Mindful Parenting

Monday, April 14. 2:00pm-3:30pm. Leo K Theater.

Description

Research illustrates that stress has a negative impact on the biological, social, and emotional health and well-being of parents and children. Mindful parenting programs can ameliorate the effects of stress and promote kind and compassionate family relationships. Join us to review research about the use of mindfulness and compassion to promote family health and well-being and review the basic practices of mindful parenting. Hear about the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting program which offers parents-to-be the opportunity to use the transformative time of pregnancy and childbirth to learn the practices of mindfulness and compassion for working with the stress, pain, and fear that are often a normal part of this profound journey into the unknown. Learn about Listening Mothers (for mothers of infants under one year of age) and the Reflective Parenting Program (for parents of toddlers and pre-schoolers) and how these programs improve the quality of attachment in familial relationships that leads to enhanced emotional intelligence in children. Participate in mindfulness activities that promote listening deeply and being present, which holds within it the seeds of empathy, feeling connected, feeling heard, and therefore able to hear others.

Presenter Bios 

Moderator: Larissa G. Duncan, PhD, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Larissa G. Duncan, PhD, is an Osher Research Fellow at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. At UCSF, Dr. Duncan is involved in research investigating the psychophysiological effects of mindfulness meditation with Drs. Susan Folkman and Judy Moskowitz, experts in stress, coping, and emotion, and she is collaborating with Nancy Bardacke, CNM, on a study of the effects of the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting education program on psychological and physical health and well-being across the transition from pregnancy through childbirth and early parenting/early childhood. Dr. Duncan received her PhD from the multidisciplinary program in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Greenberg, an expert in social-emotional aspects of child development. Dr. Duncan has expertise in lifespan developmental psychology, including biopsychosocial aspects of child development and parenting, and primary prevention. She is the co-developer of a mindfulness-based prevention program for families of young teens designed to teach parents skills to enhance their mindful parenting and foster empathy and compassion in their relationships with their children. Dr. Duncan developed a survey measure to study the ways in which mindful parenting may be associated with more positive parent-child relationships and optimal child development. 

Margaret Bergmann-Ness, Listening Mothers

Margaret Bergmann-Ness, MA, LICSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice in Seattle, Washington. She specializes in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum adjustment issues, and works with individuals as well as mother-baby dyads. She also facilitates Listening Mothers and Reflective Parenting Program groups. She received her Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration and her certificate in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy from COR Northwest Family Development Center’s Secure Beginnings Program. She has worked with expectant parents and new families in many additional capacities over the past eighteen years, including as a perinatal social worker for high-risk families, as a childbirth educator, and as a birth and postpartum doula. She is also employed as a DONA International-certified doula trainer by the Seattle Midwifery School. 

Betsy Rose, Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Betsy Rose is a singer, songwriter, educator and mother, whose songs of parenting and nurturing children capture the ordinary and extraordinary moments of early childhood. She is a frequent presenter at gatherings for parents and early childhood educators, presenting songs and experiential processes which re-awaken adults to the magic and spirit of the children whose lives they touch. Betsy has taught songwriting and singing for children in schools throughout the United States, and has spent the past twenty years developing and presenting song-based programs for children and adults, focusing on social issues such as conflict resolution, diversity, gender roles, ecology, and peace. She is Music Specialist at Cornell School in Albany, CA, and co-leads the family practice program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA . Betsy’s numerous recordings include Motherlight, songs of the journey of parenting, and Heart of a Child, featuring songs from her parenting and educator workshops. Her new release, Calm Down Boogie celebrates the joys of simple living, homespun happiness, earth care and family bonds.  

Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MA, Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP)

Nancy Bardacke, RN, CNM, MA is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, mindfulness teacher and the Founding Director of the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) Program. She completed her BS in Nursing in 1976 at UCSF, her Nurse-Midwifery training in 1981 at UCSF/SFGH and her Master’s Degree in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. A meditation practitioner since 1982, Ms. Bardacke attended Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Professional Trainings with Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD in 1994 and 1995 and the Teacher Development Intensive for Advanced Mindfulness Instructors through the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1999. In 1998, Ms. Bardacke began developing the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting Education Program and since then has taught courses and workshops to thousands of expectant parents and health care professionals locally and nationally. She joined the staff of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF Medical Center in 2007 and currently teaches the MBCP course there and in other Bay Area locations. Ms. Bardacke is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Health Care Nursing at UCSF.  

Malka Maizel, MA CMHS, Child and Family Therapist

Malka Appelbaum Maizel holds a Masters in Psychology degree from Seattle University and a PhD in Sociology and a Masters in Public Health, both from the University Of Washington. She is currently working at Catholic Community Services in Seattle and Kent as a Child and Family Therapist/Case Manager and she is certified as a Child Mental Health Specialist. As a consulting therapist for two Head Start preschools in Seattle, she offers consultation to teachers and parents on early childhood mental health issues and provides play therapy for young children who are struggling with emotional issues. She has led many Listening Mothers workshops and parenting classes, and is currently part of the team piloting the Reflective Parenting Workshops. She is trained in psychotherapy informed by attachment theory, existential psychology, child development, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Malka Appelbaum Maizel is dedicated to supporting parents in their quest to be nurturing and attuned to the emotional needs of their children, and their own needs as parents.