HUG TRAINERS
BENEDETTA COSTA PT, CHT
Benedetta founded the Italian Association of Infant Massage (A.I.M.I.) in 1989 to help parents learn the power of infant massage to connect with their newborn. She has worked tirelessly to grow this program to its current 9,000-person membership. Benedetta is a physical therapist with 20 years’ experience working with NICU parents and babies in Genoa, Italy. Benedetta has presented HUG Your Baby workshops in Italy and Switzerland and distributes the Italian HUG DVD. Read about The HUG in Italy!
Email: benecost@gmail.com
VONDA GATES,BSN,ICCE,ICD, CHT
Vonda has been a childbirth educator since 1989 and was one of the first 20 DONA-certified birth doulas. Vonda stays busy as an approved childbirth educator and birth doula trainer for the International Childbirth Educators Association (ICEA) and has been recognized as a Mother-Friendly Nurse. She is a frequent international speaker and has enjoyed several teaching trips to China. Vonda has special training and experience with adult learning and is sharing this expertise at the first Evidence Based Birth (EBB) Conference.
Email: vonda@birthbasics.org
BARBARA HOTELLING,MSN,CHT
Barbara has worked as a postpartum home visiting nurse, nursing instructor, doula and childbirth educator for decades. A published author, she has served as president of Lamaze and DONA, and worked as a CIMS site evaluator. She has been honored by Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing, Nurses’ Education Funds Scholarship, and Mother-Friendly Nurse Recognition. She is currently a clinical instructor at Duke School of Nursing, where she was named “Clinical Instructor of the Year.”
Email: barbara@hotelling.net
ELLY KRIJNEN, RN, IBCLC, CHT
Elly has decades of experience caring for young families and training nurses, midwives, lactation consultants, and kraamverzorgenden (similar to postpartum doulas) in Holland. As a mother of three (now grown and thriving) NICU babies, she is especially attentive to the concerns of families with premature babies. Elly works as a private lactation consultant and is co-owner of “Baby en Borst” (Baby and Breast), a charming store and educational center in Almere. Read about The HUG in Holland.
Email: info@babyenborst.nl
CAMILLE SMITH, MS, ED.D, CPD, CHT
Camille is an educational psychologist who was trained in the Brazelton NBAS exam and the APIB. She worked previously with NICU families and then at the CDC designing curricula for interventions with parents. Camille is co-author of the Essential Package of Health and Developmental Services (EP) – an HIV parenting intervention resource used internationally. She is a postpartum doula and looks forward to helping professionals integrate HUG Your Baby into their work.
Email: dcamillesmith@protonmail.com
JAN TEDDER, BSN, FNP, IBCLC, CHT
Jan, creator of HUG Your Baby, has worked in primary care and breastfeeding support for decades. She has published in six peer-reviewed journals, created numerous online courses, and shared this work with professionals around the world. Honored as a member of Sigma Theta Tau, Jan has received a number of nursing awards, including the NC “Maternal Child Nurse of the Year” and the ANA’s “Individual Nurse Innovator 2020.” She currently offers lactation consultations and mentors IBCLC and nursing students.
Email: jan@hugyourbaby.org
GALE TOUGER, BSN, FNP, IBCLC, CHT
Gale became the first HUG Your Baby Trainer. She studied at Boston University, Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, and has worked in primary care settings for more than thirty years. Gale was honored as the NC Nurse Practitioner of the Year, received the Barbara Bennett Peer Assistance Award, and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society. Gale is certified in Brazelton’s Touchpoints and the Brazelton Center’s CLNBAS teaching exam (now known as the NBO). She currently integrates The HUG into her work as a lactation consultant in private practice.
Email: gale@touger.net
Taeshaun Walters, MPH, Doula, CHT
“Tae” has focused her professional career on the complex public health problems that affect women, children, and families and is completing her MPH with special attention to diversity and equity issues. Certified as a Lactation Counselor (CLC), birth doula, parent/family educator, Certified HUG Teacher, and soon-to-be IBCLC, Tae has served a wide range of families in both community programs and private practice for thirteen years. With new skills acquired during her graduate studies, she plans to add program and policy development to her work with, and for, families for decades to come.
Email: taeshaunwalters@gmail.com
OUTREACH
Tim Alwran
Tim is a former Media Sales Executive with over thirty years of sales, marketing and public relations experience. Most recently he spent eighteen years with Disney/ABC Television Group. Tim’s interest in HUG Your Baby stems from his days as a young father, when he learned to understand the importance of the partner role and education needed to support a breastfeeding mom.