ABOUT
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About Families’ mission is to educate families on the emotional, mental, and physical experiences involved during pregnancy, postpartum, and early parenthood. About Families creates a village of support through classes, groups and events.
About Families was founded to foster relationships between families and knowledgeable professionals within our community in order to provide education and support to parents. About Families’ primary goal is to help Coachella Valley families find support in one another to raise happy, healthy families that flourish. Research shows that peer support is an essential component of helping treat mood disorders and helping to maintain a healthy mental state. About Families aims to create and provide a network of peers that have shared experiences and who can offer advice, resources and support for one another. To facilitate this process, About Families provides a variety of educational classes, clinics, programs and events for families living in the Coachella Valley. About Families’ programs take a holistic approach to family rearing and operate on the premise that one must take care of the mind, body and spirit of every member of the family. |
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YEARS IN OPERATION
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FAMILIES SERVED ANNUALLY
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FAMILIES SERVED SINCE INCEPTION
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Board, Staff & Educators
Joanna Boles Whitlow, CEO/Founder
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Joanna became a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2012 and is a professional birth and postpartum doula and childbirth educator. In addition to being the CEO/Founder of About Families, Inc. she is the Director of For Moms and Babies. Joanna is also the local coordinator for Postpartum Support International. Joanna has been a doula trainer since 2012 and is currently training birth doulas to become certified About Families Birth Doulas using the Purely Yours Doula Curriculum . Most importantly, Joanna is a dedicated mother to 4 guys who she is over the moon in love with!
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HEIDI RICHERT CLERC ESQ., TREASURER
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Heidi was born and raised in the Coachella Valley. She is an attorney with the law firm Burt & Associates, which has offices in Palm Desert and Palm Springs. Heidi graduated from UC Davis with a BA in 2005 and received her JD from Northeastern University School of Law in 2009. She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in California and primarily practices estate planning, probate, and trust law. Heidi is married to Tony Clerc and they are the proud parents of their daughter Margot.
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Krysten Gonda
Krysten Gonda grew up in Michigan before moving to Southern California with her husband in 2007. After a brief stint in Nashville, TN they both decided that the Coachella Valley was home. She teaches high school in the Eastern Coachella Valley, and is Riverside County Teacher of the Year for 2021. Krysten discovered her love and passion for supporting families after the birth of her first child. She has three children whom she adores. She loves exploring the world and participating in new experiences with her family.
MATHEW GONDA, CPA, CGMA
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Matthew is a principal with CPA Consulting Group in Nashville, Tennessee. He has worked with the About Families since its inception and has a passion for the Organization’s mission to educate families at critical points through early childhood. His professional work is focused on small and medium sized businesses and non-profit organizations, especially by providing assistance with transitions in growth phases, managing complex tax issues, and supplying outsourced CFO services. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three young children.
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Serena LEITERMAN, secretary
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Serena Leiterman is a Real Estate Agent with the John Sloan Real Estate Group, a top-performing Keller Williams Realty team serving the Coachella Valley. Serena studied at Western Governors University, where she earned her Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.
Serena was awarded the Department of State Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship and spent a year fully immersed in German life and culture. It was through this program that Serena developed her love of education and appreciation for effective, concise communication. This experience lead to an opportunity managing the processing teams at two major mortgage brokers in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Subsequently, Serena took a marketing position with an international private security firm with over 25,000 employees and a primary focus on government clients, including the State of California, Department of Justice, and several United States Embassies. In 2010, Serena moved to the Coachella Valley and went to work with an agricultural company and soon oversaw all produce sales as the Sales and Marketing Manager. In 2014, Serena decided to leverage her sales, marketing, and business experience as a residential Real Estate Agent. She is passionate about serving her clients and one of her fundamental beliefs is that she is in the business of hopes, dreams, and financial goals - and in her chosen profession that manifests itself in homes. She fiercely advocates for her clients and works with them in a consultative capacity to ensure they are empowered with all necessary information and tools to make the best possible decisions for themselves and their families. |
DR. BRIAN MYERS
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Dr. Brian Myers holds degrees from the University of St. Thomas (BA) and the National College of Natural Medicine (ND) where he served as his class president for his final three years and received an award for leadership in his final year. Between college and medical school, he spent four years as a volunteer middle school teacher with the De La Salle Blackfeet Middle School on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Browning, MT. Passionate about working with kids, Dr. Myers proceeded to work as a pediatric nurse assistant at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, MN and then as part of a research group specializing in patient oriented neonatal neurology in St. Louis, MO while completing prerequisites for medical school. He has presented a research poster at the Pediatric Academic Society’s Annual Conference and has been published in the Journal of Pediatrics as well as the Annals of Neurology.
Dr. Myers enjoys working with a broad variety of patients – of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Throughout his educational experience his primary joys have included working with families and counseling them through their illnesses, and having a continuous relationship with these families. As a creative individual who wants variety in life, Dr. Myers plays soccer and tennis year-round, is learning to play the fiddle, loves to run, backpack, and cook, and has recently gotten back into swimming. |
CHRISTY JO HENDRICKS, IBCLC, CONSULTANT, EDUCATOR, AND AUTHOR
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Marta E. Olmedo
Marta E. Olmedo is an educator with more than thirty years of experience in Family Involvement and Home-School Partnerships. Her passion, devotion and expertise has allowed her to establish successful family involvement programs at the elementary and middle school levels that have positively affected the lives of many students. She believes in the connection between updated research, policy and practical application. When these three spheres connect under a strong and caring leadership, positive results are imminent where families and school succeed together.
She worked for twenty-eight years at Coachella Valley Unified School District as a Bilingual Classroom teacher, English Language Development Teacher on Special Assignment and as a Family Involvement Coordinator. During the time she worked at CVUSD, her family involvement leadership program and best practices received several state and county recognition in California, USA. One of the main highlights of her work has been her genuine passion for learning that she instills in others. In addition, she has been a frequent presenter at national, state and regional conferences such as California Bilingual Education (CABE) and Migrant Educational National conferences among several others.
In 2018, she opened Olmedo Educational Consulting to provide professional development and parent involvement training to guide others to develop and establish effective home-school partnerships. Her main focus is parent involvement that supports student achievement and parent leadership.
She worked for twenty-eight years at Coachella Valley Unified School District as a Bilingual Classroom teacher, English Language Development Teacher on Special Assignment and as a Family Involvement Coordinator. During the time she worked at CVUSD, her family involvement leadership program and best practices received several state and county recognition in California, USA. One of the main highlights of her work has been her genuine passion for learning that she instills in others. In addition, she has been a frequent presenter at national, state and regional conferences such as California Bilingual Education (CABE) and Migrant Educational National conferences among several others.
In 2018, she opened Olmedo Educational Consulting to provide professional development and parent involvement training to guide others to develop and establish effective home-school partnerships. Her main focus is parent involvement that supports student achievement and parent leadership.
Mika Moulton
Mika Moulton is the former founder and director or Christopher’s Clubhouse that provided safety education to over 100,000 residents of the Coachella Valley. When the organization closed its doors she continued with her experience and passion as a Doula, Nanny and newborn care specialist. With over 35 years of experience she not only loves what she does she goes above and beyond to create the unsurpassed quality of care you deserve. Mika provides the level of knowledge and wisdom that you want during your birth and beyond.
She continues to give back to the community through her volunteer work as well as being on the board of directors for About Families, the Thousand Palms Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Coachella Valley and 411Gina.
She continues to give back to the community through her volunteer work as well as being on the board of directors for About Families, the Thousand Palms Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Coachella Valley and 411Gina.
Noe Gutuerrez
Hello, my name is Noe Gutierrez and I have actively worked in the Coachella Valley for over 30 years in the helping professions with experience working for Eisenhower Medical Center as a Medical Social Worker and Riverside University Health System Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Specialist III/Prevention Specialist. I have extensive knowledge providing intensive Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to multiple populations including veterans, children, adolescents, college-age individuals, adults, and mature adults across numerous modalities including the hospital, inpatient psychiatric, adult detention center, and outpatient settings. In many instances I was responsible for meeting the more complex psychiatric, social, medical, and financial needs of individuals and their families. I strongly believe that permanent positive change comes from modifying our core beliefs for the better. Our core beliefs function as a lens through which we see every life experience and they can determine automatic thoughts about the most fundamental ideas about ourselves, others, and the world.
CBT has been demonstrated to be effective in a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Its purpose is to help change thinking patterns in individuals, consequently changing their behavioral patterns. There is some consideration of a person’s past experiences and history, but the focus is primarily to address forging ahead in time to develop more effective ways of coping with life’s stressors.
I am also an Ordained Minister who is capable of integrating traditional talk therapy methodologies with faith-based belief practices by incorporating theological concepts. I use this approach to focus on the navigation of spiritual concerns and everyday life struggles encountered by individuals, couples and families.
I received my Master of Social Work degree from California State University San Bernardino, I am also a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor II through the California Consortium of Addictions Programs and Professionals.
CBT has been demonstrated to be effective in a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and substance use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Its purpose is to help change thinking patterns in individuals, consequently changing their behavioral patterns. There is some consideration of a person’s past experiences and history, but the focus is primarily to address forging ahead in time to develop more effective ways of coping with life’s stressors.
I am also an Ordained Minister who is capable of integrating traditional talk therapy methodologies with faith-based belief practices by incorporating theological concepts. I use this approach to focus on the navigation of spiritual concerns and everyday life struggles encountered by individuals, couples and families.
I received my Master of Social Work degree from California State University San Bernardino, I am also a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor II through the California Consortium of Addictions Programs and Professionals.
Jude Johnson
Jude supervises the administrative business operations of CV Strategies. He oversees client billing, supervises accounting practices, and serves as a liaison with external stakeholders. Jude manages and monitors internal performance with precision to keep CV Strategies a smoothly running and dependable firm.
Staff & Educators
maria lara, ece at mariposa parent-child workshop
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Maria Aban, ece at mariposa parent-child workshop
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Faith Chinnock, BS Zoology, Certified Life Coach and Positive Discipline Parent Educator
Debbie midcalf, MAEd
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Debbie Midcalf, MAEd, is a Positive Discipline Classroom Educator and Certified Parent Coach. She has worked in the field of early childhood education for thirty years and is currently employed as an adjunct instructor at College of the Desert and Brandman University. She coaches parents and educators on the principles of Positive Discipline strategies so that they can find joy and calm in the midst of chaos. Debbie believes that every child should be afforded the opportunity to a joyful early learning environment in which they feel secure, loved, and valued.
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Aisha hendricks, ba psychology, certified labor doula, childbirth & lactation educator, Student Midwife
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sandy lindblom, Newborn Care Specialist, Sleep Consultant & birth & postpartum doula
Esperanza Mendez
