the experience of bringing life into this world is a sacred and life changing event that every parent will remember for the rest of their life. Her goals are to provide the information and resources you need to make the best decisions for your birth. She respects your wishes and will support you in these choices.

More information to come.