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Alissa McKown and
Cynthia Jordan Fisher |
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Nearby Baby's mission is to provide quality postpartum support to families with a newborn in the Charlottesville area, regardless of their ability to pay. Nearby Baby also developed a training curriculum to train Postpartum Doulas to expand their reach in the community. This customized curriculum incorporates Montessori principles and methods. Join Alissa Mckown as she has a conversation with her mentor, Cynthia Fisher about her inspiration for founding a non-profit and developing a training curriculum and how a Montessori approach supports new families and communities.
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Alissa is certified at the Assistants to Infancy level and has worked with Toddlers and their families for over 10 years in Parent-Infant classes, in the Toddler classroom, as a virtual teacher with Guidepost Montessori, and as a Postpartum Doula. She also trained with Judi Orion in Autogenic Respiratory Training, a relaxation technique for childbirth. She serves on the board of the VMA. Alissa met Cynthia when she attended Cynthia’s “Montessori Mornings” program with her daughter and a few years later she was trained and mentored by Cynthia as a Postpartum Doula and joined her efforts at Nearby Baby as a Doula and Advisory Board Member.
Cynthia Jordan Fisher is a graduate of Silvana Montanaro's AMI Assistants to Infancy program's second graduating class, in 1985. After giving birth to her first child in 1986, Cynthia supported mothers in their homes as a Child Development Specialist in Hawaii. She has been working with families in Charlottesville since 1996 where she began teaching Montessori parent child classes for parents with newborns - age 3 through her program Babies by the Blue Ridge. A DONA certified postpartum doula, Cynthia has been working to develop the Charlottesville nonprofit Nearby Baby.org for the past three years and training women interested in being postpartum doulas, from a Montessori perspective. She has two daughters and five grandchildren.
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Alissa is certified at the Assistants to Infancy level and has worked with Toddlers and their families for over 10 years in Parent-Infant classes, in the Toddler classroom, as a virtual teacher with Guidepost Montessori, and as a Postpartum Doula. She also trained with Judi Orion in Autogenic Respiratory Training, a relaxation technique for childbirth. She serves on the board of the VMA. Alissa met Cynthia when she attended Cynthia’s “Montessori Mornings” program with her daughter and a few years later she was trained and mentored by Cynthia as a Postpartum Doula and joined her efforts at Nearby Baby as a Doula and Advisory Board Member.
Cynthia Jordan Fisher is a graduate of Silvana Montanaro's AMI Assistants to Infancy program's second graduating class, in 1985. After giving birth to her first child in 1986, Cynthia supported mothers in their homes as a Child Development Specialist in Hawaii. She has been working with families in Charlottesville since 1996 where she began teaching Montessori parent child classes for parents with newborns - age 3 through her program Babies by the Blue Ridge. A DONA certified postpartum doula, Cynthia has been working to develop the Charlottesville nonprofit Nearby Baby.org for the past three years and training women interested in being postpartum doulas, from a Montessori perspective. She has two daughters and five grandchildren.
