All Conscious Parenting Resources
“… the movement is that part of humanity which has assumed the task of protecting and saving itself. If we accept the metaphor of an organism can be applied to humankind, we can imagine a collective movement that would protect, repair and restore that organism’s capacity to endure when threatened… Specifically, the shared activity of hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations can be seen as humanity’s response to toxins… The word immunity comes from the Latin im munis, meaning ready to serve.”
— Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, Paul Hawken
The following nonprofit organizations function as the immune system of our human family, as they not only fight toxic cultural biases, they point the way to sustainable wellness for individuals, communities and the planet. Kindred is proud to work alongside these nonprofits and to endorse their visions and recommend their services to our human family. If you would like to see your nonprofit here, or we’ve missed a topic, please send your suggestions to info@kindredmedia.org.
Alternative Education and Education Reform
Kindred’s Alternative Education Bookstore
Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Imagine what would happen if, instead of sending children to coercive schools where their natural ways of learning are curtailed, we provided them with the resources that would allow their curiosity, playfulness, and other natural ways of learning to flourish. That is Self-Directed Education (SDE); education that derives from the self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner.
The Alliance for Self-Directed Education is a nonprofit organization dedicated to normalizing and legitimizing Self-Directed Education, to make it available to everyone who seeks it. We invite you to join.
American Homeschool Association. The American Homeschool Association (AHA), is a service organization sponsored in part by the publishers of Home Education Magazine. The AHA was created in 1995 to network homeschoolers on a national level. Current AHA services include an online news and discussion list which provides news, information, and resources for homeschoolers, media contacts, and education officials.
Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). Waldorf Education is a developmentally appropriate, balanced education that integrates the arts and academics for children from preschool through twelfth grade. The task of the Association is to encourage and further Waldorf education, and to assist each school and teacher training center linked through it in the United States, Canada and Mexico to improve the quality of the education it offers.
Montessori Homeschooling. Maria Montessori, MD was the first woman to receive an MD degree in Italy. She has inspired people around the world, for over 100 years, basing education on observation of children to discover their needs, rather than on a curriculum. She discovered that long periods of concentration on purposeful work involving both the mind and the body (real work, not TV or computers) heals the child mentally and physically.
Radical Unschoolers Network. The Radical Unschoolers Network is for radical unschooling families and those interested in learning more about it.
Unschoolers Online. A website dedicated to providing detailed and helpful information on everything related to unschooling and homeschooling.
Alternative Medicine and Wellness
Alliance for Holistic Family Wellness. A network of nonprofit organizations and local family wellness leaders sponsoring conscious living communities to support families who make informed health and wellness choices. Formerly known at the Holistic Pediatric Association, the site also contains a directory. The organization is a collaborative sponsor of the magazine Pathways to Family Wellness.
Alliance for Human Research Protection. The Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP) is a national network of lay people and professionals dedicated to advancing responsible and ethical medical research practices, to minimizizing the risks associated with such endeavors and to ensuring that the human rights, dignity and welfare of human subjects are protected.
American Association of Drugless Practitioners. AADP promotes an enhanced professional image and prestige among practitioners of traditional and nontraditional therapies and methodologies. AADP fosters unity among “grass roots” practitioners and those with advanced academic credentials and brings reputable chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists and other “drugless” healthcare providers together to share ideas and to help educate the public that good health can be obtained without the use of drugs.
American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Naturopathic physicians are guided in their treatment decisions by the idea that it is the nature of all things to return to balance; it is the nature of organisms–plants, animals, people–to heal. The naturopathic physician understands illness as a series of events that can be changed, or redirected toward order and balance, with help.
Association for Prenatal & Perinatal Psychology and Health. You have found the path to the treasures of BIRTH PSYCHOLOGY where you can explore the scope of this field in authoritative articles, columns on popular topics, book and movie reviews, visit our specialty bookstore, and order great books and videos.
La Leche League International. Our Mission is to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother.
National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers. Welcome to the website of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, founded by healthcare professionals to provide information to expectant parents, healthcare professionals, educators, lawyers, ethicists, and concerned individuals about circumcision and genital cutting of male, female, and intersex infants and children, genital integrity, and human rights.
Wildest Colts. A resource site for parents, and a challenge to the biomedical mental health industry. This site offers an alternative perspective to the bio-psychiatric industry, and to the millions of psychotropic prescriptions written for children and adults. We really do have natural, built-in ways of psychological healing. With attention and adequate resource, anyone can reemerge from even the greatest distress and most extreme states of mind.
Attachment and Conscious Parenting
Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children. Our mission is to champion a culture of compassionate individuals, families, and communities who have fun with, learn from, and responsively and lovingly interact with children. We accomplish this by providing guidance about consciously conceiving, birthing, and nurturing children.
Attachment Parenting International. API offers parenting information and support through API Support Groups around the world, information found on this website, and through the API Forum where you can read and post on parenting topics and connect with AP families in your community.
Child Spirit Institute. ChildSpirit is not affiliated with any particular religious group but honors the spiritual development of all wisdom traditions. We create project teams and partnerships to initiate the creation of innovative programs and projects. Through research, publications, networking, trainings, camp, conferences, speaking, consulting, ChildSpirit is helping to change the way society (parents and grandparents, educators, healthcare professionals, innovative religious and spiritual leaders, and community leaders and many more…) see and work with its young people.
Connection Parenting. Pam Leo, author of Connection Parenting and Optimal Child Development, pioneers the later years of childhood and “Continuing the Connection of Attachment Parenting”.
Fathers-To-Be. In Fathers-To-Be, Patrick Houser and Elmer Postle are offering a place for men to explore pregnancy and birth with a particular focus on the Transition to Fatherhood. F2B provides a unique opportunity for men to learn skills that will help them be truly present, and not just in the room, during this most powerful of times. When we speak of birth we generally encompass the 18 month period from conception to 9 months old. Buy theFathers-To-Be Handbook here and watch Patrick Houser’s Trail Marker Moment video on why Fathers are the Foundation to Family Wellness!
Touch the Future. This beautiful and resourceful site contains hundreds of articles, publications, interviews and research papers on child and human development.
Breastfeeding
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is a worldwide organization of physicians dedicated to the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding and human lactation. Its mission is to unite into one association members of the various medical specialties with this common purpose.
Eats on Feets. Community Breastmilk Sharing. Eats On Feets facilitates a world-wide network of parents and professionals who have made the informed choice to share or support the sharing of breastmilk.
Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Human milk is a precious resource. Even with milk banks, the availability of donor milk is very limited. Sometimes, a mother chooses not to breastfeed, or for whatever reason is unable to breastfeed. Some babies MUST receive human milk in order to survive. In these cases, doctors will prescribe human milk for the child. In a perfect world, all babies would receive breastmilk, either from their mother or from a donor, and the artificial milk industry would be very limited. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if “formula” were only available by prescription?
Human Milk 4 Human Babies, HM4HB. HM4HB is a global milksharing network, a virtual village, comprising thousands of people from over fifty countries. We are mothers, fathers, adoptive families, grandparents, childbirth and breastfeeding professionals, volunteers, supporters, donors, and recipients that have come together to support the simple idea that all babies and children have the right to receive human milk. We use social media as a platform for local families to make real-life connections and come together as sustainable milksharing communities where women graciously share their breastmilk. HM4HB is built on the principle of informed choice: we trust, honour, and value the autonomy of families and we assert they are capable of weighing the benefits and risks of milksharing in order to make choices that are best for them.
La Leche League. Our Mission is to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother.
Circumcision
Intact America. Intact America works to protect babies and children from circumcision and all other forms of medically unnecessary genital alteration, whether carried out for cultural conformity or profit, in medical or non-medical settings. We seek to achieve our goals through education, advocacy, public policy reform, and the empowerment of our supporters, partners, and volunteers. You can read our Statement of Principles here.
National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers. NOCIRC was founded by healthcare professionals to provide information to expectant parents, healthcare professionals, educators, lawyers, ethicists, and concerned individuals about circumcision and genital cutting of male, female, and intersex infants and children, genital integrity, and human rights.
National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM), Information and Support Group on Foreskin Restoration
National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males, NOHARMM,
Activist Organization for Men
Nurses for the Rights of the Child, NRC, Conscientious Objector Information for Nurses
Doctors Opposing Circumcision, DOC, Physician Information and Networking
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, ARC
Jewish Circumcision Resource Center
Environmental
Beyond Pesticides (formerly National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns.
Bioneers. Bioneers are social and scientific innovators from all walks of life and disciplines who have peered deep into the heart of living systems to understand how nature operates, and to mimic “nature’s operating instructions” to serve human ends without harming the web of life. Nature’s principles—kinship, cooperation, diversity, symbiosis and cycles of continuous creation absent of waste—can also serve as metaphoric guideposts for organizing an equitable, compassionate and democratic society.
The Child Proofing Our Communities Campaign. Coordinated by the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ), Child Proofing Our Communities Campaign is an effort to channel the rising concern of parents and communities across the country into effective and coordinated grassroots action aimed at eliminating environmental health hazards from our schools. Raising awareness of parents and communities, empowering them to take action at the local level, will stimulate the public pressure needed to topple special interest lobbying efforts to derail the passage and enforcement of child protective environmental health laws.
Center for Health, Environment & Justice. CHEJ is a national environmental organization based in Falls Church, Virginia. Lois Marie Gibbs, the community leader at Love Canal, established CHEJ in 1981. Our philosophy is to teach and empower by helping grassroots groups and individuals to build upon their strengths. Through our organizing leadership development research and technical assistance, we empower individuals with skills and information to make sound judgments and become apart of the political decision making process to protect health and our natural resources.
Coming Clean Network. Learn about Body Burden and how we are all carrying toxins in our tissues in our chemical saturated world. What is Body Burden and how can I reduce mine? All answered here!
Commonweal. Commonweal is a nonprofit health and environmental research institute in Bolinas, California. Founded in 1976, Commonweal conducts programs that contribute to human and ecosystem health—to a safer world for people and for all life.
Institute for Children’s Environmental Health. The ICEH is a nonprofit educational organization working to ensure a healthy, just, and sustainable future for children and the planet. ICEH’s primary mission is to foster collaborative initiatives to reduce and ultimately eliminate environmental exposures that can undermine the health of current and future generations.
Pesticide Action Network North America. PANNA (Pesticide Action Network North America) works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. As one of five PAN Regional Centers worldwide, we link local and international consumer, labor, health, environment and agriculture groups into an international citizens’ action network. This network challenges the global proliferation of pesticides, defends basic rights to health and environmental quality, and works to insure the transition to a just and viable society.
Environmental Working Group. Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit with a team of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and computer programmers who investigate over government data, legal documents, scientific studies and our own laboratory tests to expose threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions. Their reports educate the public and politicians, shapes policy, and informs bureacracies. Reports include:Overloaded? Mercury and Autism, Bisphenol A (the hormonally active white lining in food cans), and Skin Deep, the searchable safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products.
Skin Deep. Skin Deep is Environmental Working Group’s safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products in an easy-to-use searchable database.
Food – Organic, Local, GMO-Free
Ecology Action and Grow Bionintensive. Since 1972 we and our colleagues have been researching and developing GROW BIOINTENSIVE®, a high-yielding, sustainable agricultural system that emphasizes local food production and is based historically on intensive gardening systems.
Food Not Lawns. Turning Yards into Gardens and Neighborhoods into Communities. Find or start a local chapter of Food Not Lawns (scroll to the bottom of the website for listings). Read the book.
Institute for Responsible Technology. The Institute for Responsible Technology is a world leader in educating policy makers and the public about genetically modified (GM) foods and crops. We investigate and report their risks and impact on health, environment, the economy, and agriculture, as well as the problems associated with current research, regulation, corporate practices, and reporting. Fantastic number of resources on this website to shop GMO-free, to become active in your community, and to take action on national and global GMO issues!
Local Harvest. The best organic food is what’s grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies. Want to support this great web site? Shop in our catalog for things you can’t find locally!
Organic Consumers Association. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children’s health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. We are the only organization in the US focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation’s estimated 50 million organic and socially responsible consumers.
Permaculture Institute. Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities and much more. The Permaculture Institute is an educational non-profit, offering Permaculture Design Courses and in-depth sustainable living classes.
Mindful Living (Self-Regulation Practices)
Awakened Heart Project. If you are Jewish and would like to find a meditation practice that is rooted in the Jewish tradition, the mission of Awakened Heart Project is to promote the use of Jewish contemplative techniques that foster the development of a heart of wisdom and compassion. Cultivating an awakened heart leads to acting in the world with loving-kindness towards all beings recognizing them as manifestations of the Holy One of Being. The AHP provides opportunities for a focused effort at refining contemplative Jewish practices, such as meditation and prayer, as well as creating opportunities for intensive practice.
Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society. Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is perhaps the most well-known secular form of mindfulness training. Available now at most major medical centers across the U.S., it takes the form of an eight-week class that meets once a week for three hours, plus a day-long retreat.
Contemplative Outreach. If you are a Christian and would like to find a meditation practice that is rooted in the Christian Tradition, Contemplative Outreach is a spiritual network of individuals and small faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel. The common desire for Divine transformation, primarily expressed through a commitment to a daily Centering Prayer practice, unites our international, interdenominational community.Today, Contemplative Outreach annually serves over 40,000 people; supports over 120 active contemplative chapters in 39 countries; supports over 800 prayer groups; teaches over 15,000 people the practice of Centering Prayer and other contemplative practices through locally-hosted workshops; and provides training and resources to local chapters and volunteers. We also publish and distribute the wisdom teachings of Fr. Thomas Keating and other resources that support the contemplative life.
Eckhart Tolle. Spiritual Teacher and author Eckhart Tolle was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of twenty-nine a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Tolle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and the highly acclaimed follow-up A New Earth.
Mind & Life Institute. Building a scientific understanding of the mind to reduce suffering and promote well-being.
Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting Program. This is the website for the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting Program (MBCP) created by Nancy Bardacke. MBCP includes teaching and coaching the mind for labor, mindfulness-based infant massage, mindfulness in parenting, and mindfulness training for professional caregivers. You will find information on the various programs offered by Nancy as well as articles and resources.
Mindful Motherhood. Mindful Motherhood is a program that teaches you how mindfulness practices can be integrated into your everyday life during pregnancy and early motherhood for staying balanced, healthy, and connected with your baby, even in difficult moments.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. If you’ve experienced depression, you might consider mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), which is designed to help people who suffer repeated bouts of depression and chronic unhappiness. It combines the ideas of cognitive therapy with meditative practices and attitudes based on the cultivation of mindfulness. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.
New Earth – Webcast Archive. A series of ten in-depth interviews with Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now (1999) and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2008). This archive also includes exercises and chat rooms and will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about present-moment awareness. Material is available for download and transcripts are available. Search “A New Earth” at: www.oprah.com
Pema Chödrön. Pema Chödrön is the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners and has authored several books, including: The Places that Scare You, When Things Fall Apart, and Start Where You Are. She is widely known for her down-to-earth interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism for Western audiences.
Sharon Salzberg. One of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors, Sharon Salzberg is cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. She has played a crucial role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the West. The ancient Buddhist practices of vipassana (mindfulness) and metta (lovingkindness) are the foundations of her work. This website offers a wealth of articles, audio, meditation teachings, media, and a calendar of events for IMS.
Spirit Rock Family Program. Offers classes, daylongs, benefits, and residential retreats in Woodacre, California in which the practice and teachings of mindful awareness from the insight meditation tradition are offered in order to support the development of wisdom and compassion for children, teens, whole families, and the wider community.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center and The Insight Meditation Society. If you are interested in learning more about mindfulness meditation or in participating in a meditation retreat in which you practice mindfulness meditation with skilled teachers from one to ten days or more, you might look into Spirit Rock Meditation Center on the West Coast or the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA.
Sylvia Boorstein. Sylvia Boorstein, M.A., Ph.D. who wrote the foreword to Mindful Motherhood,is a psychologist, meditation teacher, political activist, and cofounder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Her website offers her books, a do-it-yourself meditation retreat, audio recordings, and a calendar of her events.
Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka. This website connects seekers with the international communities of Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Vipassana is taught in ten-day residential courses that are free of charge to participants, running solely off of donations. Find courses throughout the world, information on Vipassana, recordings of Mr. Goenka, and more.
WiseBrain.org. Go to this website for a plethora of “News and Tools for Happiness, Love, and Wisdom” at the meeting place of psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practice.
New Edge Science
Bruce Lipton is the author of the Biology of Belief and Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way There From Here. He is a leading new edge scientist and researcher. Bruce is an editorial advisor for Pathways to Family Wellness magazine. WATCH BRUCE’S INTERVIEWS with Pathways to Family Wellness magazine: ReWriting the Program and Vitalism.
Heartmath Institute. The Institute of HeartMath is an internationally recognized nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to helping people reduce stress, self-regulate emotions and build energy and resilience for healthy, happy lives. HeartMath tools, technology and training teach people to rely on the intelligence of their hearts in concert with their minds at home, school, work and play.
Institute of Noetic Sciences, IONS,established in 1970 by Apollo astronaut Egdar Mitchell, IONS has lead the way in frontier science of human consciousness for forty years. Families for Conscious Living is proud to be a collabarotor with IONS to bring their Worldview LiteracyProject to Pathways Connect groups to enhand our understanding of how our worldview shapes our capacity for mindful parenting, healing and making informed health care choices. Read IONS Shift Report: Evidence of a World Transforming. Watch a Pathways to Family Wellnessvideo interview with Cassandra Vieten, PhD, IONS Director of Research who explains noetic science.
Joe Dispenza, DC, author of Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind. Watch Joe’s interview with Pathways to Family Wellness magazine.
The Monroe Institute. To enhance worldwide cooperative efforts in furthering the exploration of consciousness, expanded awareness, and discovery of self.
Play in Childhood, Nonprofits Promoting
Alliance for Childhood. While promoting a broad range of policies and practices essential to children’s well-being, the Alliance for Childhood works intensively on a few critical issues. Among these are the loss of creative play and hands-on activities in children’s lives, and the excessive amounts of time spent in front of screens instead of in face-to-face engagement with other children, caring adults, and the natural world. We also work against the commercialization of childhood, the misuse of high-stakes testing, and increasing levels of childhood obesity.
American Association for the Child’s Right to Play. The purpose of IPA USA is to protect, preserve, and promote play as a fundamental right for all humans. Specific interests include environments for play emphasizing universal access, leisure time facilities, programs that develop the whole child, play leadership training, toys, and play materials.
Children and Nature Network. The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working nationally and internationally to reconnect children with nature. The network provides a critical link between researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children’s health and well-being.
Children’s Environments Research Group, City University of New York. The Children’s Environments Research Group (CERG), links university scholarship with the development of policies, environments and programs to fulfill children’s’ rights and improve the quality of their lives. There are two major strands to our work. The first is a broad concern with the fulfillment of children’s rights. The second is a more specific focus on the planning, design and management of children’s physical environments.
Hooked on Nature. Hooked On Nature provides tools, resources and workshops to help people develop joyful, loving, lifelong relationships with each other and the natural world. Our speakers share stories that inspire, empower, and inform
KaBoom! Like many non-profits, KaBOOM!, exists to solve a problem: The Play Deficit. Our children are playing less than any previous generation, and this lack of play is causing them profound physical, intellectual, social, and emotional harm. Not enough playspaces are being built; those that exist are often in disrepair. Fears surrounding lawsuits and safety are trumping common sense, resulting in sterile, uninspired play environments. Recess is being eliminated from our nation’s schools. Kids are overscheduled, and in their free time, many choose to stay indoors, lulled by television, computers and video games. The Play Deficit is an important problem, and it is imperative that we solve it to ensure our children have long, healthy, and happy lives.
National Institute for Play. The National Institute for Play is a 501c(3) non-profit public benefit corporation committed to bringing the unrealized knowledge, practices and benefits of play into public life. It is gathering research from diverse play scientists and practitioners, initiating projects to expand the clinical scientific knowledge of human play and translating this emerging body of knowledge into programs and resources which deliver the transformative power of play to all segments of society.
North Carolina State University Natural Learning Initiative. The mission of the Natural Learning Initiative is to help communities create stimulating places for play, learning, and environmental education – environments that recognize human dependence on the natural world. We collaborate with educators, play leaders, environmental educators, planners, politicians, and all professionals working for and with children.
Playborhood. Free, unstructured play (or what we refer to as simply “play”) has virtually vanished from the lives of most children in America. We are committed to doing whatever we can to bring it back for our children and yours. At Playborhood.com we will to build a community of parents in the United States, if not the world, that will become more aware of this problem, discuss solutions, and implement the best of those solutions.
Sierra Club, Building Bridges to the Outdoors. People of every age and background embrace the Sierra Club’s motto to “explore, enjoy and protect the planet.”
Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment. Our mission is to raise public awareness about the harmful influence of unhealthy children’s entertainment and to provide information about toys and activities that promote healthy play. We are working to eliminate marketing aimed at exploiting children and to reduce the sale of toys and entertainment that promotes violence.
Wild Zones. Wild Zones and Create-with-Nature Zones are places where adults, children and adolescents can co-create a new form of public space that is dedicated to creativity and play in nature. They differ from parks and play areas because they offer opportunities to interact with the environment rather than leaving it untouched.
Pregnancy and Birth
Watch Ina May Gaskin speak on the Human Impact of Hi-Tech Birth.
American Pregnancy Association. The American Pregnancy Association is a national health organization committed to promoting reproductive and pregnancy wellness through education, research, advocacy, and community awareness.
Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. APPPAH illuminates the life-long impact of conception, pregnancy and birth on babies, families and society. APPPAH’s mission is to educate professionals and the public about, and advocate for, the life-changing discoveries made in the area of prenatal and perinatal psychology and health.
Birthing the Future. The mission of Birthing The Future®, is to gather, synthesize, and disseminate the finest world wisdom about birthing and the care of mothers and babies from pre-conception to the first birthday.
The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth. The Bradley Method® teaches natural childbirth and views birth as a natural process. It is our belief that most women with proper education, preparation, and the help of a loving and supportive coach can be taught to give birth naturally.
CAPPA, Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association. For over a decade, CAPPA’s mission has been to offer comprehensive, evidence-based education, certification, professional membership and training to childbirth educators, lactation educators, labor doulas, antepartum doulas and postpartum doulas worldwide. CAPPA is proud to provide new and expectant families access to these professionals here.
Cesarean Statistics for Your Local Hospital. Find C-section and VBAC, vaginal birth after Cesarean, rates for your local hospital.
Citizens for Midwifery. The goal of Citizens for Midwifery is to see that the Midwives Model of Care is available to all childbearing women and universally recognized as the best kind of care for pregnancy and birth. Citizens for Midwifery also endorses the Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative™.
Coalition for Improving Maternity Services. The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) is a coalition of individuals and national organizations with concern for the care and well-being of mothers, babies, and families. Our mission is to promote a wellness model of maternity care that will improve birth outcomes and substantially reduce costs. This evidence-based mother-, baby-, and family-friendly model focuses on prevention and wellness as the alternatives to high-cost screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs.
Doulas of North America. Pardon us for bragging, but we are the oldest, largest and most respected doula association in the world. Our founders are among the foremost experts on doula care, and DONA International certification is a widely respected measure of quality and professionalism. We are an international, non-profit organization of doulas that strives to have every doula trained / educated to provide the highest quality / standards for birth and/or postpartum support to birthing women and their families.
International Cesarean Awareness Network. The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc (ICAN) was formed over 25 years ago in order to support women in their journey towards understanding the risks of cesarean section and with the purpose of helping them have healthy births and healthy lives after undergoing the surgery that changed them.
International Cesarean Awareness Network & VBAC Information. This is a collection of fact sheets and information put out by the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) and other sources. Information includes how to prevent an unnecessary cesarean, Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), how to find resources in your community, information about ICAN, and how to become a part of ICAN.
International Childbirth Education Association. ICEA is an organization of over 4,000 members from throughout the United States and 42 countries who believe in freedom of choice based on knowledge of alternatives in family-centered maternity and newborn care.
Midwives and Mothers in Action, MAMA, The MAMA campaign is a collaborative effort by the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), Citizens for Midwifery (CfM), International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC), North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), and the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC). This partnership is now at work to gain federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives so that women and families will have increased access to quality, affordable maternity care in the settings of their choice.
Midwives Alliance of North America, MANA, In 1982, the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) was established as a professional organization for all midwives, recognizing the diversity of educational backgrounds and practice styles within the profession. Its goal is to unify and strengthen the profession of midwifery, thereby improving the quality of health care for women, babies, and communities.
Midwifery Today. Well-written technical articles by doctors, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, nutritionists, herbalists and other practitioners. Birth stories that are beautifully written and have something to teach the practitioner. Stories about midwifery practices in other countries. Well-written academic articles on the subject of midwifery by experts.
National Association of Certified Professional Midwives.
North American Registry of Midwives.
Postpartum Support International, PSI.
Spinning Babies. Spinning Babies is a unique, step-by-step approach to Optimal Fetal Positioning. The techniques described here were found around the world. But, “what to do when” is found right here. Your labor can be shorter and less painful. Easier, in other words, than a posterior labor.
Ten Moons Rising. Ten Moons Rising* is a non-profit organization committed to educating the public about Prenatal & Birth Psychology – how our earliest experiences influence our sense of self and experience of life – and offering resources for healing early trauma in infants, children and adults.
The Unnecesarean is a patient advocacy Web site that pulls back the curtain on the practice of prophylactic cesarean surgery for suspected fetal macrosomia and illuminates the experiences of women who have been harmed by the aggressive practice of defensive medicine. The site provides information about preventing an unnecessary cesarean and resources for making fully-informed decisions about childbirth while offering an irreverent take on the maternity care crisis in the United States and beyond. The most recently released data from the CDC on childbirth showed that 32.9 percent of U.S. babies in 2008 were born by surgery. This is the twelfth year in a row that the rate has risen. Rates of severe maternal morbidity have increased, yet maternal and infant mortality have not seen a decline with the aggressive use of this life saving surgery.
VBAC.com. VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) is a safe alternative to a routine repeat cesarean. Our aim is to provide evidence-based resources and support about VBAC from a variety of sources; scientific studies, professional guidelines, government reports, birth advocacy groups, as well as successful and established VBAC programs. Our goal is to help women make informed decisions about how they want to give birth and to encourage an honest and respectful dialogue with their caregivers.
Vaccines and Informed Choice
Center for Personal Rights. We focus on individual vaccination choice, parental consent to vaccination for children, and freedom to make healthcare decisions for ourselves and our families. Established civil rights organizations have not adequately addressed these critical issues in an era of ever increasing vaccination mandates and frequently-declared public health emergencies. While we recognize many other personal rights issues, including reproductive rights and marriage rights, we do not take positions on them at this time. There are many established civil rights organizations addressing these questions across wide spectrums of opinion. We seek to promote individual and parental autonomy for vaccination and healthcare decisions and thus to fill a void that we see in existing civil rights advocacy.
Coalition for Vaccine Safety. The Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) is an alliance of organizations dedicated to advancing vaccine safety. The Coalition seeks to draw attention to, and to close serious gaps in existing vaccine safety science. The Coalition supports rigorous scientific inquiry free from conflicts of interest and political influence, and oversight that is both independent and accountable.
Moms Against Mercury. Moms Against Mercury is a non profit 501(c)(3) organization located in the mountains of Western North Carolina. MAM is dedicated to raising awareness while educating the public of the dangerous use of Thimerosal, a mercury based preservative, used in vaccines and the flu shot. Founder Amy Carson is the driving force behind Moms Against Mercury. Her passion for eliminating mercury and thimerosal in vaccinations stemmed from personal experience.
My Kids My Choice. This site is dedicated to helping parents legally and effectively refuse vaccines for their children.
National Vaccine Information Center. The NVIC is a national charitable, non-profit educational organization founded in 1982. NVIC launched the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America in the early 1980’s and is the oldest and largest consumer led organization advocating for the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the public health system. This website was created to provide you with the information you need to make an informed vaccination decision.
Safeminds. The Coalition for SafeMinds was founded to raise awareness, support research, change policy and focus national attention on the growing evidence of a link between mercury and neurological disorders such as autism, attention deficit disorder, language delay and learning difficulties. Our mission is to restore health and protect future generations by eradicating the devastation of autism and associated health disorders induced by mercury and other man made toxicants.
The Refusers. The Refusers embody the great American tradition of protest music in that their sound and lyrics aggressively spread the message of the “refusers” as a body of people standing united against government and social mandates regarding vaccination and the often inherent violation of basic human rights. The refusers movement is a swiftly growing sociopolitical movement for which this music provides an engaging and often thought provoking soundtrack.
Think Twice Global Vaccine Institute. The Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute was established in 1996 to provide parents and other concerned people with educational resources enabling them to make more informed vaccine decisions.Thinktwice encourages an uncensored exchange of vaccine information, and supports every family’s right to accept or reject vaccines.