About API's Editorial Review Board
Attachment Parenting International's Editorial Review Board take a leading role in shaping future issues of The Attached Family, the quarterly print magazine and online magazine available free to API members.
Gena Kirby, member of API's Board of Directors
Gena Kirby is a wife, mother of two children, doula, and co-owner of Mommy Matters Maternity Boutique and Family Resource Center in Fresno, California. She is the creator and host of the radio show Progressive Parenting. She is turning the show into a live-streaming-video format, with the hopes of creating a television show. Her mission at Mommy Matters is to educate parents about gentle birth and to share the joys of parenthood with families using the principles of Attachment Parenting.
Picture courtesy of Present Photography.
Jan Hunt, MS
Child Psychologist & Director, The Natural Child Project
Wendy Middlemiss, PhD, Co-chair of API's Research Group & Editor of The Journal of API
Wendy Middlemiss received a PhD in Educational Psychology from Syracuse University in 1992. Presently she teaches and completes research at the University of North Texas in the Department of Educational Psychology. She moved here from Penn State University, Shenango, where she had taught in the department of Human Development and Family Studies. Her research has included work in parenting styles and children's competencies, parent education, and infant and toddler sleep habits and their impact on family and children's development. She is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development, the National Council on Family Relations, and the American Psychological Association. She is the mother of one son.
Barbara Nicholson, MEd, API Co-founder & member of API's Board of Directors and API's Research Group
Barbara Nicholson holds a master's degree in Education, specializing in learning disabilities. She has volunteered for over 20 years with La Leche League International, an educational and support organization for breastfeeding mothers. She is also trained as a facilitator in the Nurturing Parenting Program. Ms. Nicholson co-founded Attachment Parenting International in 1994.
She has spoken to a variety of groups -- including parent educators, psychology students, conference attendees, and juvenile probation officers -- about parenting as a prevention model for societal violence. Ms. Nicholson continues to work closely with API on fundraising and has served on the development committee for the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) Program at Vanderbilt University. Barbara is the mother of four adult sons and resides in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lysa Parker, MS, CFLE, API Co-founder/Director Emeritus & member of API's Board of Directors and API's Research Group
Lysa Parker has a master's degree in Human Development and Family Studies, is a Certified Family Life Educator (C.F.L.E.), and is a trained facilitator for the Nurturing Parenting Program. Ms. Parker is the co-founder of API and served as the Executive Director from 1994 to 2007. She managed program development and public relations and continues to speak to various groups and conferences about parenting as a prevention model for societal violence.
With a bachelor's degree in Education, specializing in special education, she taught in California, Tennessee, and Alabama during her 20-year career, working with children with multiple handicaps and/or learning disabilities. Other experience includes several years of volunteer work with La Leche League International, a nonprofit organization that provides breastfeeding education and support, and as an API Support Group Leader.
She is the mother of two adult sons and an adult stepdaughter and grandmother to twin grandsons. She lives with her husband in Madison, Alabama. Lysa Parker is available for private consultations, personal parent coaching sessions, workshops, and speaking engagements.
Judy Sanders, member of API's Board of Directors
Judy connected with La Leche League in 1965 and has been involved ever since, serving in many ways, including time on the LLLI Board of Directors. Judy and her husband, Gordy, raised five children: Rick, Dave, Kathleen, John, and Maria. She cannot imagine who they all would have been without the loving philosophy of LLL woven into their family. Twelve grandchildren enrich her life. She delights in seeing her children and their spouses matter-of-factly and lovingly parenting their unique families.
Judy edited Northwest Baby & Child, a Seattle newspaper for families with babies and small children. She has worked as a professional actress and produced vocal concerts. Among her volunteer work she served as a court-appointed special advocate for abused and neglected children. Judy lives in Seattle and exchanges grins with babies whenever possible.
Martha Sears, RN, member of API's Advisory Council
Martha, wife of renowned pediatrician William Sears, MD, is the mother of eight children, a registered nurse, a former childbirth educator, a La Leche League Leader, and a lactation consultant.
Martha is the co-author of 25 parenting books and is a popular lecturer and media guest, drawing on her 18 years of breastfeeding experience with her 8 children (including Stephen with Down Syndrome and Lauren, her adopted daughter).
Martha speaks frequently at national parenting conferences and is noted for her advice on how to handle the most common problems facing today's mothers with their changing lifestyles. Martha is able to connect with both full-time mothers and mothers who work full-time, because she herself has experienced both styles of parenting. Martha takes great pride in referring to herself as a "professional mother," and one of her favorite quips when someone voices their concern about her having eight children in an already populated world is: "The world needs my children."
Martha and Dr. Bill have been guests on over 100 television shows including 20/20, Donahue, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS This Morning, CNN, The Today Show, Dateline, and, most recently, The Dr. Phil Show, where they are regular guests. Martha and Dr. Bill are best known for their Sears Parenting Library published by Little Brown: The Pregnancy Book, The Birth Book, The Baby Book, The Discipline Book, The Breastfeeding Book, The Fussy Baby Book, The A.D.D. Book, The Family Nutrition Book, The Premature Baby Book, The Baby Sleep Book, and The Healthiest Kid In The Neighborhood.
Pamela Stone
Pamela Stone formerly served several positions within API on the organization level, including Managing Director and Interim Executive Director and Interim Editor of the Journal of API. She continues to serve as a co-leader for API of Merrimack Valley, NH. Pamela and her husband have three children.
Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC, member of API's Resource Advisory Council
Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist specializing in women's health and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is a Research Associate at the Family Research Lab and an Affiliate Research Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire.
She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in both the Divisions of Health Psychology and Trauma Psychology. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a La Leche League Leader, chair of the New Hampshire Breastfeeding Taskforce, and the Area Coordinator of Leaders for La Leche League of Maine and New Hampshire.
Dr. Kendall-Tackett is author of more than 160 journal articles, book chapters, and other publications, and author or editor of 16 books including The Hidden Feelings of Motherhood (Hale Publications, 2005), Depression in New Mothers (Haworth, 2005), and Breastfeeding Made Simple, co-authored with Nancy Mohrbacher (New Harbinger, 2005). She is on the editorial boards of the journals Child Abuse and Neglect, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, and the Journal of Human Lactation, and regularly reviews for 27 other journals in the fields of trauma, women's health, interpersonal violence, depression, and child development.
Dr. Kendall-Tackett received her bachelor's and master's degrees in Psychology from California State University, Chico, and a PhD from Brandeis University in Social and Developmental Psychology. She has won several awards, including the Outstanding Research Study Award from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, and was named 2003 Distinguished Alumna, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, California State University, Chico.
Samantha Gray
Samantha Gray is API's Executive Director, and is API's Interim Business and Communications Coordinators.
Beyond API, she is a leader for La Leche League of Bristol, TN/VA, and is a parent educator for the Nurturing Program, and Guiding Good Choices and Supporting School Success curriculums. She and her husband have three children.
Rita Brhel, coordinator
Rita Brhel is the editor of The Attached Family and is API's Publications Coordinator. She is a co-leader for API of Lincoln, NE, and an API Resource Leader for Nebraska.
Beyond API, she is a peer counselor with the Sidelines High Risk Pregnancy Support Network, and is training to be a peer counselor with Postpartum Support International and the International Cesarean Awareness Network. She and her husband have two children.
