Speakers
Speakers
Helen Ball is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Infancy & Sleep Centre (DISC) at Durham University. She founded Basis, the Baby Sleep Information Source in 2012 as an outreach project of DISC, and was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further & Higher Education in 2018. Her research examines the sleep ecology of infants and their parents including attitudes and practices regarding infant sleep, behavioural and physiological interactions of infants and their parents during sleep, infant sleep development, and the discordance between cultural and biological sleep needs. She conducts research in hospitals, the community, and her lab, and she contributes to national and international policy and practice guidelines on infant care. She is a Board Member of ISPID (the International Society for the Study and Prevention of Infant Deaths), Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Lullaby Trust, Qualifications Board member for Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative, and Associate Editor for Sleep Health, journal of the US National Sleep Foundation.
Presentation: What’s new in infant sleep safety?
Dr. Rebecca Spencer is a Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and director of the Somneuro Lab at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Spencer earned a PhD in neuroscience at Purdue University and subsequently trained at the University of California, Berkeley as a research scientist. Dr. Spencer’s research examines sleep’s function across the lifespan. In particular, her research points to changes in sleep with development and aging and how these changes influence waking cognitive function. She has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, appearing in top journals such as Science and Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. She has received continuous funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation for the past 18 years.
Presentation: Understanding nap patterns and nap transitions in early childhood
Andrea is a trained Gentle and Holistic Sleep Consultant, coach, educator, and author. She did her training in a variety of programs including: Holistic Sleep Coaching, Gentle Sleep Coaching, Naturally Nurturing, Infant Sleep Education, CBT for Insomnia, and Sleep: Neurobiology & Society. She has an associates degree in Marriage and Family Studies, two certificates in Infant Mental Health and university certificates in Advanced Marriage and Family Functioning, Human Relations, and Home and Family.
Andrea has spent the past ten years training and mentoring Sleep Consultants and Night Coaches. She is an instructor in the UK-based Holistic Sleep Coach and Gentle Sleep Educator Programs, as well as the Child Sleep Institute's Sleep Strategies Toolkit. In 2020, Andrea founded the Sleep Coach Collective membership program, where she provides advanced training and mentorship for Sleep Consultants.
Andrea started her sleep practice in 2004 after supporting families as a Birth and Postpartum Doula. Since then, she has helped over 10,000 families get better sleep. She also has extensive hands-on experience working with babies throughout the night, which has given her unique learning experiences and perspectives. Andrea is the author of Gentle Night Weaning the Kinder Way, The Kinder Method, and co-author with Jen Varela of Loved to Sleep. Andrea is the Founder of the Child Sleep Institute and the Program Chair of the Sleeposium series of Sleep Conferences, now in their 5th year.
Presentation: Using Coaching Tools to Empower parents and enhance client experience
Maisie Ruttan is a heart centered and holistic sleep coach, with a specialization in working with toddlers, preschoolers and school-aged children.
She runs an international practice, providing both individualized and group support to families, helping them to gently and responsively parent their kids to sleep, without yelling, threats, bribes or sleep training.
Maisie is a Psychiatric Nurse, with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and spent many years educating and counselling families through sleep, mental health and behavioural difficulties before turning to private practice. She is multi-certified as a Holistic Sleep Coach, Infant Sleep Educator, and Peaceful Parenting Educator, with additional training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia, and Dr. Neufeld’s attachment-based developmental approach to making sense of kids. She lives on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada and is also the parent to twin boys - so she gets how overwhelming and exhausting it can all be!
Presentation: A Holistic & Developmental Lens for Viewing Behavioural Sleep Problems in Children
With multiple degrees in biology, nutrition and bodywork Carrie's relentless enthusiasm to learn has made her one of the leading educators in the emerging field of quantum biology. She combines deep research & clear explanations of the complex quantum mechanisms at play in the human body to teach you how to use light, water and nature to thrive. Carrie is a sought after speaker and guest lecturer. She currently sees clients in her online practice. She is also the lead faculty member and on the Board of Advisors for the Quantum Biology Collective- the world’s premier certification for Applied Quantum Biology in clinical practice.
Presentation: Using Light To Improve Sleep (plus Energy, Focus, Motivation and more!)
Kaili has always loved babies and children. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be a mother. Thanks to her multi-passionate entrepreneurial spirit she has created numerous online courses, is an international best-selling author, and empowers families to reduce the toxins in their lives by choosing natural alternatives. As the founder of Kaili Ets Family Wellness she is on a mission to reduce the overwhelm of motherhood, one mama and baby at a time. Kaili brings her extensive training and experience as a pediatric occupational therapist and her advanced certifications in pediatric sleep, reflux, and infant craniosacral therapy into her work with her clients. Her approach is developmentally driven, attachment-focused, and evidence informed with an emphasis on empowering mamas to courageously step into their confidence by tuning into and trusting their mama instincts. She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two children.
Presentation: How Sensory Processing Differences Can Affect Sleep - And What to Do About It
Macall has a master’s degree in Applied Psychology from Antioch University, Seattle with a research-based specialization in infant mental health, the development of emotional regulation, and parenting psychology. She also has a B.S. in Human Biology from Stanford University. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in the graduate Counseling Psychology program at Antioch University in Seattle.
She has conducted and presented research on temperament, sleep, and parenting advice at infant and child development conferences around the world. Her research includes a critical literature review on the use of extinction in infants under a year, and large parent surveys on experiences with sleep advice, the upsides of a “difficult” temperament, and the impact of temperament on parents’ experiences with sleep and sleep training.
She is a certified Gentle Sleep Coach in private practice as well as with the women’s telehealth platform, Maven Clinic. In her work, she has focused exclusively on working with parents of livewires (children who are alert, intense, persistent, perceptive, etc.). She has been featured on a variety of podcasts and recently on Parents.com. She has just completed a manuscript for an upcoming book on temperament and sleep.
She comes to this work because she had two livewires and she didn’t sleep for 18 years.
Presentation: How Temperament Affects Sleep, Sleep Coaching, and Everything Else