Resource Advisory Council

Dr. Gregory Popcak

Executive Director of Pastoral Solutions Institute

Dr. Gregory Popcak (POP-chak) is the Founder and Executive Director of the Pastoral Solutions Institute, an organization dedicated to helping Catholics find faith-filled solutions to tough marriage, family, and personal problems. The author of almost 20 popular books & programs integrating solid Catholic theology and counseling psychology (including; Just Married: The Catholic Guide for Surviving & Thriving in the First 5 years of Marriage, For Better...FOREVER!, Holy Sex!, Parenting with Grace, Beyond the Birds and the Bees), Dr. Popcak is an expert on the practical applications of Pope John Paul the Great's Theology of the Body.

Through the Pastoral Solutions Institute, he directs a group pastoral tele-counseling practice that provides over 8000 hours/years of ongoing pastoral psychotherapy services to Catholic couples, individuals, and families around the world. Since 2001, he and his wife and co-author, Lisa Popcak, have hosted several nationally-syndicated, call-in radio advice programs including Heart, Mind and Strength (Ave Maria Radio), Fully Alive! (Sirius/XM-The Catholic Channel), and most recently, More2Life (Ave Maria Radio--Airing M-F, Noon-1pm Eastern). They have also hosted two television series for EWTN (For Better...FOREVER! & God Help Me!). In addition to hosting Faith on the Couch, a popular faith and psychology blog on Patheos.com, Dr. Popcak's articles appear regularly in periodicals such as Catholic Digest, Family Foundations, Tender Tidings, Columbia, and others, and his work has been featured on FoxNews, NPR's Here and Now, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Ladies Home Journal, and The National Enquirer. Dr. Greg Popcak and Lisa Popcak are sought after public speakers and trainers and have been honored to address audiences across North America, as well as Australia, and Hong Kong.

In addition to his ministry work, Dr. Popcak serves on the adjunct faculty of both the undergraduate psychology and graduate theology departments at Franciscan University of Steubenville where he teaches Spirituality and the Helping Professions and Pastoral and Spiritual Direction respectively. He also serves on the doctoral faculty of the Harold Abel School of Behavioral Health in the department of clinical social work at Capella University where he teaches Epistemology of Clinical Practice

Maria Giangiulio Blois, MD

Maria Giangiulio Blois, MD, lives in Texas with her husband, Erik, and their four children: Giovannina (8), Alanson (6), Lukas (2) and baby Julia (new!). She graduated from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She is the author of Babywearing: The Benefits and Beauty of This Ancient Tradition. Wearing her own babies has provided her with the passion and curiosity to pursue this subject. Dr. Blois lectures across the country about responsive parenting and babywearing to parents as well as medical professionals. She can often times be found wearing her own baby as she speaks. Dr. Blois also volunteers as a La Leche League Leader, providing information and support for women who choose to breastfeed. Learn more at www.drmariablois.com.

Raffi Cavoukian

Troubadour

Raffi Cavoukian, founder of Child Honouring, is a renaissance man known to millions simply as Raffi: a renowned Canadian troubadour, record producer, systems thinker, author, entrepreneur, and ecology advocate, once called "the most popular children's singer in the English-speaking world" (Washington Post).

President of Troubadour Music, among the most successful independent record labels, Raffi was a pioneer in music for children and families: his CDs, tapes, videos, and DVDs have sold over 14 million copies in Canada and the US, and his books, more than 3 million copies. A generation saw him in concert and grew up singing "Down by the Bay" and Raffi's signature song "Baby Beluga." "Beluga grads" often tell him that they're now raising their own kids with his songs.

In his three-decade career, Raffi has refused all commercial endorsement offers, and his triple-bottom-line company has never directly advertised or marketed to children. Raffi has now become a "global troubadour," lecturing and networking to help create a viable future: a restorative, child-friendly world for ourselves and for those to come. His original philosophy, Child Honouring, is gaining support among eminent thinkers as a holistic organizing principle for a culture of peace. His Covenant for Honouring Children is widely circulated among child development, education, ecological economics, and environmental health circles.

Raffi has published Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around, Resisto Dancing: Songs of Compassionate Revolution, and Raffi Renaissance. With these works, Raffi Cavoukian comes to the world stage as a catalyst for change at a defining point in human history - with an idea whose time has come.

Beth Nielsen Chapman

Singer-Songwriter

Renowned for her pure, powerful songwriting and clear voice, Beth Nielsen Chapman has become one of the most distinctive portrayers of resilience and human vulnerability with an astoundingly diverse and extensive array of songwriting credits.

She has penned hits and written tunes for some very prominent artists whose styles span country, pop, folk, blues, and jazz, such as Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, Andy Bey, and Ute Lempter, including the Grammy-nominated, ground-breaking smash for Faith Hill's "This Kiss," (Chapman/Roboff/Lerner).

Chapman's songs have also been featured on numerous television shows and movies. Throughout her career, Beth has been in demand as a teacher of workshops on creativity, songwriting, grief, and healing through art. The combination of her life experience and her guided tours through the unconscious provide a unique, inspiring approach to the creative process.

Barbara Clinton, MSW

Private Consultant

Barbara Clinton is the former director of the Center for Health Services at Vanderbilt University. As director, Clinton supported community health efforts and linked disadvantaged groups to the university's resources. Clinton was founding director of the Center's award-winning Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker program, which mobilizes women in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and West Virginia to implement local child development programs. This program was recently honored by the World Health Organization.

Clinton served as an adjunct assistant professor in the Vanderbilt University Schools of Medicine and Nursing. She has served as an advisor to former Vice President Al Gore, as well as to the Tennessee Commission on Aging, the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, the Appalachian Rural Science Initiative of the National Science Foundation, and several private foundations.

Her work has been recognized with the Families Count Award of the Annie E Casey Foundation and the Oscar van Leer award. She was recently honored with the Mary Jane Werthan Award of Vanderbilt University for her "inspiring and visionary impact on the lives of women at Vanderbilt and beyond."

Reedy Hickey

International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)

Reedy Hickey is a La Leche League Leader and Area Professional Liaison for La Leche League of Georgia, and is on the Board of Directors for AnotherLook, as well as API. She is the mother of a daughter and son-in-law, a son, and foster mother to 32 foster babies as they awaited adoption, one at a time. She has practiced Attachment Parenting with all of these children.

Bill Corbett, CPE

Author & President of Cooperative Kids

Bill Corbett is the author of the "Love, Limits, and Lessons" program and President of Cooperative Kids. He provides parent education courses and training for parents and professionals and certifies instructors around the globe to teach the material.

Bill is a professional speaker and writer whose syndicated column on discipline appears in parenting publications in many states across the country. He has three grown children and two grandchildren and lives with his wife Elizabeth in Enfield, Connecticut.

Mary Elizabeth Curtner-Smith, PhD, CFLE

Associate Professor, University of Alabama

Dr. Mary Elizabeth Curtner-Smith received her PhD from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in Child Development and Family Relations with a doctoral minor in Psychology. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies where she serves as co-coordinator of the Developmental Science concentration in the Psychology PhD program.

Her primary research focuses on how parent-child relationships influence children's development, especially children's peer aggression and social competence.

A second but related area of research interest is in parents' disciplinary practices. Dr. Curtner-Smith teaches graduate courses in Parent-Child Interactions and Children of Divorce and is certified as a Family Life Educator by the National Council on Family Relations.

Kathy Gieseke, BS Ed

Chief Financial Officer, Core Technologies

Kathy Diaz is the Chief Financial Officer of, LLC, DBA Core Technologies. She has been a co-owner of the Informational Technology firm for the past 13 years.

Kathy is a founding member of Attachment Parenting International, has served on API's Board of Directors since 1997, and joined the Resource Advisory Council in 2006. She previously dedicated her time to Le Leche League International as an LLL Leader for eight years and has served on the Board of Directors for the Bahá'ís of Nashville since 1988.

Kathy has wonderful experience with children as she has three of her own, ages 28, 25, and 23, and a beautiful seven-year-old granddaughter. All of her children were breastfed, two were birthed at home, and all were home schooled for six years.

Don Henry

Singer-Songwriter

Grammy Award winner Don Henry's songs have been recorded by legends like Ray Charles, Patti Page, and Conway Twitty, by country crooners like Gene Watson, John Conlee, and B.J. Thomas, and by young hit makers of today like Blake Shelton, Lonestar, and Kathy Mattea.

The wit and wisdom of Don's songs are widely renowned, whether it's campfire favorites, the hilarious "B.F.D." and biker lullaby "Harley," the wonderfully poignant tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., "Beautiful Fool," and, of course, the Grammy Award-winning country classic "Where've You Been."

In addition to a Grammy, Kathy Mattea's version of "Where've You Been" won Don (and co-writer Jon Vezner) "Song of the Year" honors from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association, and the Nashville Songwriters Association International. "Where've You Been" was the first song to be awarded all four honors in the same year!

Don has recorded three albums so far: "Wild in the Backyard" (1991), "Live at The Bluebird" (2001), and "Flowers & Rockets" (2001).

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC

Author

Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and the Owner and Editor-in-Chief of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Lactation, Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology, President of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology, and Editor-in-Chief-elect of Psychological Trauma. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Amarillo, Texas and Research Associate at the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
Dr. Kendall-Tackett specializes in women's-health research including breastfeeding, depression, trauma, and health psychology. Her research interests include the psychoneuroimmunology of maternal depression and the lifetime health effects of trauma. Dr. Kendall-Tackett has won several awards for her work including the 2013 Outstanding Research Poster Award from the U.S. Lactation Consultant Association, the 2011 Community Faculty Award from the Department of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University School of Medicine, and the 2011 John Kennell and Marshall Klaus Award for Excellence in Research from DONA International (with co-recipient, Tom Hale). She has authored more than 390 articles or chapters and is the author or editor of 24 books on maternal depression, family violence and breastfeeding. Her most recent books include: Psychology of Trauma 101 (2014), The Science of Mother-Infant Sleep (2013), Depression in New Mothers, 2nd Edition (2010), The Psychoneuroimmunology of Chronic Disease (2010), Trauma & Physical Health (2009), and How to Write for a General Audience (2007). She is also co-author (with Nancy Mohrbacher) of Breastfeeding Made Simple, 2nd Edition (2010). A full listing of her books is available at UppityScienceChick.com, BreastfeedingMadeSimple.com, KathleenKendall-Tackett.com, and PraeclarusPress.com.

Rod Kochtitsky, MDiv

A pastoral counselor and psychotherapist with more than 25 years of experience, Rod Kochtitzky (Kuh tit skee) specializes in counseling couples on marriage and relationship issues.

Rod serves couples seeking healing, growth, change, renewal, and enhancement of their relationships through his private counseling practice and through a series of workshops scheduled throughout the year.

Rod has been involved with API as either a board member or Advisory Board member since 1993. Please see Rod's Web site for more information.

Minda Lazarov

Honorary RAC Member - (d. 2012)

Minda Lazarov was a nutritionist whose professional career spanned a variety of positions with government and private nonprofit organizations serving low income families.

She served in several positions with the Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), including coordinator of the Tennessee Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance and Breastfeeding Promotion Programs and chair of a national committee to address the low rates of breastfeeding among women enrolled in WIC. Ms. Lazarov helped launch the U.S. Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) for the US Committee for UNICEF and Wellstart International. She also served as Director of the Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) Program for the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services form 1999 to 2006.

Please read API's tribute to Minda's life and work for families.

Carlotta Crawford, CNM

Wendy Goldstein

Dorothy Marcic

Author, Playwright, Professor and US Ambassador

Dr. Dorothy Marcic is a playwright, professor at Columbia University, and a former professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Economics-Prague, teaching MBA students and practicing managers.

She served as advisor to the US Ambassador of the Czech Republic and was a delegate to both the United Nations Economic and Social Develop Summit in Copenhagen and the UN Commission on the Status of Women, as well as consulting with Ford Motor company, Hewlett-Packard, US Department of State, Bell Labs/AT&T, USAA Insurance and many others.

She is the author of 15 books, including the best-selling Understanding Management, Managing with the Wisdom of Love,Love Lift Me Higher, and RESPECT: Women and Popular Music, which was based on her qualitative content-analysis research of how women are depicted in the lyrics of Top-40 music. Using this research data, Dr. Marcic wrote two hit musicals: RESPECT, which has played 2600 performances in 32 cities to one million audience members/ticket buyers; and SISTAS, which was nominated as Best New Musical on Off-Broadway and has played Off-Broadway for two years.

Lisa Reagan

On a Mother (of a) Quest for 15 years as a journalist, activist and nonprofit visionary, Lisa Reagan explores the space between our unsustainable industrial story and the emerging story of what is possible for Cultural Creative families – who are leading the way forward.
Lisa is a co-founder of the nonprofit, Families for Conscious Living and the executive editor of, Kindred. Her vision of serving Cultural Creative families is currently carried forward through nonprofit collaborations and over 300 international Pathways Connect Gathering Groups sponsored by the award-winning, conscious living magazine, Pathways to Family Wellness.
Lisa shares her personal stories of shifting in features, such as Spiritual Composting, in Kindred. In her presentations at conferences and workshops, she inspires parents to look toward Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, for guidance on transforming themselves as a path to transforming our unsustainable culture.
Her Kindred Fireside Chats and interviews with conscious living leaders, like Deepak Chopra, MD; Paul Ray, PhD; Marilyn Schlitz, PhD; Thom Hartmann; Joseph Chilton Pearce and others, continue to forge the new story of holistic family wellness at a time when the United States ranks dead last for infant, child and maternal wellness among its 40 industrial nation peers. You can watch her video interviews on Kindred’s Vimeo and You Tube Channels. Listen to her interviews and teleconferences with Dr. Lauren Feder, president of the Holistic Pediatric Alliance, here.
Lisa is featured in the upcoming film documentary, The Love Bomb. Her forthcoming books share her 15 year adventure exploring the conscious living movement.

Chris Wink

The Blue Man Group

Chris Wink, like a lot of students, didn't know where his life was headed, but had a variety of interests and loved to learn. Realizing, however, that learning wasn't a career to sustain life, he started feeling the undeniable pressure to make money. Unfortunately, Chris didn't receive much encouragement to follow what he calls the 'bliss path'. Chris was faced with this challenge to either choose a career that would make him money, also making him unhappy, or to go down the bliss path. With very little, he started the Blue Man Group with his two other friends. This life wasn't about the awards, the fame, or the achievements, but the day-to-day process of preparing for a show and doing what he loves to do with his friends, walking down his 'bliss path.'

Linda Storm

Linda’s degree in elementary/special education gave her skills in teaching and also in writing detailed lesson plans. She put those skills to use as a new mom. She designed the items she wanted in her nursery and then wrote and published her pattern books. Linda is a natural problem solver and wanted to make life easier for parents and babies.

As her children were leaving for college, she learned about infant massage. She began teaching parents to massage their babies in 1999. She taught 3 classes a week for over 2 years until she became a trainer with the International Association of Infant Massage – Sweden. As a trainer she has conducted hundreds of workshops and trained over 1000 educators across the United States as well as in Korea in the United Kingdom. She has written numerous articles, presented workshops at National Conferences such as the Early Head Start, Birth to Three Conference, the National Training Institute for Zero to Three and Prevent Child Abuse America.

In March of 2005, with the creation of Infant Massage USA, she became the Executive Director.